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Godot wrote:There is a 2-volume hardcover collection of 50 monographs, arranged chronologically. It can be pricey, currently $90 on Amazon, but I bought it 18 months ago for $40, so keep your eyes open on your favorite internet used book seller. Also, I use CamelCamelCamel religiously to check whether current prices are out of norm, whether there are trends in used prices decreasing, etc. You can see my purchase back in 2016 at that $40 on the Camel page. Considering that it has 50 monographs, back when the series started and only covered classics, it's a wonderful deal, even at $90, if you don't already have any of them. When I bought it, I had about 35, but the remaining gaps were around $10 each, so I took the plunge. Plus, this allowed me some back-up relief if the individual volumes (which my oldest son takes with him nearly every day in car trips, etc., because of their small size and light weight) get damaged or lost. I love this series (and the BFI Modern Classics companion series that they released for a few years).

Funny, I prefer the individual volumes because they're so compact and portable, in addition to being handsomely designed. I've seen the hardcover anthologies at my university library and found them quite unappealing visually by comparison. None of the stills are in color and if I recall correctly some of the stills are even cut to conserve space.

Speaking of libraries, this might be a good option for perusing some titles before you commit to buying them. Any large university or city library should have a fair number of them on hand.

Can anyone recommend any essays, book chapters, or strong analytical reviews of the early films of Tsai Ming-Liang, particularly The River and The Hole? I see from Amazon there are one or two books about Tsai out there, but it's difficult to preview them. I wondered if anyone knew of good pieces on these films that might be hiding in other collections.

I haven't read it, but Dis Voir has a book with an interview and two essays about Tsai
Link to Book Depository

His name pops up in a lot of writing about Godard and Varda, so how can I get an English friendly book about André Malraux? What is the abridged version of his Psychology of Art that is the only thing I can find?

Malraux is, to my understanding, more interesting as a political figure (Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication) in the De Gaulles years and as a novellist (La Condition humaine and L’Espoir for example). Based on the Le Musée imaginaire (in a broad sense) are a series of coffeetable publications about the history of art.

Yet Godard raves about his "montage" book and how influential it was on him which is why I asked

I know the JLG literature (and films) quite well. May you advise a more concret quote about his „ravings“? What you say is very vague but i can only imagine him talking about the Musée Imaginaire. Its about juxtaposition of images in a broad sense*, not directly montage in cinematic ways.

*edit: actually not broad but about paintings.

I meant montage in the sense of juxtaposing images. It might be that book then, mind talking more about it?
And I don't have my copy of A True History of Film and Television by Caboose with me atm to quote it verbatim.

You're probably thinking of The Voices of Silence, which is a one-volume edition of The Psychology of Art. That's not about montage, though. It's art criticism. Is the passage you're referring to the one on page 137?

"You put two paintings, take a photograph, you put two paintings, three, four, a half, and make a connection and use the alphabet too if you like. This is what a few critics do. Not many: Élie Faure a little in France, and Malraux a little afterwards, I don't think there are any others. In fact the novelty of Malraux in art history - he was very successful - was simply that he put in a lot of photographs. You could at least see what he was talking about. With film [criticism], you can't see."

dda1996a wrote:I meant montage in the sense of juxtaposing images. It might be that book then, mind talking more about it?
And I don't have my copy of A True History of Film and Television by Caboose with me atm to quote it verbatim.

If you have a clearer topic one might talk more about it. I do not have the time (and according to this, the engl. skills) to elaborate "into the blue" about a book i read many years ago. I can give you some hints, the rest you should check out yourself if interested.

But i did check the book in my libery last night and fun fact: the title/book cover shows a similar (same?) photograph of the da Vinci "Hands/pointing finger" (probably from "St. John the Baptiste") as shown in the press images for the upcoming Le livre d'image.
Uncool link to amazon for the book cover:
https://www.amazon.de/Psychologie-Kunst ... B002FTT6CW" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Famous photographs of Malraux that Godard would "like" (i guess):
https://www.google.com/search?q=andre+m ... 0&bih=1078" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

40% off University of California Press books now through Sunday (includes pre-orders, but online ordering is available for US and Canada only)

[Direct link to cinema and media books]

Thanks for the heads up! Will finally be picking up a copy of Shelley Stamp's Lois Weber in Early Hollywood. Trying to resist adding several others to my cart....

