Cecil B. DeMille’s name is synonymous with the words “Hollywood epic.” Over the course of his career, DeMille played a huge role in creating the grandeur and the sense of wonder that is now an integral part of the Hollywood mystique. Even though it’s been over 50 years since DeMille last sat in the director’s chair, his legacy of grandeur still endures and the new book “Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic” by Mark Viera and Cecilia de Mille Presley (Cecil’s beloved granddaughter) is here to pay tribute to Hollywood’s ultimate showman.
I can’t help but be excited when I see a new book by Mark Viera. He is responsible for some of my favorite books on the subject of classic Hollywood and “Art of the Hollywood Epic” has the same level of quality I have come to expect from Viera. It’s exactly the type of tribute a director like DeMille deserves. Much like his films, this book is lavish, beautiful, and big. (And I do mean big. Amazon lists its shipping weight at 6.6 pounds.)
“Art of the Hollywood Epic” is illustrated with loads of stunning stills, behind the scenes photographs, storyboards, costume sketches, and photographs of original memorabilia preserved by DeMille’s estate. In her introduction, Cecilia de Mille Presley said, “DeMille was an art lover. He particularly loved illustration. It told a story, just as he did.” Viera also states that DeMille put the same level of effort into the unit still photographs taken for his films as he did the films themselves, something Hollywood directors rarely did. As you look through this book, it’s very clear how much he truly did care about all of those things. Things other directors might have considered a nuisance or irrelevant, he treated like fine art.
Some of the memorabilia photographed for the book includes the typewriter used to write 1914’s The Straw Man, scripts, props, and costumes such as Charlton Heston’s robe from The Ten Commandments and the Adrian-designed cape from Madam Satan. I always love it when books include photographs of props and costumes that still exist. It’s exciting to see what still exists from these films. They also give you the chance to see some of these props in costumes in a whole new way. The Madam Satan cape looks pretty fabulous in black and white, but it looks even more spectacular in color.
Lest you think this is just another coffee book with nothing more to offer than pretty pictures, the text is very much worth reading. Between Viera’s first-rate writing and insights from Cecilia DeMille Presley, Cecil B. DeMille’s granddaughter who was very close to her grandfather, the end result is a wonderful tribute to the king of Hollywood epics that not only celebrates the visual aspect of his career, but also offers a lot of insight to the type of person DeMille was.
Disclosure: I received a review copy from the publisher, which does not influence my opinion of this product in any way.