Movies Books

Jeffrey Vance's new completist biography of film pioneer Douglas Fairbanks is worth a look. A good long look. Well-written and concise, Vance details the amazing life, and all of the movies, of one of the 20th Century's most incredible icons; the first Motion Picture Superstar. Douglas Fairbanks was born in Denver in 1883. He was raised by his southern mother, who had separated from his father, an attorney, when he was only five. His father, an alcoholic, would desert the family. Fairbanks suffered from depression as a child. Insecurity haunted all three of his later marriages, and affected the up-bringing of his son, Douglas Jr.. But young Doug found peace, and surely promise, in the fantasy world of theater, and later...the movies...Douglas Fairbanks began amateur theater at age 12 in Colorado. He made his Broadway debut in 1902. The hit play, "The Lamb", led to a Hollywood contract. Success would follow. He appeared in "The Americano", for D.W. Griffith, in 1916. He was paid $10,000 a week to star in "Flirting With Fate(1916)". Fairbanks would marry an industrialist's daughter. With Marry Pickford, D.W. Griffith, and Charlie Chaplin, he helped form United Artists in 1919. During a Libert Bond tour he fell in love with Mary Pickford. Eventually married, Doug and Mary became the first residents of Beverly Hills, where they built the Pickfair Mansion. Pickfair was erected on top of Summit Drive in Benedict Canyon. It was torn down in 1979 by Pia Zadora. Using their combined assets, Fairbanks and Pickford bought the old Jesse Hampton studio on Formosa Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. in West Hollywood in 1922. There they would produce some of their finest films. This studio today is called "The Lot". Here Fairbanks shot many silent epics, including "Robin Hood(1922)", and "The Thief of Bagdad(1924)". As producer and star, Fairbanks was intricately involved in all aspects of his movies. And Fairbanks did his own stunts. He did all his own, with one exception. In one early stunt, he broke his left hand, and twisted his back and wrists. In 1926, Fairbanks starred in the magical two-strip Technicolor "Black Pirate". For many years, this was a lost film. Fairbanks deposited the "Black Pirate" film elements at the Museum of Modern Art in 1938. But by 1959, the nitrate stock was deteriorating. In 1972, a restoration master negative was produced, yielding a remarkable new full-color version of the "Black Pirate". A beautiful time-capsule DVD, once mis-placed, is now available for all. Douglas Fairbanks and Marry Pickford divorced in 1936, but he never stopped calling her, or needing her love. He married an ex-chorus girl and retired from acting. A heavy smoker, Fairbanks died in 1939 at age 56. This book contains 237 pictures, many never seen before. The 1922 "Robin Hood" begins with an intertitle from Charles Kingsley's "Old and New", a poem close to Fairbank's heart since he was a boy: "So fleet the works of men, back to their earth again;/ Ancient and holy things fade like a dream".

Much has already been written about early motion picture pioneers like D.W. Griffith, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin, but their invaluable partner, Douglas Fairbanks, Sr has been overlooked and neglected - until now. With this very attractive and professional book, author Jeffrey Vance has given due credit to one of early cinema's most brilliant stars and dynamic personalities who not only had true star power but was a driving force behind the scenes as well. Often remembered these days only for his successful 1920s costume adventure dramas such as "The Mark of Zorro", "Robin Hood" and "The Three Musketeers" to name a few, Douglas Fairbanks had a varied, interesting and successful career well before this period, and also contributed greatly to the development of Hollywood. He was one of the founders of United Artists, he and wife Mary Pickford were the first `golden couple' of Hollywood who established Beverley Hills as the suburb of movie stars; he wrote, directed and produced most of his films, was active in writing books and magazine articles, and his self-styled roles in films like Zorro established the action-adventure swashbuckler genre as well as even inspiring other action heroes like Batman. If you didn't know any of this, then you must get this book! And even for the well-versed Fairbanks fan, this book will be a treat with its thoroughly researched material, filmography and an overall style that befits a great personality of early cinema. There are excellent photos on almost every page, some rarely seen before, and Vance's style is professional, easy and enjoyable to read. Most of the book's chapters deal with definite periods in Fairbanks's life and career, with whole chapters devoted to the grand 1920s productions which deserve detailed coverage. The information covers mainly facts and explanations about the films, such as the making of them and all the people who were involved in the production, as well as interesting details to add spice but never stray too far from solid facts. This is a particularly appealing aspect because some biographies tend to speculate or stray too far from known facts, and unfortunately a more accurate or detailed biography after so many decades is no longer possible. Vance has done a superb job with the available information from a broad range of sources, writing a biography which reads with the same ease, enjoyment and thrill as watching one of Fairbanks's films. There is never a dull passage, and each page is full of information which indirectly paints a picture of early Hollywood and the developing film industry while commemorating one of its principle founders and contributors; Fairbanks himself. The first hundred pages or so cover his career before the landmark year of 1920 which has been unjustly neglected until now, and the release of this book coincides perfectly with the Flicker Alley 5-disc set "Douglas Fairbanks - A Modern Musketeer" featuring eleven of the most important films of this pre-1920 period. This book should be in any serious cinema aficionado's collection alongside those about Chaplin, Griffith and other pivotal personalities of the film industry, and it might be quite eye-opening and enlightening for those only familiar with a few Fairbanks swashbuckling films. Perhaps misjudged, under-estimated or misunderstood in past decades, this wonderful book puts Fairbanks in his proper place up among the great Hollywood luminaries.

