Thinking Mann, by Alan MIller
William Darby,
I learned how to make movies from Anthony Mann: why the shots, how the shots, traveling shots, location shots, strategies and techniques in editing -- he was my sense of movement.
-Wim Wenders
Mystery is at the heart of all that is appealing about movies; and Anthony Mann, born Anton or Emil Bundsmann in 1906 or 1907, is one of cinema's mystery men, as well as one of its few thinking men. He remains unfairly neglected, in part because he came to prominence sometime after the shiniest years of the golden age. In looking at the important directors of Hollywood's creative pinnacle, say, from the mid-1930s to the late-1950s, it is clear that there was an advantage to making one's debut as early as possible. The big three -- John Ford (born 1895), Howard Hawks (born 1896) and Alfred Hitchcock (born 1899) -- were each born in the nineteenth century. They had the advantage of establishing themselves in the silent era (though obviously Hitchcock worked in England until 1940) and were well established directors throughout the salad days of the factory system, when studios were vertically integrated under one roof, or at least all within one great big enclosing fence. These three beloved giants then moved smoothly into the era of independent production in the 1950s and managed to outlive the old Hollywood which had made them, working well into the 1960s and beyond.
