Saul Bass book

I was quite fortunate that the library had Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design on the shelves last week.  (I have made great progress in clearing out my virtual library For later shelf.)  It is a massive book, full of graphic art and corporate logos.  I had no idea Bass was responsible for so many logos, including AT&T, Dixie Cups, Lawry's Seasoning, United Airlines, Quaker Oats, Minolta, United Way and Girl Scouts of America.

 

But of course, Bass is mostly known for his absolutely incredible title sequences.  

While I hate to gripe, it is a shame that they couldn't have figured out a way to include a DVD of them or link to some on-line archive.  I suspect a number of them are on YouTube (probably illicitly) and that can be very hit-or-miss in terms of quality, including whether sound is actually present or not, and of course the all important question of whether one is forced to sit through an ad ahead of time.

From the book, I've compiled a nearly complete list of films with Bass title sequences.  (There were a few that just didn't strike me as that interesting from the images provided in the book or that seemed particularly uncharacteristic.)  

I think my project for next year* will be to watch most, if not all of them.  Or re-watch them.  But then to go ahead and clip out the title sequences for further study and review.  Fortunately, in many cases, these are enjoyable films in their own right, though there are a few that I would only watch as part of this larger project, and I suspect at least a handful aren't in general circulation (and I may have to rely on YouTube).  I'll put an V in front if I've already viewed the film, and this second time around, I'll use Xs (so I guess a small x if I only manage to watch the title sequence and not the entire movie).

Carmen Jones
V Man Golden Arm
V Anatomy of a Murder
Saint Joan
Bonjour, Tristesse
Advise and Consent
Bunny Lake is Missing 
Seven Year Itch
Love in the Afternoon
V Some Like it Hot
One Two Three
Storm Center
V Around the World Eighty Days (end credits as well)
Edge of the City
Pride and the Passion 
The Big Country
V Vertigo
V North by Northwest
Psycho
Facts of Life
Ocean’s Eleven
Magnificent Seven
Spartacus
Something Wild (from 1961, not the Jonathan Demme movie from the 80s)
West Side Story
Walk on the Wild Side
Nine Hours to Rama
V It’s a Mad Mad Mad World
V Seconds
Grand Prix 

(After a long layoff from doing title sequences for others**, Bass was brought back and worked primarily on Martin Scorsese films.)
Big
Doc Hollywood
V War of the Roses
Goodfellas
Cape Fear
V Age of Innocence
Higher Education
Casino

I don't have anything particularly profound to say about this book.  If you love graphic design, you've probably already bought it.  It's a little too static for someone like myself who is primarily interested in Bass's title sequences and not particularly interested in corporate logos.  Still, with the exception of the Pink Panther sequence from the Pink Panther and the Inspector from A Shot in the Dark I can't think of many other cases where I paid much attention to the movie titles.  So hats off to Saul Bass.

* My project for last year was to work my way through Akira Kurosawa's films, at which I failed miserably.  I only made it through the first 6 films in the AK100 box before stalling out completely (though I've seen 5 or 6 of his late films, including Dreams on its US release). I just ran out of time, not of interest.  But I will get through them sooner than later.

** During this time he actually directed a few short films himself.  Most of them don't seem quite up my alley, though I'll rent them if I have a chance.  The one that I will make an effort to try to catch is called Notes on the Popular Arts.