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:



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!

When you understand the past, the confusion of the present becomes clearer - John Betjeman.

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.

Bit of a Bay Window, what??

Steve Crook

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

Treat yourself, it's Christmas

"There's always something"

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.

When you understand the past, the confusion of the present becomes clearer - John Betjeman.

Steve Crook

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

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

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

They are Spillane spoofs in Pulp.

christoph404

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.

http://numbersixwasinnocent.blogspot.com/

moonfleet

Le Mépris / Godard



The Ninth Gate / Polanski




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

'Very difficult !!' 'Craazy !!'

Steve Crook

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

Steve