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MOVIES / TELEVISION / THEATRE / RADIO -1- |
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Me & Orson Welles - Robert Kaplow
Published by Vintage Books (2009). Large paperback in excellent condition. 270pp. NZD 6.00 / P & P: A Special tie-in Edition including exclusive images from the 2008 film. The irresistible story of a stage-struck boy coming of age in the golden era of Broadway--with some very famous supporting characters--Me and Orson Welles is a romantic farce that reads like a Who's Who of the classic American theatre. One of the best depictions of male adolescent yearning ever to hit the page. 
Cold Mountain - Charles Frazier
Large paperback in very good condition. Hodder & Stoughton (2003). 438pp. NZD 5.00 / P & P: B Adapted for the screen by director Anthony Minghella in the 2003 film, starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renée Zellweger. Sorely wounded and fatally disillusioned in the fighting at Petersburg, a Confederate soldier named Inman decides to walk back to his home in the Blue Ridge mountains to Ada, the woman he loves. His trek across the disintegrating South brings him into intimate and sometimes lethal converse with slaves and marauders, bounty hunters and witches, both helpful and malign... 
The Vintner's Luck - Elizabeth Knox
Paperback in excellent condition. Film tie-in edition published by Victoria University Press (2008).240pp. NZD 5.50 / P & P: A A powerful and meditative tale which made into a film of the same name in 2008. One summer night in 1808, Sobran Jodeau sets out to drown his love sorrows in his family's vineyard when he stumbles on an angel. Once he gets over his shock, Sobran decides that Xas, the male angel, is his guardian sent to counsel him on everything from marriage to wine production. But Xas turns out to be a far more mysterious character... Compelling and erotic, The Vintner's Luck explores a decidedly unorthodox love story as Sobran eventually comes to love and be loved by both Xas and the young Countess de Valday, his friend and employer at the neighbouring chateau. Elizabeth Fiona Knox, born in Wellington is an award-winning New Zealand writer. 
The Morningside World of Stuart McLean
Paperback in excellent condition. Penguin (1996). 236pp. M1. NZD 7.00 / P & P: B The Morningside World of Stuart McLean is a collection of radio essays that first aired on CBC Radio's national weekday morning show "Morningside" hosted by Peter Gzowski. In the 1980s Stuart McLean appeared as a regular contributor and occasional host on the show and his slice-of-life storytelling charmed listeners across the country. Funny and charming, poignant and nostalgic, McLean's essays illuminate a world most of us take for granted. The book became a Canadian bestseller. Among Stuart's favourites in this collection are: - the shocking truth about household dust - the importance of hardware stores - the sad, true tale of Anne, the street lady - an ode to the Popsicle, "one of the world's most perfect foods" - the story of the greatest game of Monopoly ever played. 
Whatever Happened to Simon Dee? - Richard Wiseman
Hardback with pictorial laminated boards in excellent, NEW condition. Numerous B&W photos. Aurum (2006). 293pp. NZD 6.00 / P & P: B In the mid-sixties, Simon Dee had it all. He was Britain's first celebrity chat-show host, with his own prime-time show on the BBC, Dee Time, regularly watched by 15 million people. He interviewed everyone from Sophia Lauren to Sammy Davis Jr, and in the programme's memorable closing credits, he swept away from Television Centre in an open-top E-Type Jaguar as a pert mini-skirted companion jumped aboard. He'd already been the first disc jockeys on the pioneering pirate station Radio Caroline; he had a part in The Italian Job. His show was judged to be so influential by Harold Wilson's government that A.J.P. Taylor's appearance on it to fulminate against going into Europe saw Dee put under surveillance by the Special Branch. Then a move to ITV soon saw his programme dropped, Simon Dee's fortunes sank swiftly even to a brief spell in jail...and suddenly one of the coolest figureheads of the Swinging Sixties was a name no more. But without him, there'd have been no Jonathan Ross, no Frank Skinner, and no Austin Powers. In 2005, Simon Dee turns 70. This is the story of British television's Icarus; of the vicissitudes of fame and how you subsequently make a life without it; of how the media builds people up and then knocks them down; of a man who was once one of the most famous people in Britain, and made a seminal contribution to broadcasting history. 
