NEW AND NOTABLE FILM BOOKS September 2020
HITCHCOCK’S CALIFORNIA: VISTA VISIONS FROM THE CAMERA EYE by Robert Jones, Dan Auiler, and Aimee Sinclair; introduction by Bruce Dern; afterword by Dorothy Herrmann (Middlebrow Books) At first glance I thought this striking, oversized book was a series…
MOVIE BOOK ROUNDUP JULY 2020: MAX STEINER TO THE KEYSTONE COPS
MUSIC BY MAX STEINER: THE EPIC LIFE OF HOLLYWOOD’S MOST INFLUENTIAL COMPOSER by Steven C. Smith (Oxford University Press) You don’t need to be musically educated to appreciate or enjoy this thorough, meticulously researched and entertaining biography. Smith,…
NEW AND NOTABLE BOOKS – March 2020
PHANTOM LADY: HOLLYWOOD PRODUCER JOAN HARRISON, THE FORGOTTEN WOMAN BEHIND HITCHCOCK by Christina Lane (Chicago Review Press) Just when you think you know all there is to know about the principal figures of Hollywood’s golden age, along comes…
DISNEY BOOKS GALORE
MARC DAVIS IN HIS OWN WORDS: IMAGINEERING THE DISNEY THEME PARKS by Pete Docter and Christopher Merritt (Disney Editions) Walt Disney was stingy with compliments, but he called longtime animator Marc Davis his “renaissance man” and meant it.…
THE BIG GOODBYE: CHINATOWN AND THE LAST YEARS OF HOLLYWOOD by Sam Wasson
THE BIG GOODBYE: CHINATOWN AND THE LAST YEARS OF HOLLYWOOD by Sam Wasson (Flatiron Press) Having given us a great biography of Bob Fosse, important books about Blake Edwards and Paul Mazursky, and an engaging account of the making…
FROM FRED AND GINGER TO ‘LA LA LAND’: A GREAT NEW BOOK
THE MOVIE MUSICAL! By Jeanine Basinger (Knopf) I promised myself a gift for the holidays: time enough to read Jeanine Basinger’s 634-page book about movie musicals. I’m so glad I made good on that promise. What a wonderful addition…
NEW AND NOTABLE FILM BOOKS December 2019
There’s never enough time to read, so please consider this a survey rather than a series of reviews. I’ve only included books that interest or intrigue me. THE MOVIE MUSICAL! by Jeanine Basinger (Knopf) In addition to…
