Wide Screen Movies Magazine
edited by John Hayes

Recommended Reading (from Issue 4)
by John Hayes

In the last issue, you may recall, I recommended Douglas Brode’s Lost Films Of The Fifties. Well since then I’ve managed to track down a copy of his earlier book, Films Of The Fifties. This one is just as essential reading as its successor, looking as it does at the more well known Fifties movies. All the classics are in here: Sunset Boulevard, Singing In The Rain, Ben Hur, along with some of the more elusive productions such as Baby Doll, Blue Denim and The World, The Flesh And The Devil – as well as This Is Cinerama! Citadel Press ISBN 0-8065-0621-0. Originally published in 1976, my copy is a 1992 softcover edition, bought on the Internet for $10

As we have a Gina Lollobrigida film featured in this issue, I decided to go hunting for a biography of this beautiful star, but with surprisingly little luck – there doesn’t seem to be one, as such. However I did find this excellent book by Maurizio Ponzi, The Films Of Gina Lollobrigida, which turned out to be the next best thing – better in some ways, considering the incredible number of pictures it contains; much more than the average biography. Ponzi has included pretty much everything you might want to know about ‘La Lollo’, along with synopsis, cast and credits and reviews of all her films – there’s even an interview with the lady herself. Citadel Press 1982 softcover ISBN 0-8056-1093-5. I bought this for $13

And finally – and for no other reason than she was my favourite actress, Pier Angeli: A Fragile Life by Jane Allen. A long overdue biography of the beautiful Italian star who’s career ended tragically - and all too early - in 1971 at the age of 39. The author has had the full co-operation of Pier’s family, and an excellent biography is the result. On the downside, it’s published by McFarland and as anyone familiar with their publications will know, they are ridiculously overpriced. I obtained my copy through Addall Booksearch* on the Internet for $26 plus postage, but you can normally expect to pay $40 and up – and this is for a softcover book. If you order through Amazon UK, they advertise it at around £26 or so – plus postage and a long wait. Not easy to find, this one. ISBN 0-7864-1392-1

J.H.

* www.Addall.com is probably the best book search engine on the Net. If they can’t find a particular book for you, no one can. Ed.