SUMMER BOOK SURVEY

 

IN THE FRAME: My Life in Words and Pictures by Helen Mirren (Atria Books) — If, like me, you’ve followed Helen Mirren’s career, and knew who she was long before The Queen came along, you’re bound to enjoy this striking, uncommonly handsome book that is part autobiography and part scrapbook. Mirren discusses her Russian background, her upbringing, and her long and varied career on stage and screen. Hundreds of illustrations include snapshots, journal entries, stills, theater programs, magazine covers, and much more.

 

 

TRUTH AND RUMORS: The Reality Behind TV’s Most Famous Myths by Bill Brioux (Praeger Publishers) — Yes, Virginia, there were urban legends even before the Internet made the spreading of such falsehoods easier (and faster) than ever. Everyone in my junior high school was convinced that Annette Funicello had died from accidentally inhaling while blowing up a balloon, and no amount of logic could dissuade them. Longtime TV columnist Brioux has compiled a compulsively readable collection of stories that have circulated since the 1950s, and he’s done an impressive amount of homework to track down origins (where possible) and sort out the facts. If you grew up in front of a TV set, as I did, you’ll find this fodder irresistible.

 

 

ESCAPE: How Animation Broke into the Mainstream in the 1990s by G. Michael Dobbs (BearManor Media) — Mike Dobbs has been an astute and enthusiastic observer of the animation scene for several decades. For this book, he has collected columns originally written for Animato! and Animation Planet magazines (many of which have been revised). The collection offers an immediate and broad-based look at films, TV shows, trends, and key figures in the field, including interviews with everyone from South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone and one-man-band Bill Plympton to such voice artists as Popeye’s Jack Mercer.

 

 

FILMING THE WEST OF ZANE GREY by Ed Hulse (Riverwood Press and the Beverly and Jim Rogers Museum of Lone Pine Film History) — The most famous and prolific author of Western fiction in the early 20 th century also provided Hollywood with sturdy storylines for 111 films and two serials, all of which are documented in this book. While its reference value is obvious, the introductory chapters provide colorful background material on Grey’s life and career and his involvement with movie studios—including his own short-lived production company. The many illustrations include some extremely rare and beautiful behind-the-scenes photos.

 

 

SCREEN PLAYS: How 25 Scripts Made it to a Theater Near You – For Better or Worse by David S. Cohen (HarperEntertainment) — The author, who has covered this territory for Script and Variety, traces the histories of such notable films as American Beauty, Lost in Translation, Erin Brockovich, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Gladiator, Happiness, Monster’s Ball, The Aviator, and The Hours. Every film is a journey all its own, as the screenwriters interviewed here can attest.

 

 

TRANSLATING HOLLYWOOD : The World of Movie Posters by Sam Sarowitz (Mark Batty Publisher) — The author, who operates New York City’s Posterati gallery, has gathered scores of movie posters from around the world in this handsome hardcover volume to show how distributors—and artists—in different countries have depicted famous films. The selection is arbitrary (based on the images Sarowitz happens to own) but it’s undeniably interesting to see multiple approaches to the same subject, be it Citizen Kane or The Man Who Fell to Earth. Regarding the highly-regarded movie posters from Poland, Sarowitz writes, “Perhaps the most frequently reproduced of the modern Polish film posters, Waldemar Swierzy’s design for Midnight Cowboy foregoes Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in favor of a generic cowboy figure wearing what appears to be fluorescent orange lipstick, a ‘symbol’ of the film, rather than a depiction of it. Sometimes the freedom of the Polish designers seems to go to extremes though Bronislaw Zelek’s poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds is a witty representation of the title in Polish (Ptaki) repeated over and over until it becomes a cloud of menacing crows. Roman Cieslewicz’s striking poster for Hitchcock’s Vertigo seems to have no relation whatever to the film it is ostensibly advertising.”

 

SILENT LIVES: 100 Biographies of the Silent Film Era by Lon Davis (BearManor Media) — Intended more for the newcomer than the experienced film buff, this book reflects its author’s enthusiasm for the silent screen. An introduction by Kevin Brownlow sets the stage for a series of brief, entertaining biographical essays, each one illustrated with still photos and vintage movie ads. Like any listing, this selection of one hundred figures will provoke some arguments, but I was happy to see some unusual choices like Hal Roach’s master of title-writing H.M. Walker, Harry Houdini and Edna Purviance. In addition to a bibliography the author also provides a useful list of video dealers and websites devoted to silent films and key personalities. The paperback volume is accompanied by a DVD with film excerpts that will give a novice evocative glimpses of everyone from Douglas Fairbanks to Harold Lloyd.

