October 2023 MBR The Theatre/Cinema Shelf

The Theatre/Cinema Shelf

Creative Producing
Carol Baum
Allworth Press
www.allworth.com
c/o Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
www.skyhorsepublishing.com
9781621538370, $19.99, PB, 216pp

https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Producing-Pitch-Picture-Development/dp/1621538370

Synopsis: As former co-president of Dolly Parton's production company, Sandollar, and as a successful independent producer, Carol Baum is an expert in the art of film production.

With the publication of "Creative Producing: A Pitch-to-Picture Guide to Movie Development", Braum provides a DIY crash course in the frequently misunderstood producer's role and the many skills needed to survive and thrive in Hollywood. Readers receive a master class in production -- from pitching, script development, and packaging, to working with stars, directors, and difficult executives.

Enhanced with behind-the-scenes stories from Baum's illustrious career, "Creative Producing" offers an intimate look behind the Hollywood curtain to give film students, cinephiles, aspiring executives, and industry insiders a must-have guide to understanding film development from successful pitch to hit picture.

Critique: Impressively comprehensive, exceptionally well written, thoroughly 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Creative Producing: A Pitch-to-Picture Guide to Movie Development" must be considered a core addition to personal, professional, community, film school, and academic library Cinematic and Viceo Direction/Production instructional reference collections. It should be noted that "Creative Producing: A Pitch-to-Picture Guide to Movie Development" is also readily available in a digital book format (Kindle, $14.99).

Editorial Note: Carol Baum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Baum) has produced 34 movies, 17 of them independently. As co-president of Sandollar Productions, Dolly Parton and Sandy Gallin's production company, she produced such hits as Father of the Bride; the Academy Award-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt; Jacknife; Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Kicking and Screaming; and many more. As an indie producer, Baum's films include The Good Girl, My First Mister, and Boychoir, as well as television movies for Hallmark and several documentaries. Baum currently teaches producing in the Film and Television Production Division at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. She is also a mentor for the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC.

Horror on the Stage
Amnon Kabatchnik
McFarland & Company
https://mcfarlandbooks.com
9781476675558, $75.00, PB, 283pp

https://www.amazon.com/Horror-Stage-Monsters-Murders-Terrifying/dp/1476675554

Synopsis: There are numerous studies available about the horror genre in film and television, but none that provide information about horror on a legitimate stage until now. With the publication of "Horror on the Stage: Monsters, Murders and Terrifying Moments in Theater", Professor Amnon Kabatchnik highlights the most terrifying moments in theater history, from classical plays like Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Euripides' Medea to the violence of the Grand Guignol company productions in 18th-century France, and present-day productions like Stephen Sondheim's musical Sweeney Todd, Stephen King's Carrie and dark 21st-century plays by Clive Barker and Conor McPherson.

In "Horror on the Stage: Monsters, Murders and Terrifying Moments in Theater" Professor Kabatchnik has compiled the history and behind-the-scenes tales surrounding stage productions about monsters, hauntings and horrors both historical and imagined. Included are the nightmarish adaptations of popular writings from Edgar Allan Poe, Oscar Wilde, H.G. Wells, Henry James, Arthur Conan Doyle, and others, as well as plays starring popular characters like Frankenstein, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Woman in Black.

More than 500 plays are documented, accompanied by dozens of photographs. Each individual entry include plot synopses, existing production data, and evaluations by critics and scholars.

Critique: Unique, seminal, impressively well written, exceptionally 'reader friendly' in organization and presentation, "Horror on the Stage: Monsters, Murders and Terrifying Moments in Theater" is an essential and informative resource for students, academia, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in Theatrical History, Horror/Supernatural Literary & Performing Arts Criticism. While also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $33.99), "Horror on the Stage: Monsters, Murders and Terrifying Moments in Theater" is especially and unreservedly recommended for personal, professional, community, college, and university library collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists.

Editorial Note: Amnon Kabatchnik (https://amnonkabatchnik.com) has served as professor of theater at several top universities. In New York, on the road and in summer stock he directed dramas, comedies, and thrillers, earning the Lola D'Annunzio Honorary Citation for Outstanding Contribution to the Off Broadway Theater.

50 Movie Music Moments
Vasco Hexel
Routledge
www.routledge.com
9781032249575, $160.00, HC, 288pp

https://www.amazon.com/Movie-Music-Moments-Vasco-Hexel/dp/1032249579

Synopsis: "50 Movie Music Moments" by Vasco Hexel comprises a wide-ranging collection of analyses of some of the most fascinating uses of music in modern Hollywood cinema. Considering narrative strategies, filmmaking techniques, functions of film music, audience engagement and conditioning, cultural implications, and intertextuality, the case studies gathered here introduce music as a crucial element of film.

In 50 examples drawn from popular and critically acclaimed Hollywood films from the late 1950s to the present, the collection showcases the many dimensions of film music and its role in cinematic storytelling. Each example includes an analysis addressing the film's context and providing a close reading of how music, narrative, and visual elements of the scene interact.

Case studies exploring the role of music in film include Amadeus, Gladiator, Baby Driver, The Dark Knight, Philadelphia, Schindler's List, and Black Panther.

"50 Movie Music Moments" is an invaluable collection that offers an ideal resource to support undergraduate and graduate courses in film music history, film scoring, and filmmaking, as well as readers with a general interest in music in film.

Critique: Original, thoroughly researched, expertly written, organized and presented, "50 Movie Music Moments" is a seminal work of meticulous scholarship and a unique, especially recommended addition to personal, professional, college, and university library Cinematic History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for the reading lists of students, academia, film historians, film makers, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "50 Movie Music Moments" is also available in a paperback edition (9781032249551, $44.95) and in a digital book format (Kindle, $31.69).

Editorial Note: Vasco Hexel (https://www.vascohexel.com) is a composer, author, and educator. He led the Master's Programme in Composition for Screen at the Royal College of Music, London from 2008 to 2020 and most recently was a visiting lecturer in film music at the University of Cambridge.

Native American Movie Actors
E. Dennis King
Dorrance Publishing Company
www.dorrancepublishing.com
9780578669861, $65.00, HC, 128pp

https://www.amazon.com/Native-American-Movie-Actors-Dennis/dp/0578669862

Synopsis: This unique and seminal large format (8.5 x 0.32 x 11 inches, 13.9 ounces) edition of "Native American Movie Actors" by E. Dennis King is a seminal and unique volume that features a wealth of historic b/w and full color illustrations that include an amazing section of movie posters for films in which Native American actors were a key and significant element to the stories told. An impressive number of individual Native American actors are showcased with a small photo and a once paragraph personal/professional biography. The impressively informative commentary on American Cinema and Native American Actors also includes observations about and of the on-location sites where the films were made including Arches National Monument, Utah's Castle Valley, and Utah's Dead Horse Point State Park. Of special note is the section devoted to Navajo culture -- and so much more!

Critique: With the publication of "Native American Movie Actors", E. Dennis King fully honors and rescues from an undeserved obscurity those Native Americans who made western movies possible by creating those magnificent action scenes. It honors their courage, bravery, and willingness that helps tell through the means of cinema their part in settling the western frontier and fighting for what was theirs against all comers. Unique and fascinating, informative and exceptional, "Native American Movie Actors" is a seminal and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, and academic library Cinematic History and Native American History collections and supplemental curriculum studies lists. It should be noted for students, academia, film buffs, and non-specialist general readers with an interest in the subject that "Native American Movie Actors" is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $29.95).

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