AllMovie

Robert Boyle worked as an art director and production designer in Hollywood from the early '40s to the late '80s, and while his name may not be familiar to many filmgoers, the movies he worked on certainly are. Boyle worked with Alfred Hitchcock on four of his best-remembered films -- Shadow of a Doubt, North by Northwest, The Birds, and Marnie -- and he was also part of the team that created pictures as diverse as Fiddler on the Roof, Cape Fear, It Came From Outer Space, Private Benjamin, In Cold Blood, and The Shootist. After retiring from film production, Boyle began teaching at the American Film Institute, sharing his years of experience with aspiring filmmakers, and was still teaching classes at the age of 100. Filmmaker Daniel Raim was once one of Boyle's students, and he presents a portrait of one of Hollywood's great behind-the-scenes figures as he talks about his career and the changing face of the film industry in the documentary Something's Gonna Live. In addition to Boyle, the film also includes interviews with several of his close friends -- fellow production designers Henry Bumstead and Albert Nozaki, and cinematographers Haskell Wexler and Conrad Hall.