The documentary is one of the finest portraits of a Hollywood director on film. Stevens’s son, in the role of the director, respects the duration of the movie clips, without interfering any commentary or intercutting talking heads. In fact, his meticulous and unhurried pace shares similarities with George Stevens’s own style. Among may interviews, noteworthy is that of director Rouben Mamoulian, who speaks of how Stevens’s films aspire to the condition of music in their time-sensitive proportion of movements. The film convinces the viewer that each of the personal projects Stevens worked on, especially after the war, served as a reaffirmation of an inner truth of humanity that the director believed in.
George Stevens, Jr., is a writer, director, producer, playwright and author. He has earned many accolades for his contribution in film and television. During his tenure as Director in the American Film Institute more than 10,000 American films were preserved. He also established the AFI’s Center for Advanced Film Studies, which gained a reputation as the finest learning opportunity for young filmmakers.
