"I found it absorbing, but no wonder: it's about one of the truly great film directors by one of film's great critics. I would be surprised if it wasn't the best film biography ever." - John Huston With the possible exception of Alfred Hitchcock, Federico Fellini is surely the most flamboyantly identifiable motion picture director of all time. Along with De Sica, Rossellini, Antonioni, and Visconti, he is responsible for establishing the international prestige of Italy's postwar film industry, but of that group Fellini is the only one to have become a celebrated personality as well as a respected autore. Now Hollis Alpert, long-time film critic and author of Burton and The Barrymores, has written a carefully researched, authoritative biography that demystifies the life, analyzes the work, and seeks to establish factual connections between the two. In June 1985, Fellini was honored with the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual award for outstanding cinematic achievement at a gala ceremony that included a retrospective of clips from his films. Afterward, Vincent Canby wrote, "you want to rush out and see the complete films all over again." And that is exactly how one feels after finishing Hollis Alpert's Fellini. "The robust vitality of one of the world's master filmmakers is at the heart of Hollis Alpert's Fellini: A Life. It's a wonderful life." - George Stevens, Jr. (This material taken from the back cover of the paperback edition.)