Foto dell'autore
8 opere 84 membri 23 recensioni

Sull'Autore

John T. Soister, a teacher in Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania

Opere di John T. Soister

Etichette

Informazioni generali

Data di nascita
1950
Sesso
male
Nazionalità
USA
Nazione (per mappa)
USA
Luogo di nascita
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Luogo di residenza
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Denver, Colorado, USA

Utenti

Recensioni

Wish I had more carefully read what this book was about as it is a major disappointment. I saw Claude Rains in the title and bought it. However, this book does not focus on his greatest roles (Capt Renault in Casablanca, Dr. Jaquith in Now Voyager, or Job Skeffington in Mr. Skeffington) but on roles where he was a monster (The Invisible Man) or mad (The Phantom of the Opera). The only thing that makes this book worthwhile are the contributions provided by Rains' daughter, Jessica, and her comments on the role/film or things she remembered about her father. I did not like the author's off-hand writing style, i.e. page 92 "Boris headed back to Blighty" or calling people a native "New Yakwa" (page 95 being one instance of this) - was he trying to be funny? Including the reviews from the time the film was released was a nice look at history (as well as articles by Rains or director James Whale). However the reviews from the present from internet sites did not provide might insight and I eventually started skipping them. The author even spent 22 pages in the introduction telling you what the book was going to be about (where was an editor to cut most of this?) While the film synopsis and cast lists were great, overall,and inclusion of his radio work was good, overall I found this book to be too expensive for what it ends up being. A better and more comprehensive look at Claude Rains is provided in Claude Rains - An Invisible Man by Toby Cohen.… (altro)
 
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knahs | Jul 7, 2023 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
Buffs of horror movies and thrillers might find this of interest, especially if they are not that into vintage thrillers outside of the famous Universal horror classics. I'd disagree about some of the titles being "rare" (Death Takes a Holiday is something of a classic among buffs for example and John Barrymore's "Sherlock Holmes" is pretty easy to find) but it's a good primer for fans wanting to expand their viewings beyond the famous and obvious titles. There's fewer attempts at (groaning) humor in Soister's writing here than in his previous book on horror films which is a step in the right direction to be sure. I would have liked for more truly obscure films to have been included but then many of those may well be lost. Since most books on horror films, especially vintage, pretty much stick to the standard titles this would be a welcome addition to a library on the genre.… (altro)
 
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mrsfiskeandco | 9 altre recensioni | Nov 27, 2018 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
I love classic movies, and one can find many, many guides about the most popular classics, such as the old B monster movies, romances and literary monster movies (including Frankenstein and Dracula). What I loved about this book was that it explored movies that few have heard about -- even movie buffs! Even though some of the movies discussed will be hard to find, this book is a great addition to any film lover's book shelf.
 
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karenweyant | 9 altre recensioni | Dec 4, 2017 |
Questa recensione è stata scritta per Recensori in anteprima di LibraryThing.
The only reason I picked it up was the section on the various movie adaptations of Bernhard Kellermann’s 1913 novel Der Tunnel. I first came across reference to it in John J. Pierce’s Foundations of Science Fiction: A Study in Imagination and Evolution which described it as giving “epic scope to industrial sf” in its tale of constructing a transatlantic tunnel for rail travel.

I did like the opening chapter which covered the four movie adaptations of that novel.

Soister and Nicolella cover a movie or group of movies in each chapter. They do it with wit and engaging asides as well as covering a lot of film history. Films are always placed in a larger context be it biographical, the development of genres, or the history of certain film series and remakes.
It’s a book for hard core movie lovers, in this case those who love horror, science fiction, and mystery films.

Many of these movies are either vanished or available for viewing if you show up at a museum or the Library of Congress. Literary reconstruction is the only way most of us can experience them though Soister and Nicolella often tell you where the extant ones can be viewed. That means you get some small print and mind-numbing, tedious plot synopses (officially registered for copyright purposes with the Library of Congress). Worst is all fifteen chapters of Sky Ranger aka The Man Who Stole the Moon. (No, he doesn’t and the moon plays almost no part in the story.) It’s used as an example of silent, somewhat science fictioney, movie serials.

I’d already seen, years ago, the 1930 science fiction musical Just Imagine about the wonders of 1980. (Pills for food, resurrection from the dead, names like “J-21”, and New York City doing a sort of eugenics-lite in their marriage regulation.

After reading this book, I’d like to see Death Takes a Vacation. (That’s Fredric March as death glowering on the cover.) And I’d like to see the lurid, mad scientist “Hispanic Horrors” of El misterio del rostro pálido [The Mystery of the Ghastly Face], El baúl macabre [The Macabre Trunk], and Una luz en la ventana [A Light in the Window].

And I’d like to see the pacifist science fiction movie High Treason from 1929 in which the women of 1940 (or maybe 1950, the producers seemed a bit uncertain) try to stop a war between the United States of Europe and the Federated Atlantic States. It’s paired with the more ambiguously Men Must Fight looking at interwar anxieties and opinions about another global conflict.

For completion’s sake, I’ll briefly list the other chapters

“Sherlock Holmes”, deals with the 1922 film of that name which was by no means the first film dealing with the famous detective.

“First Looks: Dag grinsende Gesicht [The Grinning Face]; Die Insel der Verschollenen [Island of the Lost]” covers the first two movie adaptations of Victor Hugo’s L’Homme qui rit and H. G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau, respectively.

Two other less literary, but still popular, stories and their first movie versions are covered in “The Monkey’s Paw [1923]; Sweeney Todd [1928]”.

Charlie Chan fans will be interested in “The House Without a Key”, the first movie serial with Charlie Chan, albeit on screen for about four minutes, and that actually featured a Japanese actor as Chan.

Forgotten Faces” looks at a 1928 thriller with an unusual premise: a criminal who wants to be killed by his victim. Based on Richard Washburn Child’s story “A Whiff of Heliotrope”, it was filmed three more times.

“Les Fantômes de Paris: Chéri-Bibi; The Phantom of Paris” looks at those two films and their place in the plethora of “phantom” movies.

Fog; Terror Aboard” looks at two thrillers, from 1933, that featured “mayhem on the high seas” and that “sank at the box office.”

The Horror: The Patchwork Cinema of Bud Pollard” looks at the eponymous film producer. His output may even have been less interesting than Ed Woods. The most interesting thing about him is that he literally died from a joke.

Return of the Terror” looks at 1933, “not a banner year for the horror film” and a film based on an Edgar Wallace play featuring a “maniacal arch-criminal/master of disguise, and not some fiend of supernatural origin”.

Der Hund von Baskerville” looks at one of Hitler’s favorite films, a 1937 adaptation of Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The book’s subjects are arranged chronologically and concludes with the 1951 Czechoslovakian film Císařův Pekař a Pekařův Císař [The Emperor’s Baker, the Baker’s Emperor], a musical-comedy take on the Golem legend.
… (altro)
 
Segnalato
RandyStafford | 9 altre recensioni | Mar 1, 2017 |

Statistiche

Opere
8
Utenti
84
Popolarità
#216,911
Voto
4.0
Recensioni
23
ISBN
16

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