Final Cuts

By: Nat Segaloff

Narrated by: Nat Segaloff

Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

Critic-producer Nat Segaloff was granted access to private papers, production records, never-before-published interviews, and specialized archives in reconstructing the colorful, touching, and sometimes scandalous stories behind the making of the last films of some of Hollywood's top directors.

Winningly listenable and yet meticulously researched, its substantial entries range from Robert Aldrich and Robert Altman to Peter Yates and Fred Zinnemann, and John Ford and Howard Hawks to Otto Preminger and Richard Brooks. Certain to attract controversy because of whom it ignores as well as whom it includes, Final Cuts presents 50 widely varied chronicles of success and failure, inspiration and ennui, elation and heartache, and every other emotion enjoyed or endured by the greatest filmmakers that Hollywood ever knew.

©2013 Nat Segaloff (P)2013 BearManor Media

A fascinating book marred by a bad reading

What did you love best about Final Cuts?

The story was unique and engaging.

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

NO.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes.

Any additional comments?

This is a good book marred by a bad reading. The author seldom takes a breath; if you aren't paying close attention, you can move onto the next director and not even know it. I didn't realize I was past the prologue and into the first chapter for over three minutes. Also, this book sound like it was done at the guy's house at times, and there is no editing at all. When the author makes a mistake, he pauses (the only real pauses in the narration!) goes back a few words, and starts over; pages can be heard turning as he goes through his script, and in Chapter 18, either the file is bad, or the author skipped a few lines because something is missing. That said, it's not all bad, and the material is engaging enough that I now want to buy the kindle version of the book.

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

There are better books on the topic of film

The book did not do a great job of making the material of interest. I read everything I can lay my hands on regarding film history, and there are a lot of other books on the topic better than this.