A very organized book about a very unorganized film.

#FilmReadingChallenge  #4

The Making of Casino Royale (1967)

(Telos Movie Classics #2)

By Michael Richardson  c.2015

Telos Publishing    Paperback, 240 pages

I should have gotten the message when I saw the subtitle – Telos Movie Classics #2.  Out of all the movies I have seen, the 1967 satire would not of entered my mind as a classic.   But then again, the Telos Movie Classic #1 happens to be Ang Lee’s take on The Hulk, so maybe by classic they mean classic mistake.

Michael Richardson is listed as a film researcher.  And I will say he does a decent job of collecting the information.  He has also done very well in citing where said information comes from.   However, that seems to be a problem as well.  The way the text reads is somehow item per item, with no real flow and a new header almost per paragraph.  It makes for very dry reading on one hand, while also makes it very easy to put this book down and take it up at the next item.  While it is divided into Chapters, you may question why.  As for the 240 pages, there seems to be padding at the end with very brief “bios” of the main people, as well as some talk and ever specualtion on deleted scenes.

Richardson doesn’t interview anyone for the book, but relies on past interviews and book passages.  Lastly, aside from the cover, there are NO photographs contained in this book.  This really could have helped when Richardson was describing sets, or naming some of the bit players such as the girls surrounding Orson Wells in the Casino sequence.

I suppose, in the end, this book is really for the James Bond film fan.For those who don’t want to slog (and yes, sometimes it feels like a slog), may I recommend, for most likely less than the price of the this book, you purchase the collector’s edition of the movie?  The film contains not only an audio commentary from Jay Rubin, author of “The James Bond Films”, but also a featurette on – you guessed it – The Making of Casino Royale.

Until next time –

Friday, July 5, 2019

The Classic Film Reading Challenge –

Report #3

Bring on the Empty Horses
By David Niven, c. 1975, Dell Publishing.  Paperback edition – 352 Pages.

Imagine you’re at a classic Dinner Party, and it’s after the meal.  Relaxing with Coffee and what have you, you find yourself sitting with David Niven, and you ask,
“David, tell me how it was Hollywood, just a few stories, please?”

In this book, Niven does just that.  For those of you who do not recognize the name, David Niven was an actor from 1932 to 1982, the year before he died.  He started out as a film extra, including a part as an uncredited “Able-bodied seaman” in the 1935 “Mutiny on the Bounty”, a role also shared with Jimmy Cagney and one which starred his fishing buddy Clark Gable.  He rose thru the ranks, mainly thru a contract with Samuel Goldwyn Studios, and appeared or starred in such films as “The Bishops Wife”, “Dawn Patrol”, “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies”, “The Guns of Navarone”, as the title role in “The Pink Panther”, and the ‘original’ James Bond in the 1967 version of “Casino Royale”.   He was also supposedly the only British Actor in Hollywood to put his career on hold to go back and enlist in the British armed forces when World War 2 broke out.

This picture, originally shown in his autobiography, shows Royal Marine Comanndo Lt. Niven in Normandy soon after D-Day.

Niven’s autobiography, “The Moon’s a Balloon” was released in 1971 and sold over 5 million copies.  There are a couple of anecdotes that I recognized from the autobiography, but most of the content in “Empty Horses” is brand new.  It should also be known that are two chapters (‘Our Little Girl’ parts one and two) where care is taken not to reveal the identities of the main subject.  The second of the two a harrowing story of Niven being dragged in to care for an actress undergoing a full-blown mental breakdown, since the publication of this book sources have revealed the actress to be Vivian Leigh, suffering a bipolar episode.

David doesn’t hold back. There of Chapters of joy and chapters, such as the two mentioned above, of sadness.  He reveals a softer picture of Clark Gable, the joy of Fred Astaire, and the sadness inherent in the life of his close friend Errol Flynn – “He was not a kind man, but in those careless days he was fun to be with, and those days were the best of Flynn.”

But of what this makes “Bring on the Empty Horses” enjoyable for me was when I was reading it, I could hear Niven’s voice in the words  (and if you buy the audio version you can too!).  I highly recommend this book for the behind the scenes stories of Hollywood from the 1930s to around the mid-sixties.  There are stories about the system, Hearst Castle (although to be fair, the stories of Hearst Castle are funnier in “Harpo Speaks”), and the celebrities of the time – oh, the celebrities, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, and Humphrey Bogart are just of few you will find sections on, not to mention a cameo by Candace Bergen.  You will visit the Brown Derby and Romanoff’s, and visit with Hedda and Louella.

5 out of 5 stars for me. 

Enjoy!

And now I find I’m halfway thru the #ClassicFilmChallenge!

The Classic Film Reading Challenge –

Report #2

 Fred Astaire

By Stephen Harvey, c. 1975 Pyramid Communications, Inc – Paperback edition, 158 pages*.

Let me start by saying this, I love Fred Astaire, his style, his grace in his dancing just blew me away in his films.  I suppose the first I saw was his last “major” musical, Finian’s Rainbow, first run.  I soon discovered his earlier works, especially the ones with Ginger Rogers.

