Giant: George Stevens, a Life on Film
“At a time when Hollywood is so disappointing, it is good to recall that once there were giants who thought of filmmaking beyond moneymaking.  George Stevens stood tall among them with a fascinating life and stellar career.  Marilyn Moss has writtenGiantwith a clarity, elegance, and humanity that echoes his great films.”—Patrick McGilligan, Edgar-nominated author,Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light“Stevens is not so well remembered today. Perhaps that's because he didn't work the self-promotion angle as well as his contemporaries. Or perhaps it's because he broke enough budgets and schedules to have gotten himself crossed off the canonical list of the greats, on which only the budget- and schedule-breaking Orson Welles still has much of a place these days. On that score alone, film journalist Marilyn Ann Moss does a fine turn for Stevens inGiant: George Stevens, a Life on Filmby calling attention to the influential work he did throughout five decades in Hollywood. . . . Moss honors the innovative storyteller who, it seems, had trouble finding his way but who merits reconsideration. An engaging book.”—The Hollywood Reporter“Moss has done a sensational job withGiant. She has accessed the extensive files in the George Stevens Collection at the Academy Library, so her primary research is impeccable. She gives us both production histories and critical analysis of the films, and also does an estimable job of capturing Stevens’ rather cryptic character. Along with Robert Birchard’s volume on Cecil B. DeMille, this is the best director bio of 2004.”—The National Board of Review“Ms. Moss'Giantis the first biography of Stevens, so it's a very welcome addition to the bookshelf, even if, by itself, it's unlikely to reverse decades of critical drift.”—Scott Eyman,New York Observer“Moss' work is extensive and draws on the huge George Stevens Collection at the Academy's Beverly Hills Library. She balances her findings there with comments from many of the director's friends and provides penetrating insights of her own. . . . Stevens constitutes a vast, nearly impossible subject and it's to Moss' supreme credit that she gets so much of what makes him unique.”—culturevulture.net