Today is Global Movies Day, established by the The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. I have a bunch of movie books, many that are classified as coffee table books. They are large with nice photos. They are all easy to flip through, without having to invest an entire evening reading. Let me point out a few:
“Love Goddesses of the Movies” by Roger Manvell, 1975. The author breaks down Leading Ladies from the birth of movies 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s 50’s, 60’s. There are great pictures, along with filmographies.
Interesting book “MGM Posters, the Golden Years” written by Frank Miller, 1998. As the introduction states “MGM Posters provides a decade by decade visual history of MGM, featuring arresting examples of every film genre and virtually every major star of Hollywood’s Golden Age.” It does not let you down. There are page after page of actual posters, all in color promoting movies, and stars. A great way to spend just a little time reading, or at least looking at the posters.
“Hollywood goes to War” by Edward F Dolan, 1985. While it seems that there have been a lot of wars, there has also been a lot of movies made about them. This is an intriguing book that discusses each war, and the movies made about it. There are plenty of photographs, as well. Discusses everything from Birth of A Nation to The Deer Hunter. There is chapter of the Most Decorated-with medals won, and filmography.
“The Black Book of Villains’, by Janet Pate, 1975. This is a good book about the bad guys. The author has picked 40 villains, and discusses each. There are pictures and backstories on each one.
“Hollywood Gangsters” by Geoff Andrew, 1985. Again, another bad guy book. You can spend a few moments, or an hour, flipping through the pages of these crime movies. There are plenty of stories to add to the photographs.
The last movie book is “Warner Brothers Directors”, by William R. Meyer, 1978. This is an interesting twist on a movie book. There is a great deal written about some great directors at Warner Brothers. You get those inside stories, but you also get more background on great movies, too. Sometimes directors had to force good acting, sometimes good acting came through, in spite of the director. This is a curl up for the evening book to read.
Books about movies can be as time consuming as a movie itself. The good thing is that you can hit pause, by using a book marker (do not get me started on folding the corner of a page!). Take as much or as little, time as you like, but keep on reading.
P.S. I was going to add something about World Pulses Day, also February 10.
Worle Pulses Day is about beans, peas, and lentils. Legumes are plants that have these seeds in a casing. Take away the casings, and you have pulses. We celebrate them on World Pulses Day. I celebrate with “Bean Banquets. From Boston to Bombay” by Patricia R.Gregory, (More on her in a couple of days!) 1998. This is a cookbook for beans, from around the world. If you like legumes or would like to try legumes, this would be a good starting point, but back to my movie ending:
“Ilsa, I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.” Richard “Rick” Blaine.
“Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful blog…keep reading.”
Librarytomes 