Fragments: Portraits from the Inside

London/Boston: Faber and Faber. Near Fine. 1996 (c.1994). First Paperback Edition. Softcover. [nice clean unread book, essentially as new with just a touch of wear at the top of the spine and slight age-toning to the edges of the text block (typical with many Faber & Faber books)]. Trade PB (B&W photographs) One of the best film-director autobiographies, this "remarkable, brutally honest and utterly compelling memoir" presents "a series of snap-shots from [the author's] fantastically eventful life, from Vienna, Paris and London to Hollywood -- where he encountered many of the legendary figures of cinema's golden age," in the course of directing classic films such as RAMROD, PITFALL and HOUSE OF WAX, along with a string of highly-regarded Westerns and crime dramas during the 1950s. The Preface to the book was provided by Bertrand Tavernier, an unabashed admirer of de Toth's work, who calls the director's films "indispensible companions which stimulate me and restore my confidence." .