Movies Books

One of Rosenbaum's main themes is that Hollywood isn't even "giving the people what they want." The hare-brained garbage the big studios regularly produce is the product of a completely self-contained, self-referential industry that is driven by marketing ("push" in business terminology) far more than it is driven by customer demand (i.e., "pull."). One of my favorite examples is Rosenbaum's discussion of the extraordinary success of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, a massive box office success that many, if not most, people thought was just extraordinarily bad. Rosenbaum goes into great detail about how marketing deals ensured the extraordinary financial success and long movie house runs of this almost complete loser.

In a wonderfully ironic support of Rosenbaum's thesis, try typing "movie wars" into [a bookeseller's] search engine. At least when I tried it (10/20/02), the first roughly 50 books the search engine returns are collateral materials for Star Wars, none of whose titles contain the phrase "movie wars." Hollywood marketing strikes again as thoughtful criticism is, as usual, pushed into obscurity.

Passarella does a superb job of capturing the feeling of the series, down to the odd, syncopation of the individual characters' speech patterns. The plots are handled well, in general, and while characters behave as you'd expect them to, there are still a few surprises.

My only complaint is with the Solitaire sub-plot. This day-walking vampire idea was great, I loved it, and then there was this added twist and I was wondering what would happen and then . . . well, I don't want to spoil the book, but let's just say that plot thread ends rather more anti-climactically than was necessary.

- A selection of remarks about God and quotes from the Bible in the front matter. Not a bad thing, just a bit unexpected in a book about marketing for the screen and stage.

- Half of the next page is about where to buy this book. If you're holding the book, the odds are good you don't need that information by then.

- Under 'Author Biography' on the first page: "No recognition is desired by the author. Displaying credentials serves no purpose." Well, yes it does. It tells you what experience the author has, his level of 'authority' on the subject matter, what point of view he's writing from - a studio exec will have a different point of view than a script reader.

- "No Chapter 13" (yet there's a page number for it)

- "Chapter 14 - Introduction to Trap Shooting" and "Trap Shooting Writing Opportunities." No, I am not kidding. The author is sure that you'll meet people here. You just might, but how many of them are Hollywood types who can or will actually do anything for you is questionable. It doesn't matter because this section isn't about shmoozing; it instead extolls the virtues of trap shooting as an obsession.

The author also names 5 "must-see" movies - which are actually six. Three are classics: "The Terminator" (which he calls "Terminator 1") and "Terminator 2" (which is actually titled "Terminator 2: Judgment Day"), and "It's a Wonderful Life." No, I'm not being picky. If you're going to write about screenwriting, it's lazy not to bother to get the titles right.

He includes "The Cormorant," and "England Made Me," which he "believe[s] were filmed by British prodcos." Shouldn't an author have done his research for a book on this topic? (The sixth one is "The Last Shout," a TV-movie made from a British comedy series. Draw your own conclusions on that one.)

- "The 7-Day Plan To Be A Better Christian!" (Not a chapter, just a page, but not relevant to the subject either.)

I'm not faulting the author for his obsessions, but the book needs better focus on the topic at hand. One doesn't pay [$$$] for a hodge-podge of script marketing, Christian prosletyzing, and how to get into trap shooting.

It's also surprisingly amateurishly formatted for the price. The entire thing is in Courier font with an extra space between chapters. The book has few charts or lists (learn to use bullets!), and no index. It needs better formatting, an index, and someone besides the author to edit it.

The quality of the book overall (poor formatting, mediocre editing, fuzzy focus, lack of credentials, sloppy research, lazy writing, and lack of accuracy in something as ordinary as a film title) make me question the value and credibility of the overall content.

The book is set in the middle part of the American war of indepence. There are no fleet to fleet actions. Rather it is a sea war of small ships on both sides, schooners, sloops and in the case of the Americans, what ever they can lay their hands on. It is a campaign of blockade pure and simple.

