Description:
ReFocus: The Literary Films of Richard Brooks highlights the accomplishments of one of postwar America's most important and successful directors, with an emphasis on the "literary" aspects of his career, including his work as a screenwriter and adaptor of such modern classics as Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Lord Jim, and The Brothers Karamazov.
Brief description: R. Barton Palmer is Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature Emeritus at Clemson University. He is the author, editor, or general editor of many books including Hollywood's Dark Cinema: The American Film Noir (1994), After Hitchcock: Influence, Imitation, and Intertextuality (2006), and A Little Solitaire: John Frankenheimer and American Film (2011). He is the series editor for EUP's traditions in World Cinema, Traditions in American Cinema and International Film Stars series, and he is co-editor of five recent EUP books: Michael Mann, George Cukor, Film Noir, International Noir and The Other Hollywood Renaissance.
Review Quotes:
In this volume, the rich and varied career of 'literary director' Richard Brooks finally receives its well-deserved re-evaluation. The fine set of essays commissioned by Palmer and Pettey describes Brooks as a writer-filmmaker equally committed to the respectful adaptation of literary fiction as he was to a socially concerned cinema.
--Constantine Verevis, Monash University