Something's Gonna Live (2009)

"Daniel Raim has followed his Oscar-nominated The Man on Lincoln's Nose, a warm and illuminating short documentary on renowned production designer Robert Boyle with the equally delightful and thoughtful feature-length Something's Gonna Live. Raim again focuses on Boyle but brings in Boyle's friends and fellow art directors, the late Henry Bumstead and the late Albert Nozaki, who worked together at Paramount in the early 30s. Raim follows the three on a visit to that studio, and later Boyle and storyboard artist Harold Michelson return to Bodega Bay, the site of The Birds, one of Boyle's five films with Alfred Hitchcock. (Bumstead made four with Hitchcock and designed Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, released the year of his death, 2006, at the age of 91.) Finally, Boyle discusses making In Cold Blood with the late cinematographer Conrad Hall and The Thomas Crown Affair with cinematographer Haskell Wexler. "Boyle and his colleagues admit to missing the camaraderie of the studio system, believe that films once left more to the imagination and were more personal, but all these artists are grateful for being able to leave a legacy-and an awesome one at that-and they talk about their craft rather than indulging in mere nostalgia. Like Raim's earlier documentary on Boyle, Something's Gonna Live is another reminder that not all of Hollywood's greatest stars are actors."