Looking at contact sheet is always a cinematic experience, especially when the images are classic Hollywood movies. You are looking through the photographer’s eyes as they search for the perfect shot. In the classic Hollywood era, behind-the-scenes photos were carefully vetted for marketing purposes and unapproved shots were never to be seen again.Hollywood Frame by Frame lays out hundreds of never-published photos from the sets of some of the most iconic films of the twentieth century. From Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Bus Stop and Raging Bull this book is a real treasure trove of the unseen silver screen. In the 30s, a “unit photographer” was a job on most projects to provide images for the growing media demand for celeb news. But most of the time the contact sheets were simply chucked. As photographer Bruce McBroom, who shot stills on the sets of films such as What’s Up Doc? and The Godfather Part II puts it:
“Most of Hollywood history has survived because someone dug it out of the trash.”
You can get Hollywood Frame by Frame by Princeton Architectural Press here. Good Christmas gift.
Julius Caesar with Marlon Brando, 1953
Breakfast at Tiffany’s featuring Audrey Hepburn, 1961
Rear Window with Jimmy Stewart & Grace Kelly, 1954
Raging Bull featuring Robert DeNiro, 1980
On the set of Giant with James Dean, 1956