A hundred chorus girls sashaying through a Busby Berkeley musical. Bugs Bunny munching nonchalantly on a carrot. Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone in Hollywood’s greatest swordfight (‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’ or ‘Captain Blood’ — take your pick). Bette Davis pulling the trigger in ‘Deception’. James Cagney smashing a grapefruit into a moll’s face. Alex and his droogs in the Korova Milk Bar. Heath Ledger’s Joker hissing, ‘Do you know how I got these scars?’ The lilting music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Raoul Walsh. ‘Bonnie and Clyde’. Michael Curtiz. ‘Rio Bravo’. Sam Peckinpah. ‘Dirty Harry’. ‘Made it, Ma! Top of the world!’
Warner Bros — the studio which brought us these films, these talents, these memories — turns 85 this year, and the anniversary is commemorated with a lavish hardback history by the thoughtful film critics, Richard Schickel and George Perry. It’s a compelling overview, and successfully straddles the divide between academic study and coffee-table picture book. The commentary fizzles out as the years progress, but that’s to be expected — the studio’s more recent output can barely compete with the luminous offerings of the Thirties, Forties and Fifties. But, overall, this book gives film-fans exactly what they want. Much as Warner Bros has done since 1923.
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