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George Stevens |
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Director / Producer /
Cinematographer |
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1904 - 1975 |
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Born December 18,
Oakland, California, USA |
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Key
Production Country: USA |
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Key Genres:
Drama,
Romantic Comedy, Romance, Comedy |
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Key
Collaborators: Pandro S. Berman (Producer), Henry Berman
(Editor), Van Nest Polglase (Production Designer), Katharine
Hepburn (Leading Player), Cary Grant (Leading Player), Jean Arthur
(Leading Player), Edgar Buchanan (Leading Character Player), Joan
Fontaine (Leading Character Player), William Mellor (Cinematographer),
William Hornbeck (Editor) |
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Recommended:
Swing Time
(1936)*, Penny
Serenade (1941), Woman of the Year (1942), The More the Merrier (1943),
A Place in the Sun (1951)*, Shane (1953)*, Giant (1956) |
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Worth a Look: Alice Adams (1935), A Damsel
in Distress (1937), Quality Street (1937), Gunga Din (1939)*, The Talk of
the Town (1942), The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) |
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* Listed in TSPDT's
1,000 Greatest Films
section. |
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Links:
[
Amazon
]
[
IMDB ] [
TCMDB ] [
All-Movie
Guide ] [
Film Reference ]
[
Reel
Classics Page ] [
Wikipedia ] [
PBS American Masters ] |
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Books:
[
George
Stevens: An American Romantic ] [
Giant:
George Stevens, A Life on Film ] [
George Stevens: Interviews ] |
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"People always count in a George Stevens film, and it is notable
that even in his early comedies (and very good they are too),
and in his later melodramas, he never quite allows sentiment to
take over from sense, and so retains his capacity to move,
rather than merely tug, at the heartstrings." -
Mario Reading (The Movie Companion, 2006) |
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"It is often said that the war changed Stevens, and made it
less easy for him to believe in entertainment... There is no
biography as yet, so the question is hard to answer. But
something seems to have afflicted Stevens. He was never a great
director. But in the thirties he had a feeling for fun, grace,
and story. Thereafter, he was always somber - and sometimes
heavier than that." -
David Thomson (The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, 2002) |
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"Mainly because of
multiple takes and shooting from every possible angle, George
Stevens took 22 years to make his last eight films. In the late
1920s, Stevens directed Laurel and Hardy two-reelers, and in the
1930s and early 1940s, a wide range of polished films including
three comedies with Katharine Hepburn, a couple of Fred Astaire
musicals, and a colonial adventure film, Gunga Din
(1939). His later films were more personal, his working methods
slower, and his style more deliberate." -
Ronald Bergan (Film - Eyewitness Companions, 2006) |
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"His earlier work shows a flair for comedy (The More the
Merrier, 43), musicals (Swing Time, 36), adventure (Gunga
Din, 39), and Americana (Alice Adams, 35). Stevens
later lensed big blockbusters containing characters searching
for truth and peace, as well as the director's often brilliant
use of slowly blossoming narratives, limpid dissolves, and
anticlimactic violence." -
William R. Meyer (The Film Buff's Catalog, 1978) |
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Please
note that the rating given for this director (see top-right) is based
only on the films we have seen (listed above). Films by this director that we
haven't seen include Kentucky Kernels (1934), Annie Oakley
(1935), The Nitwits (1935), Vivacious Lady (1938), Vigil in the Night
(1940), George Stevens WW2 Footage (1946), I Remember Mama (1948),
Something to Live For (1952), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), and
The Only Game in Town (1970). |
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