Joseph H. Lewis

Rating:
Summary: Joseph H. Lewis Covered Beautifully by Nevins
Review: Joseph H. Lewis was a superb film director, and Francis Nevins did an absolutely wonderful job of covering his career.

Rating:
Summary: Interesting director, dull book
Review: Lewis almost defines the idea of a cult director, since his work was exclusively in the b picture category and he never worked with big stars or big budgets. Except for the justly famous Gun Crazy, a wild film noir take on the Bonnie and Clyde story, and the talked about but more minor noir The Big Combo, most of Lewis' films are not well known and a lot of them are not good, though the director often tries to do something stylish or unexpected with some of the scenes. It's not surprising I guess that the only book on the man is this slim, expensive and not very detailed book. It's okay if you love Joseph H. Lewis movies and you want to spend 30-something dollars for a moderately extended interview and a filmography. The interviewer doesn't go very deep and you don't come away with a very good idea of what inspired Lewis or even many good anecdotes.