Spellbound by Beauty - Donald Spoto
Alfred Hitchcock and His Leading Ladies Paperback in excellent condition. 230pp inc. Index. Numerous B&W photographs. Published by Arrow Books (2009). NZD 7.00 / P & P: B “The trouble today is that we don’t torture women enough.” - Alfred Hitchcock It is remarkable how infrequently, over a period of more than fifty years, Alfred Hitchcock spoke about the beautiful, legendary and talented actresses he directed. And when he did, his remarks were mostly indifferent and often hostile. But his leading ladies greatly enriched his films, even as many of them achieved international stardom precisely because of their work for Hitchcock—among the dozens of women were Madeleine Carroll, Joan Fontaine, Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren. Yet he maintained a stony, insistent silence about the quality of their performances and their contributions to his art. Rich with fresh revelations based on previously undisclosed tapes, new interviews, private correspondence and personal papers made available only to the author, this thoughtful, compassionate yet explosive portrait details Hitchcock’s outbursts of cruelty, the shocking humour and the odd amalgam of adoration and contempt that time and again characterized Hitchcock’s obsessive relationships with women—and that also, paradoxically, fed his genius. Spellbound by Beauty offers important insights into the life of a brilliant, powerful, eccentric and tortured artist, and it corrects a major gap in movie history by paying tribute at last to those extraordinarily talented actresses who gave so much to his films. 
Planet Simpson - How a cartoon masterpiece documented an era and defined a generation by Chris Turner
Large format paperback in excellent, near new condition. Published by Ebury Press (2005). 471pp. NZD 9.00 / P & P: B D'oh - it's "The Simpsons." And here's the book with the behind-the-scenes story of how America's favourite nuclear family first arrived at a TV near you, how the series grew into a worldwide icon, and who brings it to life so brilliantly week after week, year after year. Since first airing in 1987 as a cartoon interlude on the short-lived "Tracey Ullman Show," "The Simpsons" has deliciously skewered the foibles of American life, evolving into a cultural institution that reaches across the generations. As satire, it's sharp and funny. As a pop phenom, it's in a league of its own. And with Planet Simpson, it finally gets the sprawling, multidimensional critical look it so richly deserves. "Smart and funny, Turner writes with fitting enthusiasm for his subject while working in seemly references to cultural theory and TV-insider politics. His book is just the thing for fellow fans, and for anyone interested in how pop phenomena came to be." This book was not prepared, licensed, approved, or endorsed by any entity involved in creating or producing the television series "The Simpsons." 
The Shattered Silents - Alexander Walker
How The Talkies Came To Stay... Large Hardback with d/j, both in excellent condition. Numerous B&W Photos. Elmtree Books (1978). 220pp. NZD 8.00 / P & P: C For anyone really fascinated about the early, chaotic first years of sound this book is indispensable. From Al Jolson's sensational talkie debut (really only a couple of ad-libbed lines, a few of his song standards, it didn't matter, the audiences just lapped it up). Within a year films became "all talking" with beloved silent stars being dumped in favour of stage veterans mostly with disastrous results. More was needed than just reciting lines and after the initial excitement of hearing movies talk, the public longed for the days when movies actually moved and demanded that their old favourites, who were not frightened by movie cameras, be returned!! Richard Barthelmess became one of the highest paid actors of the early 1930s, Bebe Daniels, who had been in films since WW1 found she was back in popularity again as she demonstrated a lovely light operatic voice in "Rio Rita", likewise Bessie Love gave a tremendous performance in "The Broadway Melody" with her portrayal of a gutsy little trouper and was nominated for an A.A, but strangely MGM did not take advantage of her talent. Conrad Nagel, a romantic leading man in silents, proved in talkies to have a beautiful, clear speaking voice - and was even called in to give some big stars - Lya De Putti, Lupe Velez etc, lessons!! Some feared the mike, others, like Adolphe Menjou, saw the writing on the wall and called the studio's bluff. He knew he could talk and forced the studio to feature him in a talkie before his contract was up (he and the feature "Fashions in Love" were a success and he never looked back). Musicals started to take off. From the very good ("Dance of Life", "Applause") to the very bad ("Howdy Broadway") there were more musicals made in those few short years (over 170) than ever before or since but by mid 1930 film fans were staying away from them... 
Men Behaving Badly
The Original Story that inspired the Hit TV Series by Simon Nye Paperback in excellent condition. Published by Penguin (1989). 225pp. NZD 5.50 / P & P: A Lurking somewhere inside this precious, overwritten first novel by British writer Nye is a comic short story struggling to breathe free. Gary Strang and Dermot Povey share a flat, but their quaint domesticity is shattered when coy, blase Deborah moves in upstairs. Both men fall desperately in love with her, though it's hard to see why, since all she seems to want is a man with lots of money and a "nice bottom." Their landlady, Geraldine, has just been deserted by her husband Gerald who once painted Deborah when she modelled nude in his art class. When Mike, Deborah's violent ex-boyfriend, breaks Gary's arm, the chatty surface tone turns serious. The book aims at an entertaining style to capture the characters' aimless lives. This is the original story that inspired the Hit TV Series starring Martin Clunes, Neil Morrissey and Caroline Quentin. |