LABORS OF LOVE: FROM HITCHCOCK TO LAUREL & HARDY
Everyone has to make a living. I don’t begrudge anyone who punches a clock or devotes his/herself to a job that isn’t terribly rewarding. But I have special admiration for people who manage to pay the bills and still—often…
NEW AND NOTABLE BOOKS JANUARY 2025
GIANT LOVE by Julie Gilbert (Pantheon) One doesn’t read most film books to savor the prose. This one stands out from the crowd because Gilbert is an exceptionally good writer. She is the great-niece of Edna Ferber, the subject…
NEW AND NOTABLE BOOKS NOVEMBER 2024
ZEPPO: THE RELUCTANT MARX BROTHER by Robert S. Bader (Applause) This is a revelatory book, achieved through painstaking research (see: Four of the Three Musketeers: The Marx Brothers on Stage by the same author) and the participation of Zeppo Marx’s two…
NEW AND NOTABLE BOOKS: FROM CHAPLIN TO ERROL FLYNN August 2024
MISS MAY DOES NOT EXIST: THE LIFE AND WORK OF ELAINE MAY, HOLLY WOOD’S HIDDEN GENIUS by Carrie Courogen (St. Martin’s Press) If you came of age when comedy albums were all the rage, as I did, it’s likely…
NEW AND NOTABLE FILM BOOKS – DECEMBER 2023
As usual, film books are coming out at a faster pace than I can read them, so I am unable to offer reviews or opinions of the following titles. Please consider this a survey of recently published books and…
THE PATH TO PARADISE: A FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA STORY
THE PATH TO PARADISE: A FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA STORY by Sam Wasson (Harper) Having taken a “big picture” approach to the making of Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Chinatown, Wasson focuses here on an individual rather than a film. This is not a conventional biography,…
CHARLIE CHAPLIN VS. AMERICA: When Art, Sex and Politics Collided by Scott Eyman
CHARLIE CHAPLIN VS. AMERICA: When Art, Sex and Politics Collided by Scott Eyman (Simon & Schuster) At first glance this new book by premier film historian and biographer Eyman would seem to limit its coverage to the period of…
