Tabla de Contenidos: “…Sergei Eisenstein : the historical dialectic -- John Ford : poetry and heroism -- George Stevens : the American character : desire and conscience -- Billy Wilder : existence at stake -- Ernst Lubitsch : the life force of romance -- Elia Kazan : drama as life -- Francois Truffaut : celebrate the child -- Roman Polanski : the aloneness of existence -- Stanley Kubrick : the darkness of modern life -- Steven Spielberg : childhood forever -- Margarethe Von Trotta : historical life and personal life intersect -- Lukas Moodysson : empathy and its limits -- Catherine Breillat : the warfare of sexuality -- Mary Harron : celebrity and banality -- Conclusion -- Appendix: Finding the director's idea…”

“…With access to the collections of directors Fred Zinnemann George Stevens and John Ford, author Michael F. Blake incorporates script drafts, memos, personal notes and daily production reports to explain how each film was made. …”