THE STONE CARVERS is a great half-hour documentary on a group of individual Italian-American stone carvers working on the gargoyles and other features of the Washington Cathedral. Theirs is all but a lost or dying art. The carvers themselves, fully dedicated professionals of great skill, are funny, witty, ready with great stories of their craft and anecdotes about other carvers. "Practically, I was born into stone," says master carver Vincent Palumbo. The craft of these men has been passed down from generation to generation, and the breed no longer exists willing to endure years of apprenticeship to hone a craft of this difficulty. That's sad for all of us. This film is as solid as the work of its subjects. It won an Academy Award for best documentary short subject for its creators Marjorie Hunt and Paul Wagner.
Review of The Stone Carvers
