Robert J. Flaherty : A Biography / Paul Rotha; Jay Ruby.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rotha, Paul, Author.

Contributor:

Ruby, Jay, Editor.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Flaherty, Robert Joseph, 1884-1951.

Motion picture producers and directors--United States--Biography.

Motion picture producers and directors.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (404 p.)

Edition:

Reprint 2016

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2015]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Producer of Nanook of the North, Moana, Man of Aran, and other pioneering documentaries between 1920 and 1940, Robert J. Flaherty was America's first independent film artist. Popular conceptions of Flaherty have led many either to worship his work and regard him in mythical terms or to debunk him as a fraud and castigate him for lack of a social consciousness. Rarely has the attempt been made to understand him in the context of his times. This captivating study presents Flaherty through the eyes of someone who knew him personally—the brilliant British filmmaker and scholar Paul Rotha. A colleague and close friend of Flaherty, Rotha gives us s a powerfully written biography that is a balanced and intimate look at the life and work of an American genius.Editor Jay Ruby has restored the Rotha biography, including a wealth of anecdotes, letters, and memoirs that begin to bring Robert Flaherty the man into focus. An especially valuable dimension of this work is the appraisal of Flaherty the filmmaker from the viewpoint of a major figure of the British industry. He summarizes in detail the critical response to Flaherty of his contemporaries, about which only sketchy information has previously been available.Flaherty regarded himself as an explorer as well as a filmmaker. The exciting story of this biography takes us from the Arctic, where Flaherty spent years filming Nanook, to the South Pacific, England, the Aran Islands, and finally the United States. his courage and overarching vision resulted in an unprecedented recording of the human struggle and in documentary films that reached a wider audience than ever before.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Portrait by Oliver St. John Gogarty (1948)

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Some Flaherty Sayings

Chapter 1. The North and Nanook

Chapter 2. Moana and the Pacific

Chapter 3. Europe, England, and the Atlantic

Chapter 4. India and the Elephants

Chapter 5. United States and The Land

Chapter 6. Louisiana Story

Chapter 7. Man and Artist

Afterword

Appendix I. The Films of Robert J. Flaherty

Appendix II. Some Flaherty Stories

Appendix III. On the Record

Appendix IV. Notes by John Goldman

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

"The films of Robert J. Flaherty:" p. 295-299.

Bibliography: p. 347-352.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Jul 2020)

ISBN:

9781512818512

1512818518

OCLC:

562702279