Great biography of production designer, William Cameron Menzies, who paved the path for a new look in tilms from Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad to Gone With the Wind He essentially invented the storyboard to show the look and camera angles of a film. He contributed so much and while so many producers and directors were well aware of his significant contributions, he did not receive a great deal of recognition. He wanted to be a director and did several films but had a hard time relating to actors. The book contained a lot of quotes from those who had worked with him as well as interviews with his daughter. Well done. ( )

William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come by James Curtis is a definitive biography of a frequently overlooked filmmaking original whose artistry contributed to such films as "The Thief of Bagdad" (24 & 40), "Things to Come", "Gone with the Wind", "Kings Row", "Invaders from Mars'', and "Around the World in 80 Days" among many others. Curtis could not believe a work on the life and career of Menzies had not been written, so he set out to correct that oversight with the good fortune to find Menzies surviving daughter Suzanne Menzies Antles who in addition to her vivid memories of her father had a treasure trove of materials from his long and varied career as a Director, Producer, Art Director and as the first credited Production Designer. Curtis quickly covers Menzies youth in New Haven, Connecticut and his pride in his Scottish roots followed by his artistic education in New York City where he both met his wife Mignon and started his professional career. After some work on theatricals his connections led to his first film work in the late teens in New Jersey where studios where based in the Fort Lee area during the silent era. Eventually he migrated west to Hollywood where Menzies big break came when he created lavish production illustrations for "The Thief of Bagdad". Douglas Fairbanks the star and producer of 'Thief' insisted that everyone on the production adhere to Menzies designs. With his reputation established Menzies worked steadily developing his illustrated scripts where he would create brief sketches before creating more detailed designs for sets which he advocated would support both the goals of the artists while reducing costs by limiting the amount of set that needed to be built. During this period Menzies won the first Academy Award for Art Direction for his work on the films "Tempest" and "The Dove". In transitioning to the sound era Menzies sought to establish himself as a director with mixed results in features while one of his most notable successes was a musical short for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" which clearly influenced and predated by 10 years Disney's own version in "Fantasia". One of Menzies personal failings was alcohol on which he apparently got drunk very easily and in the mid-30s resulted in a car accident which caused him not to get work for a period. Just as he was considering a career change to support his family Menzies received an invite from Alexander Korda to come to England and work on a film of "The Shape of Things to Come" by H. G. Wells which was realesed as "Things to Come". The film was the largest and most expensive in British history up to that time and while Menzies was the director and in control of his visuals he was saddled with a didactic wordy script that Wells insisted be adhered to. Despite it's flaws today the film is recognized and celebrated with "Metropolis" as one the greatest early science fiction and special effects films. A return to Hollywood led Menzies into working for David O. Selznick just as he was initiating production of "Gone with the Wind" where similar to Fairbanks he insisted that Menzies shot designs be followed explicitly. "Gone with the Wind" had Victor Fleming credited as director while Menzies, George Cukor & Sam Wood directed scenes and sequences, yet maintained its unified look across the entire hectic production due to Menzies illustrated screenplay which essentially storyboarded the entire film. To recognize Menzies unique and critical contributions Selznick had him credited as Production Designer which was the first time this designation was ever used in a Hollywood film. For the Academy Awards this actually led to a problem since there was no such category as Production Designer, so instead Menzies received a Special Award. One of the results of Menzies work on "Gone with the Wind" was his introduction to director Sam Wood who was noted for his work with actors while not having a strong feel for visuals. With each bringing his own strengths to their productions they brought out some of the best in their talents with a run of pictures including an adaptation of Thorton Wilder's "Our Town", a comedy "The Devil and Miss Jones", a bestseller considered unadaptable "Kings Row", the Lou Gehrig biopic "Pride of the Yankees", an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" as well as "Address Unknow" where Menzies directed Wood's daughter and finally "Ivy". Unfortunately for Menzies the film "Address Unknow" was the only film he directed during the partnership, so the credit and larger salaries on their successes went to Sam Wood. During the last 10 years of his career Menzies made several forays into television as well as two notable films involving one his smallest budgets and one of his largest. The low budget film is actually one of the most iconic and most closely associated with the name William Cameron Menzies as he designed and directed "Invaders from Mars". A classic of the 50s science fiction films Menzies maximized the story as the fever dream of a young boy who believes Martian invaders buried their space ship in the sandpit behind his house and turned his parents into soulless slaves. Menzies makes a virtue of his limited resources with vivid colors, unique camera angles, and creatively minimalist sets. While a small success in its day the film's lasting impact came from endless reruns on television feeding the nightmares of a generation of kids. Menzies career finished as an Associate Producer on Michael Todd's globe trotting star-studded adaptation of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days". Todd was the definition of a showman entrepreneur jumping from project to project including theatrical spectacles, launching the Cinerama format & company and producing his massive film one step ahead of his creditors. Todd considered Menzies an invaluable contributor to the production as the film would be both an enormous financial success and win Best Picture and sadly be the last for both men as each died prematurely in the next few years Todd in a tragic plane crash and Menzies falling in the wake of a lifetime of smoking, drinking, and stress. James Curtis has done a wonderful job with this encompassing volume in illuminating the filmmaking talents and contributions of William Cameron Menzies in a welcome celebration of his visual genius which is richly illustrated with photos, black & white sketches, and color illustrations.
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