In absorbing essays on books about film, the distinguished critic Richard Schickel offers more insights into moviemaking on every page than a reader will find in an entire shelf of film encyclopedias. His trenchant observations about films, actors, directors, producers, and the machinations of an always fascinating industry are consistently authoritative and entertaining. Here are charming but clear-eyed appraisals of Hollywood's major players, its low comedy and high self-regard, its bedrock of bourgeois values, its strange and convoluted affair with sex, and its relentless drive to give the customers what they want, regardless of critical failings. promises to be one of the most enjoyable movie books of the year.