The Silver Screen Oasis

FYI:

One of our past Guest Authors, Scott Eyman, is publishing John Wayne: The Life and Legend (Simon & Schuster) on April 1, 2014. More here about the book and pre-orders. Hope we can look forward to another visit from Scott.

I've already pre-ordered the book. I hope he joins us, too; I remember enjoying his last visit very much.

I've seen occasional book reviews from Mr. Eyman in The Wall Street Journal as well. Last week or so he reviewed two books on Gloria Swanson.

I love his DVD commentaries...I wish he would do more of those, they are like sitting in on a film history course because he packs so much information into them.

Great news! I too am a fan of his work.

And Wayne's of course.

MissGoddess wrote:I love his DVD commentaries...I wish he would do more of those, they are like sitting in on a film history course because he packs so much information into them.

Sadly, DVD commentaries are becoming rarer now that MOD has become the model of secondary film distribution--but there has been a modest turn-around in that end of the business in the last year. Perhaps that will lead to more intelligent commentaries as those provided by Scott Eyman, and Alan K. Rode, to name two of our guest authors who have contributed to the field. Cross your fingers....and buy DVDs with extras (they notice).

movieman1957 wrote:I've seen occasional book reviews from Mr. Eyman in The Wall Street Journal as well. Last week or so he reviewed two books on Gloria Swanson.

Scott Eyman is the Books Editor of The Palm Beach Post and has his reviews distributed in several other papers, including the WSJ and, for awhile, was also writing at the New York Observer. Here's his recent articles at the Palm Beach paper:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/staff/scott-eyman/stories/

His recent posts at The Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/search/term.html? ... &mod=DNH_S

His past reviews at The Observer:
http://observer.com/author/scott-eyman/

Eyman also has his own website with info about his activities (though it does seem to need some updating--he's probably been too busy to pay it much attention):
http://www.scotteyman.com/

moirafinnie wrote:FYI:

One of our past Guest Authors, Scott Eyman, is publishing John Wayne: The Life and Legend (Simon & Schuster) on April 1, 2014. More here about the book and pre-orders. Hope we can look forward to another visit from Scott.

I've already ordered this book from Amazon and I'm looking forward reading about John Wayne from Mr. Eyman. Thanks for posting this info - Moira.

MissGoddess wrote:I love his DVD commentaries...I wish he would do more of those, they are like sitting in on a film history course because he packs so much information into them.

Me too ... about 1/3 of my DVD Collections is pretty much Commentaries/Documentaries of all kinds of subject matter and good news its all Closed Captioned. For a guy who is hard of hearing - its an added bonus!

What you posted here ... is right on the money!

Hi Erik! I really learn so much from hearing someone speak about a film while I'm watching it. it's an added bonus if you get a commentary from someone who was actually involved in the making of the film, or knew the participants.

Like I said, it's as if I were taking a film class. Love it.

MissGoddess wrote:
Like I said, it's as if I were taking a film class. Love it.

Exactly!

Found this 1930 article from the Hollywood Filmograph on facebook -- the best part is the letter denouncing the casting of an unknown kid named John Wayne as the lead in Raoul Walsh's new film The Big Trail. ;)

that's funny! clearly from a (silent era) actor who didn't pass the screen test. The comment about listening to "babbling actors" broke me up.

Too funny! Even though the writer said he wasn't an actor up for the role it sure does come off as sour grapes.

We probably wouldn't even have a copy left of it now if it wasn't for Wayne being in the movie.

What's interesting to me is the touting of Wayne as a newcomer. The Big Trail may have been his first starring role, but it wasn't his first film.

The letter from "An Observer" made me think of the recent flap over Ben Affleck being cast as Batman. People are always so quick to judge without having seen the film first. Boy, was "An Observer" wrong!

Sandy k