While my fellow Morlocks have already mentioned some of my favorite and often-referenced film books – This Is Orson Welles, Hitchcock/Truffaut, People Will Talk, Agee on Film – here are eleven more that I often pull out for inspiration, reference or to amuse fellow cinephiles who think they’ve seen and read everything.    

 At the top of the list, of course, is Amos Vogel’s groundbreaking FILM AS A SUBVERSIVE ART, written in 1974, which is all about the power of the visual taboo. The book, which covers the history of cinema from the silent age to the seventies and is international in scope, catalogues more than 500 films which confronted or demystified the audiences’ perception of such controversial images as death, live birth, nudity, religious blasphemy, pornography and other topics which resulted in censorship bans and political repression. An intelligent yet easily accessible history lesson, this book was my first exposure to such filmmakers as Walerian Borowczyk (Les Jeux Des Angels), Stan Brakhage (The Act of Seeing With One’s Own Eyes) and Miklos Jancso (The Round-Up). The images from the films alone compelled me to seek out many of them and opened my eyes to social, political and human aspects of life that are rarely touched upon or treated with such candor and in-your-face directness in commercial cinema. There are plenty of familiar icons here from Buster Keaton (The Navigator) to Luis Bunuel (Los Olvidados) to Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris) but I’m most grateful for Vogel introducing me to THE CREMATOR (1968, a provocative black comedy from Czechoslovakia about a village undertaker who runs the crematorium and eventually progresses to the head of a Nazi-run death camp; it is now available from Dark Sky Films), Alain Resnais’ MURIEL (1963), Oushane Sembene’s MANDABI (1968), Elliott Erwitt’s amazing short film BEAUTY KNOWS NO PAIN (1971, a behind-the-scenes documentary on the rigorous training of the Kilgore Rangerette Team in Texas), WINTERSOLDIER (1972, a feature length documentary from the Winterfilm Collective on the 1971 Detroit Winter Soldier investigation of American atrocities committed in Vietnam) and many more.

MARY ASTOR: A LIFE ON FILM

There are too many great autobiographies by great film stars and directors to mention (R. Sweeney in his blog touted Josef von Sternberg’s FUN IN A CHINESE LAUNDRY and Sam Fuller’s A THIRD FACE, both mandatory reads) so I’m just going to mention one that I enjoy because of my fondness for the actress. With a film career that spanned five decades with such movies as Beau Brummel (1924) to Preston Sturges’ The Palm Beach Story (1942) to Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), her final film, the book is a fun read and often moving at times. One of the best passages involves the making of Mitchell Leisen’s screwball comedy MIDNIGHT (1939) which reunited her with her former lover from her silent film days, John Barrymore. At this point in his career, Barrymore was in desperate straits, physically and professionally, but Astor had great empathy for him, even if he tended to ignore her on the set. “I hated all the Barrymore jokes – the sick ones, the dirty ones….This was a giant of a man, one of the few greats of our time. He was a man with enormous dignity, and he never lost it. He occasionally threw it away – for his own reasons. But that was his business. And now, in that long bleak hall, I saw a man who was catching his breath before doing battle, and quite a battle it was, with death.”    

AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM by Carlos Clarens

Fellow Morlock Richard Harland Smith has blogged about this book before and for me, it was the first one (published in 1967) I encountered that treated the horror genre as a valid and necessary cinematic form of expression, one that could visualize the collective unconscious of an audience. For example, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) was heavily influenced by the deep feeling of despair that existed in Germany after their defeat in the first World War. While most high profile critics of the day usually dismissed horror films as junk or ignored them completely, Clarens presents intelligent and insightful defenses of such B-movies as Sidney Hayer’s Night of the Eagle (1961, aka Burn Witch Burn) and Jacques Tourneur’s Night of the Demon (1957, aka Curse of the Demon). He was also one of the first to recognize the haunting beauty of Georges Franju’s Les Yeux sans Visage (1960, aka Eyes Without a Face), which was ignored upon its initial release in the U.S. in a dubbed version called The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus. At the same time, he wasn’t convinced of Mario Bava’s greatness, though he admired Black Sunday, and in his final assessment wrote, “Bava probably assessed himself best when he claimed to be a mere photographer of fantastic scenes rather than a competent director.”  Comments like this challenged my own perceptions of favorite horror directors and the book can still inspire lively debate on Clarens’ choices and opinions. It is also a justification of the many hours I spent watching horror films in my childhood.    

