Film Forum

With his landmark design of Douglas Fairbanks’ The Thief of Bagdad, WILLIAM CAMERON MENZIES (1896-1957) became Hollywood’s most famous art director.  A director himself from the early 1930s, Menzies would wield much more influence as a “production designer” (a title producer David O. Selznick created for him), culminating in his monumental design of Gone With the Wind.  In the 1940s, Menzies worked with directors like Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Mann, and Sam Wood, helping them to puzzle out complex compositional problems, such as the windmill interiors in Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent.  Menzies achieved his greatest results with Wood, effectively co-directing behind the camera while Wood dealt with the actors (for Pride of the Yankees, the director’s opening credit card was shared with Menzies). In his new book, William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come (Pantheon), biographer James Curtis examines Menzies’ work in depth, revealing him as a key figure in revolutionizing the look and technique of American motion picture production. 

Programmed by Bruce Goldstein
Series Advisor:  James Curtis

Menzies biographer James Curtis will introduce the following screenings:

Friday, Nov 27 at 7:00  TEMPEST and excerpts from THE DOVE

Saturday, Nov 28 at 6:10  OUR TOWN

Sunday, Nov 29 at 1:30  KINGS ROW

Tuesday, Dec 1 at 8:10  THE BELOVED ROGUE

Following each screening, Mr. Curtis will sign copies of his new book (available at our concession) in the lobby

Special thanks to Brian Belovarac, Emily Woodburne (Janus Films), Tim Lanza (Cohen Film Collection), Peter Langs (IPMA), Todd Wiener, Steven K. Hill (UCLA Film & Television), Lynanne Schweighofer, Mike Mashon (Library of Congress), Paul Ginsburg (Universal Pictures), Daniel O’Rourke, Andrea Kalas (Paramount), Nicole Woods, Kristie Nakamura (Warner Bros.), Chris Chouinard (Park Circus), David Shepard, Jeffery Masino (Flickr Alley), Caitlin Robertson, Barbara Crandall, Joe Reid (20th Century Fox), David Jennings, Michael Horne (Sony Pictures), May Haduong, Cassie Blake (Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences), Mary Tallungan (Disney), Wade Williams, Kathryn Zuckerman, and Eric Spilker. 

Reviews

“Menzies, the man who more or less invented the idea of production design in movies, [was] a genius, pure and simple, and his influence was incalculable.”
– Martin Scorsese

“Film Forum's series is a welcome roster of the familiar and the too-little-screened — and a chance to consider the mysteries of genius, collaboration, and visual thinking.”
Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice

Films in this Series