Books in Films

[Carmel]

ignore....

[cornershop15]

I've had a few more ideas for threads recently but this one is very much a spur-of-the-moment decision. It's freezing cold and the central heating is very low, so I shall have to forsake my more ambitious plans, temporarily, for another of my occasional 'bit of fluff' threads ('Favourite Avatars', 'Memorable Posts', 'Unusual Search Results' - remember them?!), this time relying on our memories of seeing Books in Films.



I was inspired after some recent screencapping for A Matter of Life and Death. In one scene, Marius Goring, as the Heaven-sent Conductor 71, finds a book David Niven has accidentally knocked off the table, belonging to his doctor (Roger Livesey). At the end, after the trial is won, Conductor 71 throws the book from the 'Stairway to Heaven' and David's girlfriend, Kim Hunter, finds it in his jacket pocket before placing it on a bed:

The author of My Best Games of Chess, Alexander Alekhine, died in 1946, the year this film was made.

I suspect director Michael Powell knew about this either before or during filming and decided to use Mr

Alekhine's book in the picture as a personal tribute. Can anyone tell me if that was actually the case?



:



Alexander Alekhine (1892-1946)

(From his Wikipedia profile)

COMING SOON: Inevitably, a couple of images from the film every 'bibliophile' hates (but also loves! ), Francois Truffaut's Fahrenheit 451. Any other Books in Films that come to mind? The same director's Domicile Conjugal perhaps? Another famous example: All of Them Witches in Rosemary's Baby!

[penfold]

Being a PnP obsessive I have a copy of that very edition, a wartime reprint (1943? I'm at work) with the red knight design printed on what was going to be a French textbook....recycled in the same way as your scan demonstrates nicely.

[Steve Crook]

Being a PnP obsessive I have a copy of that very edition, a wartime reprint (1943? I'm at work) with the red knight design printed on what was going to be a French textbook....recycled in the same way as your scan demonstrates nicely.

I've got one as well



I've even got a copy of the book that Petula Clark was reading in I Know Where I'm Going! (Seventy Scottish Songs by Helen Hopekirk) and the Ehren Codex that defined the rules for the duel in Colonel Blimp



Steve

[GoggleboxUK]

I've got one as well



I've even got a copy of the book that Petula Clark was reading in I Know Where I'm Going! (Seventy Scottish Songs by Helen Hopekirk) and the Ehren Codex that defined the rules for the duel in Colonel Blimp



Steve

Treat yourself, it's Christmas



Seventy Scottish Songs: Amazon.co.uk: Helen Hopekirk: Books





Ehren Codex - AbeBooks

[cornershop15]

Thanks for your replies. Do you Powell & Pressburger experts know if my theory about the chess book's inclusion is right? I did a few captures of Petula where she's holding a book, but not at the right angle! They are suitable for 'Where Were They Then?', however.

[Steve Crook]

Thanks for your replies. Do you Powell & Pressburger experts know if my theory about the chess book's inclusion is right?

The film was made from September to December 1945. They were very clever but I don't think that they could predict someone's death



The chess book was probably chosen because it was a well known book on chess. And it probably would have been Pressburger that found it. He did a lot of research for all of their films, often scouring places like the reading room at the British Library. That's where he found the Ehren Codex used in Blimp.



Steve

[Steve Crook]

Treat yourself, it's Christmas



Seventy Scottish Songs: Amazon.co.uk: Helen Hopekirk: Books



Ehren Codex - AbeBooks

It's even better when you get the editions used in the films

Although they tend to be quite a bit rarer and more expensive



Steve

[christoph404]

The book ,"The Wizard of Oz" floats around in John Boorman's "Zardoz"



Here's a teaser for you,what film do the following book titles appear, "My Gun is Long" by Guy Strange, and "Kill me Gently" by Gary Rough.....



"Catcher in The Rye" appears in quite a few films, "Annie Hall" and "The Shining" spring to mind but Im sure there are others that feature this novel.

