Heavy reading

TASCHEN's 100 All-Time Favorite Movies was so cheap I couldn't resist, even though Rio Bravo or North by Northwest are not included. But I guess I know them by now.

Hitch and Grace

Being the topics of the two film books I bought this week: Alfred Hitchcock: The Complete Films by Paul Duncan (2011) and High Society: The Life of Grace Kelly by Donald Spoto (2009), the latter as a Finnish translation.

The first book is from TASCHEN, so the focus is on images instead of text, but that's fine since I already have quite a few words about the master.

At least I'm reading about them...

As I sadly haven't been watching much recently. New arrivals to the film book pile include Mark A. Vieira's Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits (1998), Donald Spoto's Blue Angel: The Life of Marlene Dietrich (1992), and Jeanine Basinger's The Star Machine (2007) which I am reading now.

Books about westerns

Yay, a new package in the mail!

Edward Buscombe's 100 Westerns is part of the BFI Screen Guides series. It's a handy pocket-sized book that devotes a couple of pages to each selected film.

Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns by Howard Hughes (not that one!) uses a different approach. It focuses on 27 movies, and also discusses similar or related westerns in each chapter. For example, the Tombstone chapter mentions Wyatt Earp, Dead Man, Open Range and other modern westerns.

The book pile grows taller

Thankfully, only by two titles - my backlog is long enough already.

Foster Hirsch's The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir (2008) is the author's revised version of his 1981 book.

Casablanca: Script and Legend (1992) by Howard Koch is also an update of an earlier edition. Koch is uniquely qualified to write this book, as he was one of the original scriptwriters. In addition to the script, there are some still photos and thoughts by various writers, including Umberto Eco.

Book of old sins

I ordered an ex-library copy of Mark A. Vieira's Sin in Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood (1999) over a month ago and it finally got here. I'd forgotten how slow surface mail was.

Anyway, it seems to have been worth the wait. For those interested in the book or the era, you can start with this review or the Wikipedia entry. Since this censorship lasted until 1968, I feel this topic is very much worth visiting.

New old reading material

I visited a second hand bookstore today and grabbed a couple of cheap film books: Mitä Missä Milloin -elokuvaopas (1995) by Asko Alanen, which is his list of 1000 classic movies, and The Hollywood Professionals Volume 1 (1973) in which Kingsley Canham discusses the work of Michael Curtiz, Raoul Walsh and Henry Hathaway.

Film people on paper

In a previous post, I listed my general film books. This time it's all about people who make the movies. I guess I'll organize this according to the number of books I have on each person. It isn't a long list.

Alfred Hitchcock

I've got John Russell Taylor's Hitch: The Life and Times of Alfred Hitchcock (1978; the Finnish translation is called Hitchcock: elämä ja elokuvat), Charlotte Chandler's It's Only a Movie: Alfred Hitchcock, A Personal Biography (2005; translated as Se on vain elokuvaa: Alfred Hitchcockin elämäkerta), and one encyclopedia-style book, Howard Maxford's The A-Z of Hitchcock: The Ultimate Reference Guide (2002).

Audrey Hepburn

There's Donald Spoto's Enchantment: The Life of Audrey Hepburn (2006) and her son Sean Hepburn Ferrer's Audrey Hepburn, An Elegant Spirit: A Son Remembers (2003).

Ingrid Bergman

Only one: another book by Mr Spoto, called Notorious: The Life of Ingrid Bergman (1997; translated as Ingrid Bergman).

Humphrey Bogart

Another translation: Bogart by A.M. Sperber and Eric Lax (1997; known as Humphrey Bogart: Elämä ja elokuvat in Finnish).

Howard Hawks

I have Joseph McBride's Hawks on Hawks (1982; translated with the same name).

Other

Today on my way home from work I came across Peter von Bagh's Tähtien kirja (2006) for a decent price, which I might as well list here since it discusses numerous film stars from the silent era to the present.

Films on paper

I don't have a big library of books about movies. But I do like the ones I have.

Peter von Bagh leads the pack with three titles: Elokuvan historia (2004 edition), Rikoksen hehku (1997), and Lajien synty (2009). Agree with him or not, fully grasp everything or not, there's no denying his passion and literally encyclopedic knowledge.

Another single-author source I have is David Thomson's "Have You Seen...?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films (2008). He can also be a bit highbrow, but anyone who loves Rio Bravo is okay in my book.

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (2004 edition) is edited by Steven Jay Schneider. It's a good general reference and includes more popular movies than either of the above gentlemen.

Video-opas 95, edited by Bello Romano, was sadly never updated. It's dated now, but still a good source, especially for Finnish translations of film names (which, incidentally, was the reason I bought it when I was translating for a local TV station).

Finally there is Film Noir (2004) by Alain Silver and James Ursini - you can guess what it's about.

I have some books on individual actors and directors, but those can wait for another time.