William Cameron Menzies

He was the consummate designer of film architecture on a grand scale, influenced by German expressionism and the work of the great European directors; he collaborated with producers including Samuel Goldwyn and Selznick; directors, among them: D.W. Griffith, Alfred Hitchcock, Lewis Milestone, Frank Capra, and Raoul Walsh. He was known for his visual flair and love of adventure and fantasy films--a timeless innovator who meticulously preplanned the color and design of each film through a series of continuity sketches that made clear camera angles, lighting, and the actors' positions for each scene. Interviewing colleagues, friends, and family, and drawing on archives, among them the William Cameron Menzies family collection, with access to original artwork, correspondence, scrapbooks, and unpublished writing, and with more than 130 black-and-white and color illustrations, James Curtis has given us a full-scale portrait of an extraordinary artist in his time.