THE ART OF NOIR by Eddie Muller

Everybody has a favorite movie coffee table book and this is mine. It’s simply a stunning collection of film posters and graphics from a great period in American filmmaking. Several of the images on display are international release versions of American films and in some cases I like these even better than the U.S. promotion. Among the gems here are rare half sheets from Sam Fuller’s SHOCK CORRIDOR, the garish French release poster for VIOLENT SATURDAY, the graphic novel-like rendering of Kubrick’s THE KILLING, a very pulp fiction cover approach on the Belgium release poster for KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL and some I’ve never seen like the intriguing SHIELD FOR MURDER starring Edmond O’Brien that sports the call-out tag, “Dame-Hungry Killer Cop Runs Berzerk!”    

JAZZ IN THE MOVIES by David Meeker

First published in 1981, this is an A to Z listing by title of movies in which jazz musicians and jazz music are featured and many of the concise, encyclopedic entries will surprise you such as the made-for-TV jungle drama Gold of the Amazon Women (1979) with a music score by composer Gil Melle, the Walt Disney film Return to Witch Mountain (1978), which has music by Lalo Schifrin, and William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (1977) that includes background recordings of “I’ll Remember April” (performed by Charlie Parker) and “Spheres (Movement 3)” by pianist Keith Jarrett. There are plenty of photos included and it’s an entertaining reference for aimless browsing.   Here’s a typical example of an entry:      

POTO AND CABENGO

West Germany/USA  (1979) – 73 mins

Dir Jean-Pierre Gorin

A documentary examination of California twins Ginny and Gracie Kennedy, born in Georgia in 1970, who apparently spoke their own language, which sets out to answer the question, “What are they saying?”

Soundtrack music consists of excerpts from works by Mozart and Satie and Erroll Garner’s “I found a million dollar baby.”

KINGS OF THE Bs: Working Within the Hollywood System edited by Todd McCarthy (pictured at the left) and Charles Flynn

Here is a very influential book in my film education – an appreciation and evaluation of directors toiling in the B-movie industry who were often overlooked or underrated within their own industry and by the critics. Yet, as we all know, there are many B movies that transcend their meager budgets to take their place beside the more famous examples of studio-produced masterpieces such as Edgar G. Ulmer’s DETOUR, Nicholas Ray’s THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT, Joseph H. Lewis’s GUN CRAZY and even Roger Corman’s A BUCKET OF BLOOD. There are plenty of hacks on display too along with poverty row producers but it’s an enormously engaging work with candid interviews with Phil Karlson, William Castle (whose own autobiography is a hoot), Arthur Lubin, Joseph Kane, producer Albert Zugsmith and others. In addition to extensive filmographies of many of the key players are in-depth essays on cult titles such as THUNDER ROAD, THE PHENIX CITY STORY and Robert Altman’s THE DELINQUENTS.    

