What gets a film book recommended? What makes them "best"? Some are well done. And some are interesting. Others are groundbreaking, or perhaps the first book on the subject. Some are comprehensive, or authoritative. In the case of coffee table books, some are beautifully printed and simply a pleasure to look at.
I love watching films, and I also love reading about them. Here are 12 recommend books -- what I think are the most interesting film books of 2010, listed alphabetically by title. [The top 12 are followed by 8 more also well worth checking out.]
Best Films Books for 2010, and then some
Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille, by Scott Eyman(01 of20)
Though not the first book on Cecil B. Demille, Eyman's sweeping account of the larger than life director of such Biblical epics as The Ten Commandments is a notable achievement. Eyman reminds us of all that Demille accomplished in his more than 50 year career, from his beginnings in the silent era to his discovery of stars like Gloria Swanson, Claudette Colbert, and Charlton Heston to his small but memorable role as himself in Sunset Boulevard. Eyman's book is thoroughly researched, and draws on a massive cache of DeMille family papers not available to previous biographers. (Simon & Schuster, $35.00)
The Film Noir Encyclopedia, by Alain Silver, Elizabeth Ward, James Ursini, Robert Porfirio(02 of20)
For both the hard-core fan and the newly initiated, this overhauled and updated fourth edition of The Film Noir Encyclopedia is a brilliant way to explore a genre. It offers light, certainty and tells you what's good in a cinematic world of shadows, ambiguity, and moral corruption. In the words of director Lawrence Kasdan, "It's what you always want in a film reference book, but rarely find: comprehensive, intelligently organized, voluminously illustrated, and possessed of its own distinctive voice." (Overlook, $45.00)
Hedy Lamarr: The Most Beautiful Woman in Film, by Ruth Barton(03 of20)
Is it possible that somebody like Hedy Lamarr actually existed? At the height of her career, she was considered the most beautiful woman in Hollywood, if not the world. And, around the same time, while working with avant-garde composer George Antheil, Lamarr helped develop spread spectrum technology, which is still used in mobile phone communication. Lamarr was beauty and brains and a mercurial and even strange personality all in one. (University Press of Kentucky, $29.95) Also out from St. Martins -- and also worthwhile -- is Beautiful: The Life of Hedy Lamarr, by Stephen Michael Shearer.
Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers, by Anthony Slide(04 of20)
Prolific film historian Slide has written what may well be the definitive history of the fan magazine -- the public's entre to the fabled land of Hollywood and its stars. As Slide shows, fan magazines have been arbiters of both good and bad taste and have played an important role in popular culture. Here is the story of Motion Picture Classic and Photoplay and People and fanzines little remembered and tabloids and gossip rags we pretended never to read. (University Press of Mississippi, $40.00)
The Last Silent Picture Show: Silent Films on American Screens in the 1930s, by William M. Drew(05 of20)
The received wisdom is this: with the coming of sound, silent film was dead. But was it? The Last Silent Picture Show looks at the little known history of silent movies in the decade after their reported demise. Though talkies overtook the industry and public arena, the silent cinema survived the onslaught of sound through continued exhibition in diverse venues including tent shows, political meetings, universities, ethnic theaters, and art houses. This work rewrites film history. (Scarecrow Press, $50.00)
Mack Sennett's Fun Factory, by Brent Walker(06 of20)
This comprehensive career study of the pioneering producer and Academy Award winner Mack Sennett is a marvel, and necessarily massive. The book's highly detailed filmography covers more than 1,000 films produced, directed, written by, or featuring Sennett made between 1908 and 1955. It also contains detailed biographies of several hundred performers and technical personnel connected with the king of slapstick comedy and his legendary Keystone Studios. There are also 280 photographs and a huge index. (McFarland, $125.00)
The New Biographical Dictionary of Film: Fifth Edition, Completely Updated and Expanded, by David Thomson(07 of20)
This fifth edition of the Biographical Dictionary of Film topped Sight & Sound magazine's 2010 poll of international critics as the best film book of all time. It now includes 300 new entries, some of them just a pungent paragraph, others several thousand words long. Erudite, entertaining, provocative, funny, well written -- buy it because it is so opinionated. (Knopf, $40.00)
Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol: His Life in Photographs, by Donna L. Hill (08 of20)
It's surprising there hasn't been a book like this till now. Hill's handsomely illustrated pictorial surveys the life of one of the great film stars and personalities of the Jazz Age. Despite his short life -- he died suddenly at age 31 in 1926, and despite the volume of earlier literature about Valentino, there is still much new material to be uncovered about this iconic star. Many of the 400 images found in this new book are rare, while others have not been published or generally seen since the 1920s. (Blurb Books, $60.00)
The Search for Charlie Chaplin, by Kevin Brownlow(09 of20)
In November of this year, Brownlow was given a special Academy Award, the first film historian so honored. His latest book is an engaging, anecdotal account of the film find of the 20th century -- three separate caches of previously unknown Chaplin footage which became the basis for one of the historian's most acclaimed documentaries. The Search for Charlie Chaplin is an insider's account, a detailed, candid, and fascinating behind-the-scenes work of film history. (UKA Press, $15.99)
Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood, by Ira M. Resnick(10 of20)
For four decades, collector and film enthusiast Ira M. Resnick has been amassing a collection of 2,000 movie posters and 1,500 stills, many of which have not been published in decades. Starstruck features the best of Resnick's world-class collection, with vivid reproductions of 250 posters and forty stills from a golden age of Hollywood art, 1912 to 1962. Open anywhere and prepare to be amazed. (Abbeville Press, $65.00)
Von Sternberg, by John Baxter(11 of20)
Film biographer Baxter reveals an artist few people knew. Often belligerent, Joseph von Sternberg was an aesthete who had the ability to transform both actors and films into masterpieces -- just as he had done to himself. Born into poverty in Vienna, von Sternberg eventually made his way to Hollywood. His list of films includes such classics as Underworld (1927), The Last Command (1928), The Blue Angel (1930), Morocco (1930), Blonde Venus (1932), Shanghai Express (1932), and The Shanghai Gesture (1941). Fans of Erich von Stroheim and Orson Welles will find familiar terrain in this accomplished work. (University Press of Kentucky, $40.00)
Warren William: Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood, by John Stangeland(12 of20)
Is it me, or is there something of a Warren William revival taking place? The debonair actor's films seem to be showing up on TCM of late, but not on DVD. That's unfortunate, because he is curiously likeable -- despite the fact he often played the cad, deliciously immoral and utterly callous. This first ever biography of the 1930s film star is a detailed account of his life both on the screen and off. (McFarland, $45.00)
Ann Harding - Cinema's Gallant Lady(13 of20)
Ann Harding - Cinema's Gallant Lady by Scott O'Brien with a foreword by Mick LaSalle is published by BearManor Media
Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley(14 of20)
Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley, by Jeffrey Spivak is published by the The University Press of Kentucky
The Fall of Buster Keaton(15 of20)
The Fall of Buster Keaton: His Films for M-G-M, Educational Pictures, and Columbia by James L. Neibaur is published by Scarecrow Press
The Great Movies III (16 of20)
The Great Movies III by Roger Ebert is published by the University Of Chicago Press
Hitchcock, Piece by Piece(17 of20)
Hitchcock, Piece by Piece by Laurent Bouzereau and with a foreword by Patricia Hitchcock O'Connell is published by Abrams
Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen(18 of20)
Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen, by Leonard Maltin is published by It Books
Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford(19 of20)
Possessed: The Life of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto is published by William Morrow
Vernon Dent: Stooge Heavy(20 of20)
Vernon Dent: Stooge Heavy by Bill Cassara and with a forward by Edward Watz is published by BearManor Media
Thomas Gladysz is an arts journalist and author. His interview with Allen Ginsberg on the subject of photography is included in Sarah Greenough's "Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg" (National Gallery of Art, 2010). And recently, he wrote the introduction to the Louise Brooks edition of Margarete Bohme's classic novel, "The Diary of a Lost Girl" (PandorasBox Press, 2010). Gladysz will speak about "The Diary of a Lost Girl" at the Village Voice Bookshop in Paris on January 13, followed by a screening of the film at the nearby Action Cinema.
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