Biography of the Academy Award winning director including dramatic color footage of WWII.Biography of the Academy Award winning director including dramatic color footage of WWII.Biography of the Academy Award winning director including dramatic color footage of WWII.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations
Pandro S. Berman
- Self
- (as Pandro Berman)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaIn a 2022 interview with Hawk Koch, George Stevens Jr. reflected on the importance of the film in his career: "I think it was actually in 1984 that I did it, not that long after my father had died. I think it remains the most satisfying thing I've ever done, to have been able to do that and really show who he was and what he did and to have it respected."
- Quotes
[first lines]
Self - Narrator: Centuries ago an artist scrawled on a wall, "Let something of me survive." When my father died, he left these things to me. I looked through them, hoping to learn more about the man I thought I knew best in all the world. Here I found his wartime diary. He had written, "Life is a journey and it's always most interesting when you're not sure where you're going."
- Alternate versionsEdited to approximately 60 minutes for broadcasting on "American Masters".
- ConnectionsEdited from George Stevens' World War II Footage (1946)
Featured review
George Stevens, Jr. produced and narrates this look at his father's life and work. It includes interviews with Katharine Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Hermes Pan, Joel McCrea, Warren Beatty, and Mrs. Stevens, all of which are very interesting.
The most fascinating parts of this documentary are the ones which show footage from Stevens' own camera. There is on the set material from various films and his amazing World War II films of the liberation of Paris, Dachau, and the Normandy invasion. Staggering and stunning. This perhaps deserved its own documentary, and I believe that later on, the footage was released separately.
Film clips include parts of: Alice Adams, The More the Merrier, Shane, Diary of Anne Frank, Giant, A Place in the Sun, The Greatest Story Ever Told. Shelley Winters, not interviewed here, sadly, tells the story in her autobiography of Stevens having them rehearse without dialogue. It's perhaps the secret of the intimacy that is often captured in his films. "The More the Merrier" clip is that of an improvised love scene between McCrea and Arthur.
Someone commented here that it's not for Stevens Jr. to canonize his father. Being in the field of classic film, I disagree. This may not be a perfect documentary, and it may not dwell on his father's failures, such as the overblown The Greatest Story Ever Told. The common problem faced by many of these great filmmakers is that as the studio system collapsed and Hollywood changed, it was difficult for them to adjust.
The point is this: yes, the legacy speaks for itself - but who is there to hear it speak if the families don't honor their famous relative? A son's insight may be biased, but it's also more enlightened in many respects. If anyone believes there is some huge movement afoot to see that these wonderful contributors to film history are remembered, they're wrong. Even the theaters once devoted to classic film hesitate to show them now because they can't make any money. I say bravo to anyone willing to make a documentary on any aspect of classic film.
The most fascinating parts of this documentary are the ones which show footage from Stevens' own camera. There is on the set material from various films and his amazing World War II films of the liberation of Paris, Dachau, and the Normandy invasion. Staggering and stunning. This perhaps deserved its own documentary, and I believe that later on, the footage was released separately.
Film clips include parts of: Alice Adams, The More the Merrier, Shane, Diary of Anne Frank, Giant, A Place in the Sun, The Greatest Story Ever Told. Shelley Winters, not interviewed here, sadly, tells the story in her autobiography of Stevens having them rehearse without dialogue. It's perhaps the secret of the intimacy that is often captured in his films. "The More the Merrier" clip is that of an improvised love scene between McCrea and Arthur.
Someone commented here that it's not for Stevens Jr. to canonize his father. Being in the field of classic film, I disagree. This may not be a perfect documentary, and it may not dwell on his father's failures, such as the overblown The Greatest Story Ever Told. The common problem faced by many of these great filmmakers is that as the studio system collapsed and Hollywood changed, it was difficult for them to adjust.
The point is this: yes, the legacy speaks for itself - but who is there to hear it speak if the families don't honor their famous relative? A son's insight may be biased, but it's also more enlightened in many respects. If anyone believes there is some huge movement afoot to see that these wonderful contributors to film history are remembered, they're wrong. Even the theaters once devoted to classic film hesitate to show them now because they can't make any money. I say bravo to anyone willing to make a documentary on any aspect of classic film.
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- George Stevens
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 50 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
Top Gap
By what name was George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984) officially released in India in English?
Answer