SINEMA: AMERICAN PORNOGRAPIC FILMS AND THE PEOPLE WHO MAKE THEM by Kenneth Turan and Stephen F. Zito

It wouldn’t surprise me if Paul Thomas Anderson had used this book as his background source for Boogie Nights (1997). When it was first published in 1974, the adult film industry was at its peak with some of the more notorious examples of the breed – Deep Throat (1972), Devil in Miss Jones (1973) – enjoying crossover success in major cities and transforming their “stars” into instant media celebrities such as Linda Lovelace, John C. Holmes (aka Johnny Wadd) and former Ivory Snow model Marilyn Chambers, who tried and failed to break into legitimate features after Behind the Green Door (David Cronenberg’s Rabid [1977] remains her sole mainstream feature, post-Green Door). Turan and Zito not only present an engaging history of the blue movie and its origins, citing some of the earliest “hits” in the genre, but interview a cross section of major players in the business from the producer to the director to the porn star. This was before drugs, organized crime, AIDS and the home video invasion wrecked the industry so most of the interviewees are still flush with success and refleshingly candid about what they do and why. A few, like Gerard Damiano, even have artistic aspirations and in one interview admits that DEVIL IN MISS JONES was modeled on Jean-Paul Sarte’s No Exit. Some of the major soft core legends are showcased here as well such as producer David F. Friedman (Trader Hornee, Thar She Blows!), director Russ Meyer (Lorna, Vixen) and cinematographer turned director Radley Metzger (Camille 2000, The Lickerish Quartet). Here is a brief excerpt from the Metzger chapter: “The films I do are beauty films, erotic in atmosphere, not in anything explicit,” says the man who adores Rita Hayworth’s Gilda because “there is not one kiss in it and it is one of the sexiest films I have ever seen.” He has nothing against hard core per se and says he might use it himself should the right subject surface, but it seems really to go against his basic tenets, his feeling that “if you handle it well, the unexplicit can get more juices flowing. Your thoughts might go to what you’re gonna do Saturday night a lot faster.” Other interview subjects in the book include Harry Reems, gay superstar Cal Culver (aka Casey Donovan), Bill Osco, Wakefield Poole, Marsha Jordan, John C. Holmes, Pat Rocco, and San Francisco’s The Mitchell Brothers. Many of them are now dead, long retired or came to tragic ends such as Artie Mitchell who was shot and killed by his brother Jim in 1991 in an incident that was classified as a drug intervention gone wrong.

JOAN CRAWFORD: MY WAY OF LIFE

I don’t have many titles in my book collection that I would consider rare collectibles or valuable out of print editions but this cheap, weathered little paperback printed in 1971 (and now out of print but still available on Amazon) is a one of a kind guilty pleasure. It’s not an autobiography but an imitation of the popular help self/self improvement books that became a genre onto itself starting in 1969 with the publication of the bestseller I’m OK, You’re OK by Thomas A. Harris MD. Anyone can live the Joan Crawford lifestyle if you follow her simple tips on everything from child rearing to exercise to dieting to fashion. There are amazing revelations here, plenty of laugh-out loud comments and endless quotable lines for everyday use. Here is a sample of Joan’s no-nonsense prose as she advises on giving parties and entertaining: “The best parties are a wild mixture. Take some corporation presidents, add a few lovely young actresses, a bearded painter, a professional jockey, your visiting friends from Brussels, a politician, a hairdresser, and a professor of physics, toss them all together and try to get them to stop talking long enough to eat! It’s especially important to have all age groups. I’ve never noticed any generation gap. Of course I wouldn’t want to have hippies come crawling in with unwashed feet, but all the younger people I know are bright and attractive and have something to say. They also dress like human beings. They love to listen, too. They make wonderful guests.”    

THE GREAT MOVIE SHORTS by Leonard Maltin

This is one of the few books – and it’s an indispensable one – on the topic of short subjects, the one and two reelers that used to accompany the main feature in the early years of moviegoing, from the thirties through the fifties. Featuring a foreward by Pete Smith, the book is a wonderful overview of the short film focusing on the studios that specialized in them as well as providing details on each of the most popular series and franchises. Here you find fun facts, filmographies and photos on shorts featuring Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, The Three Stooges, Robert Benchley, the Pete Smith Specialties, Charley Chase, John Nesbitt’s Passing Parade, Joe McDoakes, the “Crime Does Not Pay” series, Mickey McGuire (who would soon be known as Mickey Rooney), The Masquers Club, Hollywood on Parade and all of the various travelogues, musical shorts and newsreels that were once an important part of the American moviegoing experience. Luckily, many of these shorts still appear on TCM on a daily basis.    