 

10 BAD DATES WITH DE NIRO: A Book of Alternative Movie Lists edited by Richard T. Kelly (The Rookery Press) — Everyone loves lists, and Richard T. Kelly has called on a number of (mostly British) critics, essayists and movie lovers to compile the most unusual and amusing film-related lists I’ve ever come across: Worried Fingers: Ten Angst-Ridden Piano-Playing Protagonists, Ten Awful Wigs an Actor Dared to Wear, Ten Great Uses of Poetry at the Movies, etc. These aren’t simply bare-bones lists; each roster of titles inspires a mini-essay. What’s more, contributors include such filmmakers as Joel and Ethan Coen, Paul Verhoeven, Steven Soderbergh, Mike Figgis and Kevin MacDonald, as well as playwright David Hare.

 

BIG SCREEN BOSTON: From “Mystery Street” to “The Departed” and Beyond by Paul Sherman (Black Bars Publishing) — Film buff and critic Sherman has researched scores of films that were set and/or filmed at least in part in the Boston area and compiled this informative survey book, crammed with background information, assessments of the films, and detailed information on the use of locations. Obvious choices like The Boston Strangler, Charly, The Thomas Crown Affair, Love Story, The Brink’s Job, The Departed, Mystic River, Fever Pitch, The Perfect Storm and A Civil Action are cited alongside smaller, independent features. A separate section deals in brief with scores of films that had at least some Boston-area content, from The Cardinal to Stuck on You. I can’t imagine anyone producing a more definitive document on the subject.

 

HOLLYWOOD IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: Historical Case Studies of Local Moviegoing edited by Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley (University of California Press) — This scholarly text addresses a rich subject through a series of individual essays on small-town movie theaters and regional exhibition in the 20 th century. The titles provide an idea of the ground their authors cover: “The Itinerant Movie Show and the Development of the Film Industry” by Calvin Pryluck, “Cinema Virtue, Cinema Vice: Race, Religion and Film Exhibition in Norfolk, Virginia 1908-1922” by Terry Lindvall, “The Movies in a ‘Not So Visible Place’: Des Moines, Iowa 1911-1914” by Richard Abel, “ ‘Something for Nothing’: Bank Night and the Refashioning of the American Dream” by Paige Reynolds.

 

UNFILTERED: The Complete Ralph Bakshi, the Force Behind “Fritz the Cat,”“Mighty Mouse,” “Cool World,” and “Heavy Traffic” by Jon M. Gibson and Chris McDonnell (Universe) — Here is a book I’ve been waiting for: a thorough, admiring survey of the unique, often groundbreaking career of animator and filmmaker Bakshi. Writer/fan Gibson and animator/Bakshi colleague McDonnell have produced a lavish, well-researched volume on a unique figure in the history of the medium, utilizing family photos, early drawings, sketches and production art (in black & white and color) from virtually every Bakshi project from Deputy Dawg at the Terrytoons studio right through The Mighty Heroes, Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic, Coonskin, Wizards, The Lord of the Rings, Hey Good Lookin’, Fire and Ice, and his brief renaissance in the 1980s, when he returned to his Terrytoons roots by reinventing Mighty Mouse and mentoring John Kricfalusi. Done with Bakshi’s cooperation, the book concludes with a selection of fine-art paintings which have become his principal pursuit in recent years. Icing on the cake is a foreword by Bakshi’s cinematic soulmate Quentin Tarantino.

 

 

FIGHT PICTURES: A History of Boxing and Early Cinema by Dan Streible ( University of California Press) — I will simply quote Martin Scorsese, who says, “This compelling book forces us to rethink the history of cinema. Dan Streible’s thought-provoking rediscovery of an entire lost genre of hundreds of early films reminds of us how much we still do not know about the development of American movie culture. The fact that only a fraction of these forgotten films survive, and those mostly in fragments, makes the historical account of them all the more valuable.”

 

 

 

AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF TRIGGER: The Lives and Legend of Roy Rogers’ Palomino by Leo Pando (McFarland) — One might not immediately think the word “scholarship” might apply to a book about a pop-culture figure like Roy Rogers’ famous horse, but Pando has done just that in this impressive hardcover book. This diligently researched volume traces the fascinating story of the equine star, his original trainer, his offspring, and his human costars. Fully annotated and heavily illustrated, it features a foreword by Corky Randall, daughter of famed horse trainer Glenn Randall.