Annoyingly, it won't let me choose a Canadian shipping location (or calculate shipping to Canada). It does let me enter a Canadian postal code for my billing address if I choose to make it different from the shipping address. Weird.

Anybody get volume 2 of Stephen Thrower’s Jess Franco books yet? As far as I can tell it was supposed to come out at the end of May but it doesn’t seem to be very readily available from any retailers.

According to Amazon it looks like it now has a release date of 25th December.

That’s disappointing, but I guess it’s the kind of project that requires a good deal of time.

Cronenfly wrote:Anybody get volume 2 of Stephen Thrower’s Jess Franco books yet? As far as I can tell it was supposed to come out at the end of May but it doesn’t seem to be very readily available from any retailers.

He’s still working on it, as his Facebook friends already know. (He posted a work-in-progress update the other day.). I gather it’s at a reasonably advanced stage of development, but it’s clearly still a few months away.

I was going to suggest that maybe the recent release of so many Franco films to Blu-ray might have meant he has needed to keep revising the book with every new edition, but Thrower has been involved with many of the extras anyway!

Since volume 2 of the Thrower Franco book has been pushed back...does this mean that the (rumored?) reprint of volume 1 will be pushed back as well?

This is not strictly a books about film post (though it encompasses that), but does anyone know of online sources for used Japanese books that will ship to the U.S.? I can often find these books in Amazon.jp, but the after market vendors don't usually want to ship outside Japan. Thanks for any help you can provide.

jguitar wrote:This is not strictly a books about film post (though it encompasses that), but does anyone know of online sources for used Japanese books that will ship to the U.S.? I can often find these books in Amazon.jp, but the after market vendors don't usually want to ship outside Japan. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Have you tried the Advanced Book Exchange?

Mr Sausage wrote: Wed Jul 11, 2018 1:04 am

jguitar wrote:This is not strictly a books about film post (though it encompasses that), but does anyone know of online sources for used Japanese books that will ship to the U.S.? I can often find these books in Amazon.jp, but the after market vendors don't usually want to ship outside Japan. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Have you tried the Advanced Book Exchange?

Yes -- sometimes useful, but like Oliver, I want more.

Maybe try Alibaba?

Mr Sausage wrote: Thu Jul 12, 2018 2:30 am Maybe try Alibaba?

Embarrassingly, I haven't tried that. I'll give it a shot -- thanks!

For those interested in the history of cinema going, the oral history Enter the Dream-house: Memories of Cinemas in South London from the Twenties to the Sixties edited by Margaret O'Brien and Allen Eyles is fascinating and highly entertaining. Focussing on memories of going to and working in South London cinemas (and occasionally in the West End) as well as the films themselves it gives good first hand examples of how audiences chose and watched films - or in the case of the news cinemas at train stations, wanted a cheaper alternative to a hotel room for an office affair. Common complaints include continuous performances and being told "this is where we came in, time to go" - a feature which my parents (who are of a similar age to the interviewees in the book) don't recall ever happening locally.

On the film side, there seems more interest in film stars more than genres (the western being the dividing line - either loved or hated) - particular favourites quoted more than once include Stewart Granger and Old Mother Riley. One film which does get several mentions for being spectacular and scary (there is little other talk of the main horror films of the thirties and forties) is King Kong, which seems to have been treated as a horror film by the young filmgoers.

Anyway, the book as a whole is very nicely presented (it's the old style MOMI square book for those familiar with the format) with many photos of the cinemas mentioned and comes highly recommended. Seemingly long out of print (it came out in 1993, when I bought my copy even though I've only just read it!) but appears to be easily and cheaply available.