HOLLYWOOD ON THE RIVIERA: The Inside Story of the Cannes Film Festival by Cari Beauchamp & Henri Behar

I’ve never been to the Cannes Film Festival and have always wanted to go just to experience it once. That will probably never happen so this book is the next best thing. The authors have put together a very lively and amusing insider look at this influential film festival that is still the major international movie event of each year. There is a brief history of Cannes but most of the focus is on the behind-the-scenes frenzy which is a heady mixture of celebrities, high stakes business deals, parties, scandals, unexpected award winners and controversial movies that divided critics and the audiences. The book is organized by such chapter headers as The Marketplace, The Stars, The Critics, The Jury, The Films in Competition, etc. Since my copy bears a 1992 copyright date, it doesn’t include any Cannes festival coverage beyond 1991 but there is plenty to relish in the previous years featured such as the year Luis Bunuel’s VIRIDIANA won the Palm d’Or, astonishing everyone that such a caustic religious allegory could have been made under Franco’s strict censorship laws. (Of course, it was condemned by Spain after this). Or the closing night festival for 1989 in which sex, lies and videotape won the Palm D’Or, awarded by a jury that included Roman Polanski and Whoopi Goldberg. Later Goldberg would reveal that she was approached by Nastassja Kinski who said to her, “How dare you, you of all people, how could you not give the prize to Spike?” (for his film, Do the Right Thing).

ANTICRISTO: THE BIBLE OF NASTY NUN SINEMA & CULTURE by Steve Fentone

Did we really need a film reference book on nunsploitation films? Probably not, but Steve Fentone has written one anyway and I’m glad he did. This is a perfect example of a film book that is more fun to read and relish (it’s lavishly illustrated) that actually seeing the movies. I admit up front that I have minimal interest in this genre but there have been a handful of films that fall into this category that I greatly admire – Jacques Rivette’s THE NUN starring Anna Karina is a masterpiece and so is Alain Cavalier’s THERESE –or appreciate as great trash such as KILLER NUN with Anita Ekberg and the so-perverse-its-funny Japanese pink film SCHOOL OF THE HOLY BEAST. Fentone covers all of them, even the respectable mainstream releases that really aren’t nunsploitation like THE NUN’S STORY, TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARAH, BLACK NARCISSUS, HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON, THE SINGING NUN and Ken Russell’s THE DEVILS. Fentone’s tome is so comprehensive it even discusses films where nuns might be pivotal characters but not the focus of the main narrative such as Leslie Caron’s French Canadian nun in the 1970 Western MADRON or the Eurotrash feature AFRICA EXPRESS (1975) in which espionage agent Ursula Andress poses as a nun while hunting down ex-Nazi spy Jack Palance in Rhodesia. It might not get the showcase treatment on my coffee table – one could take offense to some of the movies displayed here – but it’s got a nice shelf position for easy pull out when I want to show a film geek that someone really made a movie about killer nuns from outer space. That would be END OF THE WORLD (1977) and here is Fentone’s comments: “From their hideout under cover of a convent, an evil extraterrestrial invader-cum-RC priest, Father Pergado, aka Zinder (Christopher Lee) and his six she-alien followers disguised as nuns – led by Sister Patrizia (Liz Ross) – plot to destroy the world! A scientist and his wife (Kirk Scott and Sue Lyon) investigate mysterious space-borne signals that predict global disasters. Their search ends at the outwardly idyllic St. Catherine’s mission, where an otherworldly malevolence festers behind a whitewashed facade of earthly piety. [In one scene] A “nun” savages a poor earth woman while partially transformed into an alien monster (w/demonic claw)….The ecclesiastical extraterrestrial idea was reused in the sci-fi teleseries, WAR OF THE WORLDS (Canada, 1988); some of the plots included aliens disguised as nuns.”