Making Movies

By: Sidney Lumet

Narrated by: Richard M. Davidson

One of the greatest directors of all time, Sidney Lumet has made movies that have been nominated for more than 50 Academy Awards. Making Movies is an honest and unflinching look at the business and craft of movie making. Lumet's book reveals the ingredients for the potion that brings movie magic to life and assures one thing: you will never look at movies the same way again.

©1995 Amjen Entertainment (P)1995 Recorded Books

Informative and easy to listen to.

As an amateur filmmaker, this book was very insightful and inspiring. Very well read and easy to listen to.

The best book on making movies!

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Great narration and good discussion of the filmmaking process

It is definitely dated, but all that’s really changed is updated technology. It helps to see the process. You won’t become an expert by listening to this, but you’ll definitely learn the process this director uses, which any filmmaker can adapt if they so choose.

One of the better "How To's" of Movie Making.

I bought this to enjoy the memoir of Sidney Lumet and hear some of the tales of his movie-making history. But this book is actually a better "how to" about how movies are made than most books that are marketed to be educational.

Learned a lot about Hollywood History and the ins and outs of getting a story to the screen.

If you love movies, this book will help you understand every aspect of how they are made.

Making Movies takes the listener on a tutorial of how to make a movie - from first idea through release and reviews. You’ll learn the terminology used by professionals and every talent required to put together a film. It is remarkably complex, a buzzing hive of workers all moving together (hopefully harmoniously) so that everybody is working on the same picture.

An awful lot of things can go wrong. Equipment fails, workers are incapable of being part of a team instead of as a lone wolf, there are strikes and, more than anything, the people financing the movie demand both change and increased economizing. It isn’t easy to overcome all that and still maintain the vision of the writer and of the director.

I was mostly fascinated. There is more than a bit of Lumet’s ego in evidence throughout but maybe that is required to helm a major motion picture. It got annoying at times, though.

The narration was very good - just right for the material.

If you just want to see the end product at the theatre or on your TV, this book isn’t for you. It’s very technical. Mostly technical, in fact. But if you are curious how films are actually made, from costumes, to casting to music to editing, you will be fascinated.