Empire UK

142 BOOKS

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FURTHER READING

Woody Allen: Not just

a great director but

a great screen actor.

N THE PREAMBLE

to his sharp smart
luxuriously illustrated
monograph Tom
Shone argues that
while Martin
Scorsese’s status as
an auteur rests on a mere three classics
Woody Allen’s reputation is built onten.
If this smacks of an author over-hyping
his current subject — Manhattan
Murder Mystery a masterpiece? — it still
speaks to the remarkable depth and
breadth of Allen’s body of work. There
may be the odd The Curse Of The Jade
Scorpion but Shone’s book clearly
demonstrates that the world is a far
better place for Woody’s 46-film output.
This is more a biography of Allen’s
creativity than a look at his life per se. So
we get a sketch of Allen’s pre-filmmaking
life: warring family precocious teen gag
writer nervy stand-up and break into
movies as a writer-actor (shooting Casino
Royale Allen played poker with the cast
of The Dirty Dozen). But the facts are
always in the service of his fiction. Radio
Days is a portrait of his warring family.
That litany at the end of Manhattan is
basically a summation of his childhood
passions. Zelig and Sweet And Lowdown
emerge as bizarre self-portraits.
When we get to Allen’s filmography
Shone’s analysis throws up new food
for thought outstripping all those tired
“early funny ones” categorisations.
There are musings on Allen’s affinity for
British diffidence his repeated instinct

Woody Allen:

A Retrospective

★★★★★
AUTHOR TOM SHONE / OUT NOW

NEW YORK STORY

to follow a popular success (say Annie

Hall) with a stink bomb (Interiors) to

test his new-found audience and just why

murder has usurped masturbation as the

key activity for the Allen protagonist.

Supporting Shone’s insights is a

welter of fantastic imagery documenting

Allen at every stage adorned with choice

quotes (“I made the fi rst DiCaprio fi lm

after Titanic and it doesn’t make a dime”

he says of Celebrity. The Man In The Iron

Mask came between but you take the

point). To his credit Shone doesn’t just

follow critical orthodoxies. He denies the

critical rehabilitation often gifted Stardust

Memories yet takes the atypical stance

that Allen is one of the great screen

actors “as studiously casual as Brando

or Bogart”. For Shone Allen is a “great

disappointed dreamer... escapism tinged

with melancholy” and he makes his

arguments beautifully. It’sthe brain food

Allen’s rich career deserves.IAN FREER

The 2001 File

★★★★

AUTHOR CHRISTOPHER FRAYLING

OUT OCTOBER 22

➞ This is as

much art book as

fi lm tome but then

2001: A Space

Odyssey never

feels entirely

contained by the

term ‘fi lm’. Frayling

explores 2001 through the prism of

designer/NASA conceptualist Harry

Lange (who appealed to Kubrick as

he’d literally “worked with rockets”)

and the quest to divine the future

including a stunning compendium

of Lange’s blueprints.IN

They Drew As They

Pleased: The Hidden

Art Of Disney’s

Golden Age

★★★

AUTHOR DIDIER GHEZ / OUT NOW

➞ While

the legendary

Nine Old Men

powered Walt

Disney’s 1930s

golden age this

tome showcases the infl uential often

kookier animation of four less heralded

talents. Their eye-popping sketches

are augmented by correspondence with

the boss man himself. The joy though

is in perusing early incarnations of

beloved creations.PDS

The Big Bad Book Of

Bill Murray: A Critical

Appreciation Of The

World’s Finest Actor

★★★★

AUTHOR ROBERT SCHNAKENBERG

OUT NOW

➞ Few actors

merit an entire

encyclopedia

devoted to their

career and quirks.

Bill Murray is one

of them. This glossy

guide is curated

with love and fi lled with obscure ingots

of Murraybilia (he once called John

Candy at 4am to thank him for being

Canadian). Everything’s here in fact

except his fabled 800 number. NDS

SOME MORE
ALLEN ALLEN ON
ALLEN AND TOM
SHONE ON FELLOW
NY FILMMAKING
LEGEND MARTIN
SCORSESE

Complete Prose

(Woody Allen)

All of Allen’s pieces for The

New Yorker in one handy

volume. Remains

utter genius.

Woody Allen On Woody

Allen (Stig Bjorkman)

Bjorkman’s extensive

interviews. Stops at Sweet

And Lowdown but

still essential.

Martin Scorsese:

A Retrospective

(Tom Shone)

Shone previously profi led

the other great New York

auteur. Indispensable stuff.