[Steve Crook]

"Catcher in The Rye" appears in quite a few films, "Annie Hall" and "The Shining" spring to mind but Im sure there are others that feature this novel.

See Cultural references to the novel The Catcher in the Rye for a starting point



Steve

[christoph404]

Ah...cheers Steve, very influential book!

[Mr Sloane]

The book ,"The Wizard of Oz" floats around in John Boorman's "Zardoz"



Here's a teaser for you,what film do the following book titles appear, "My Gun is Long" by Guy Strange, and "Kill me Gently" by Gary Rough.....

They are Spillane spoofs in Pulp.

[christoph404]

They are Spillane spoof's in Pulp.

Yep, quite right,.. Mike Hodges' "Pulp" with Michael Caine

[Moor Larkin]

I've noticed Berlin Game in two movies recently. One of them was Jackie Brown and the other was Target.

[moonfleet]

Le Mépris / Godard







The Ninth Gate / Polanski









.... long time ago books were made of stone.

[Steve Crook]

Le Mépris / Godard

That's a strange picture. Who wears a towel in the bath?



Steve

[will.15]

I would never have gotten any of these. But no one has mentioned the most obvious one, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, an actual non-fiction book that became the basis for the musical, with the protagonist following the book's advice.

[Rick C]

That's a strange picture. Who wears a towel in the bath?



Steve

I bet Janet Leigh in 'Psycho' wish she had done at the time....

[cornershop15]

Thanks for your replies. A quick Catching Up with Posts ...

Well done, Will! I like How to Succeed in Business ... very much (Robert Morse in the photo) but haven't seen it since 1987. A very underrated musical by one of my favourite songwriters, Frank Loesser. Rudy Vallee was in that you know!

Didn't realise A Matter of Life and Death was filmed in 1945. So it came out a whole year after filming was completed?

The book ,"The Wizard of Oz" floats around in John Boorman's "Zardoz"

The clue is in the title! Terrible film.

"Catcher in The Rye" appears in quite a few films ... very influential book!

Especially for John Lennon's murderer

Fahrenheit 451 has some of the most breathtaking images I've ever seen in films, even more so when you have time to study them during screencapping. Many of the books are shown for a split second before being picked up by brainwashed firemen or engulfed in the flames they've created. The first book that appears on screen, prominently at least, is Don Quixote by Cervantes:

Not another candidate for 'Anyone Recognise This Actor?' Maybe Chris William as 'Trainee Black'?



Soon afterwards, many books are ruthlessly bundled into bags and emptied in the middle of a road.

A boy, who I think must be Kevin Elder, picks up one of the books and flicks through it. His father

takes it from him, under the watchful glare of Anton Diffring, and tosses it into the ready-to-burn

pile. And we then notice it's The Moon and Sixpence - but what are the partially-obsured books?





I managed to capture this image, just before the Somerset Maugham book lands on top of them:



The Picture of Dorian Gray, Tom Brown's Body by Gladys Mitchell and something by Margaret Mead.



Can you identify the others? I'm not very happy about this strikingly individual film being remade



Moonfleet posted a photo from Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate, which I don't know anything about,

but the book cover implies it's another witchcraft movie. A 'Rosemary's Baby Special' is on it's way!



P.S . I've just noticed that the first capture, with the unknown fireman, is identical to the one on IMDb's page!

[Steve Crook]

Didn't realise A Matter of Life and Death was filmed in 1945. So it came out a whole year after filming was completed?

It takes a while to edit such a masterpiece

Then it was held back so that it could be shown at the first Royal Film Performance

Fahrenheit 451 has some of the most breathtaking images I've ever seen in films, even more so when you have time to study them during screencapping. Many of the books are shown for a split second before being picked up by brainwashed firemen or engulfed in the flames they've created. The first book that appears on screen, prominently at least, is Don Quixote by Cervantes

Here's a books mentioned in the film



Steve