It is also a war of combined or joint operations. The Navy getting the Army off a hostile shore or transporting them to one. It is a difficult process in the best of times but for a new captain it is more difficult than usual.

Bolitho is a success as a privateer hunter and over the course of the book brings pain and discomfort to those who operate these ships. Little does he know that some of the discomfort is felt by the very people he and his ship are trying to defend and maintain in power. This almost costs him his life in more than one instance.

Bolitho is also faced with the daunting task of working for a superior Naval officer consumed by a desire for distinction and who will stop at nothing to achive it. His desires, likewise, almost cost Bolitho his life, and does cost the life of his sistership.

There is another person in his crew you come to learn more about and admire or dislike for it. This is his first lieutenant, an American who has stayed loyal to the crown. He is hated by the American rebels, his property and friends have all been destroyed by either the British or American forces. He is not really trusted by the British. His is a lonely life and as I learned more about him, as the story developed, I found he had a lot that made me admire him. Kent catches the extreme difficulty of a man in this situation with accuraccy and understanding. It is a continuing high point of the story.

Bolitho's ship misses the one fleet action during this time frame. Rather he is transporting troops to assist in Cornwallis's defense of Yorktown and arrives too late. So after almost three years, he is sent back to the United Kingdom and it is with sorrow that he leaves the ship and crew, who have become his friends.

Kent delivers a great read. One I have read and read over the last few decades. It is one of the first of Kent's books I read and have never forgotten it. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the Royal Navy of sail and the American War of Independence as seen from the Royal Navy's point of view.

So far this is the fourth in the Bolitho series I've read, by Alexander Kent (a pseudonym). That must tell you that I like the series. I have also ordered, and just received the next three in the series.

Like O'Brian's Captain Jack Aubrey series, it is best to read these books in order, since they are in a chronological series as far as the protagonist's career is concerned. Richard Bolitho was born and raised in Cornwall of a seafaring family. He went to sea as a midshipman at the age of twelve. The series picks him up at age 16, in Midshipman Bolitho, the first book of the series, when he was serving on a ship-of-the-line--a third rater. There are actually two stories in that first book.

Each book will stand alone, but I think it is better to read them as the fictional hero lived it, in order. There are a great many books in the series. I'll be sorry when I've read the last one--number 26, Relentless Pursuit.

Kent is obviously very knowledgeable about the sea and the square rigged ships of the Royal Navy circa the late 18th and early 19th century, as well as the customs, hardships, and naval strategy of the time. But, to him, the story comes first, and he is a master story-teller. The action never drags, and his characters seem to live. There is truth in his depiction of the brutal, sometimes arrogant, often bullying sea officers and petty officers that feels accurate and realistic.

The implements of sea warfare: pikes, pistols, muskets, and especially cutlasses, swords and hangers are well described, as are their uses. I had to look up the "hanger." It is a short, usually curved, thick-blades short sword used in hand-to-hand combat. And there is a lot of hand-to-hand combat in this book, as well as the others.

As the late O'Brian indicated in his series, the cannon balls were less destructive of human life than the splinters they caused when they struck these wooden sailing craft.

This is truly a great series, and if you like sea tales--expecially those written about this period in history often referred to as the time of "wooden ships and iron men," then I cannot recommend Alexander Kent's books too highly.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre, USN (Ret)

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books

This is a masterful story in young command. It presents a remarkable interior look at the development of command, not only in the outward heroism of Bolitho and the contrasting incompetence of arrogant superiors, but of their inner states of mind, and occasionally that of their subordinates in the gut-wrenching heat of battle. We see the minutiae for which a captain is responsible, but especially the burden of command when people will die from the decisions he must make. Also, Bolitho falls resoundingly in love again, this time with an insouciant and manipulative aristocrat, of whom he had best beware! (This minx would make a great continuing character, a beguiling nemesis in the wings.) This is an altogether better and deeper story than its predecessors. It is as full of exciting episodes of bloody action as ever, but contains multiple plot lines and carries an emotional depth that is new.