I can’t recall how I obtained this book, one in a series of Pyramid Illustrated History of the Movies printed in the seventies of classic stars and genres.  But I know I never read it thoroughly until this month.  And I have to say I am disappointed.

Let’s start with the word count.  You notice I have an asterix after the page count.  It’s misleading.  The actual contents start on page 10 and ends on page 146, followed by a bibliography, filmography, and index.

Let me start with the positive.  The introduction and the first chapter covering Fred’s career with his sister up to his departure for Hollywood is very good.  That’s from pages 10 to 36.  And remember, since this is an “illustrated edition”, there are lots of pictures, including full page pictures.  And the content is provided in two column format.

The next chapter detail Fred’s early Hollywood films, including the ones with Ginger.  Here’s the problem – this is covered much better elsewhere.  There is nothing new about Fred (and merely a mention of his work with Hermes Pan on page 50.  In passing.) and most of the talk is about the plot of the film.

What this book is when it’s boiled down, that one you get pass the chapter about Fred before Hollywood, is an almost “Cliff notes” version of Fred’s films.  And I say almost because Cliff notes would have been better.  I hate the layout of the book.  Especially when the text is talking about The Bandwagon (1953) and the pictures are showing Funny Face (1957).  My other gripe is how one film blends into another – and this is especially bad when talking about the Fred – Ginger series.

There are many books on Fred Astaire, including his own biography, “Steps in Time”. There is an excellent book – “The Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers Book” by Arlene Croce.  Find those books.  Skip this one.

Until next time –

The Classic Film Reading Challenge – Report #1

Son of Harpo Speaks

By Bill Marx, c. 2010 Applause books – Kindle edition, 328 pages.

I decided to join this challenge to goad me into doing more reading, and with my rather large home library, I had a lot to choose from.  The challenge is rather simple, over the summer, read and write a report on the six books dealing with cinema, including actors and actresses.  This is my first report.

I had only recently learned of this book, that being via an old podcast that featured Bill Marx, the aforementioned (adopted) son of Harpo and Susan, nee Fleming, Marx.  I knew I wanted, nay, needed to read this.  Harpo’s book – Harpo Speaks, is one of my favorite biographies, and I wondered what this would add to the story.

Add to this the fact that I did not know what to expect from this book, aside from a couple of stories mentioned in the podcast.  I will say I quickly got caught up in Bill’s story, beginning at the old Dino’s Lounge (sadly demolished in 1985) and then flashing back to his earliest memories. Alex Wollcott, Harpo’s friend and Bill’s godfather and middle name namesake is here, singing the “I’m a little wabbit in the sunshine” song, also mentioned in Harpo’s book.  Bill has a habit of casually dropping names, such as “Uncle George and Aunt Gracie”, or George Burns and Gracie Allen to us lesser mortals.  Or Margaret Thomas, Danny Thomas’s daughter, who Bill takes to a prom, and who a few years later would change her name to Marlo.  And then there is Marion Davies, a friend of Harpo and Susan and who was very important in helping them being able to adopt in the first place.  Another favorite of mine is when Bill, now out of high school and moving to New York for college, spends his first away from home Christmas at the home of Margaret Hamilton.  Yes, Christmas with the Wicked Witch of the West.

And yes, his father and uncles are sprinkled liberally throughout the book, from working with his Dad as his prop man when Bill was twelve, from being Groucho’s piano man at Groucho’s home parties near the end of Groucho’s life.

Bill’s story has a fantastic element to it when we return to Dino’s lounge and something happens (trying for no spoilers here), that will result in Bill discovering why he was originally put up for adoption, a sad story that would have made a great Hollywood movie in the 30’s.    One of the things I appreciated in this book is when he writes about his adoptive mother,  Susan Fleming Marx – or “mom” to Bill.  I discovered more about her than we did in Harpo’s book.

Lastly, there is Harpo.  Bill share’s his life with Harpo and revealing, at the time of the writing, he still had the trunkful of props Harpo used in his act.  He also shares something that I sure most son’s have had…imaginary conversations with his long dead father.

So, in a sense, Harpo speaks again.

via Daily Prompt: Tenacious

That hard part is not what happens when one finishes a story.  It’s getting there first.  I have at least two books in limbo right now, started but stopped for various reasons along the way.  One I look forward to getting back to, the other I may need to go back to square one.  It took me over a decade to finish “Sidestepping Home”, two false starts, and then finally I sat down and finished it over the course of six months.

So what I am doing instead? Rewriting.  I have two books that I have the first draft completed.  The story is there, spread out over Chapter after chapter.  Now I revisit, show it to my writing group (getting another’s feedback is invaluable at times), and sit down with it and rewrite.  It helps the story, and hopefully improves it to the point when somebody reads it, they feel satisfied with the money spent buying it (or at the very least, checking it out of the Library).

It’s a process. Sometimes it’s a grind, but like coffee, the better the grind, the better the flavor.

In writing today we’re told Flashbacks are out.  It’s a tired conveyance that many people overuse.  I say balderdash and Poppycock!

We’ve had flashbacks in our literature since we were small children.

“Once Upon a Time…. ”  remember that?

How about this one –

“A Long Time ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far, Away….”

Flashbacks are with us still, strong as ever.  It’s how the writer handles them that determines their effectiveness.