Film Forum

Film historian Howard Gutner first became interested in the Hollywood studio system, and the artists and crafts people who worked behind the scenes, while acquiring a master’s degree in film studies at Northwestern University. His first book, Gowns by Adrian: The MGM Years 1928-1941, broke new ground as the first comprehensive study of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s legendary designer. This fall, it returns in an expanded paperback edition, enriched with updated material that enhances Adrian’s legacy for a new generation of readers. Gowns by Adrian was followed by MGM Style: Cedric Gibbons and the Art of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Gibbons was the head of the art department at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for over thirty years, longer than any other executive in the MGM hierarchy, and he had more of an ongoing impact on the look of the MGM films than any other single individual in the company’s history. In her “Spotlight Pick” review for The New York Times “Sunday Book Review”, critic Elisabeth Egan wrote, “in building the backlot of the studio, Gibbons transported moviegoers to places they might never have gone. With this book, Gutner does the same for us.”

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