Film historian Jeffrey Vance follows his excellent Keaton-Lloyd-Chaplin trilogy with this fascinating pictorial biography on the inimitable Douglas Fairbanks (1883-1939). Best known for his acrobatic exuberance in light comedies and swashbuckling adventures, the producer-writer-star was a groundbreaking artist who spared no expense in adapting his vivid imagination to the cinematic canvas. The author places Doug's filmmaking legacy in its proper perspective with a detailed analysis of his finest achievements: "The Thief of Bagdad" (1924), "The Black Pirate" (1926), "The Iron Mask" (1929) and the criminally underrated "The Gaucho" (1927). Separating art from world fame, Vance also examines the integral role Fairbanks played in the development of motion-picture technology, independent production and film appreciation. Augmented by insightful interviews and a wealth of rare photographs, "Douglas Fairbanks" is essential reading for anyone interested in the history of cinema.

I Really Wish that I could read this book. As Far as I'm concerned any book on the Dukes is good to last page. I just hope that maybe somebody could help me locate a copy of this book.

I thought the book about the Dukes of Hazzard was great. I with I could get a copy of it. I loved the book so much and I love the Dukes to.

CANNOT GET ANY INFO ON BARBARA CLAYMAN'S "DUKES OF HAZZARD". CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT, BUT, AM DESPERATELY TRYING TO FIND.

The small group and individual study products associated with Fireproof are excellent. Check out these resources too: The Love Dare and Fireproof Your Marriage Leader's Kit (DVD & Guide) The exclusive video clips from the film are dramatic and thought-provoking, and discussion is really stirred in group members from watching them. The film clips show a very "real" marriage that everyone can relate to on some level. An excellent tool in conjunction with the Love Dare devotional book and the movie experience itself.

Here's a pre-packaged set, ready to go right out of the box, that can help you unpack a highly effective marriage ministry for your church or other organization. Everything you need is right here!

Please be advised: This set does NOT contain a full-length DVD of the "Fireproof" movie. That DVD releases later. Meanwhile, this set DOES include some of the best scenes from the movie, incorporated as video clips within some excellent, high-quality educational materials.

Really first rate! You may already know Outreach as a source of top-quality marketing and advertising material for your church. Here, the creative team at Outreach provides instructional media that ties in beautifully with "Fireproof" and picks up where the movie leaves off.

You might also consider ordering: The "Love Dare" book (available here on Amazon) and "The Soul-Mate Marriage" (available here on Amazon). Both are also excellent tools for following up the movie.

Dr. David & Lisa Frisbie
The Center for Marriage & Family Studies
You might want to consider:The Soul-Mate Marriage: The Spiritual Journey of Becoming One

After going through the Fireproof Your Marriage curriculum, my wife and I learned how to love and respect each other unconditionally. We practiced The Love Dare principles as featured in the film. With the kit, each of us got our own Participant's Guide and we followed along with the video clips that came with the package. You don't need to see the movie to benefit by the material because the video clips fit each section perfectly. We are looking forward to the film when it is released next week. My wife and I highly endorse this and we are going to recommend the small group Leader's Kit to our Pastor.

The Fireproof Your Marriage curriculum was a great benefit for our marriage. You can use the Leader's Kit for small groups or a Sunday School class. The principles found in the Love Dare book are also included in this leaders kit. I would recommend this to any couple.

We began using the video clips and discussion guides in a church-wide campaign this weekend. These resources are offering REAL help to couples. The Small Group guide has very interesting facts about marriage, as well as stimulating questions and practical homework assignments. New Song's attendance jumped over 15% with the help of these resources. I recommend that churches contact Outreach Inc. for the entire campaign kit and host a Fireproof series.

The small group products associated with FIREPROOF are excellent. Check out this resource too:Fireproof Your Marriage Couple's Kit (DVD & 2 Guides) The exclusive video clips from the film are dramatic and thought-provoking, and discussion is really stirred in group members from watching them. The film clips show a very "real" marriage that everyone can relate to on some level. An excellent tool in conjunction with the Love Dare devotional book and the movie experience itself.

This is a wonderful book for an extremely low price. I bought eight of them as birthday party favors. It is perfect for small children.

This book is wonderful for toddlers. It teaches them to follow instructions while having fun with their Sesame Street fans. My daughter is 16 months old and knows the book by heart. I would recommend every family have this book in their childs library.

My son got this as a favor at a birthday party when he was one. He loves this book and wants us to read it to him over and over. Now, when we say "Elmo says touch your nose!" He will do it! The best one is when "Elmo says do a shimmy shake"! You have to see it. I just wish it was a board book instead of pages, since he has ripped out several pages and now I need a new copy.

For a book that covers so many disparate types of daytime programs (game shows, soap operas, sports, cartoons and kids' shows, and so on), the volume is remarkably accurate, well-written and heavily researched. You'd think the author was an expert on every genre. Maybe he is, but more likely, he just cared enough to get everything right. How refreshing.

found the book to be very thorough, reads well. Loved reading about the creation of these great daytime tv shows there casts and from the time they aired to the time they were cancelled

This is the must have reference for all you TV buffs. Very interesting reading, not just a boring refernce guide. I read it cover to cover.

Kudos to Roxann Dawson and Daniel Graham in starting this
gripping series about a young woman thirst for revenge against the backdrop of emerging interstellar war! Andrea Flores, a married young woman and mother of a infant daughter sees her life shattered; when offworld terrorists attack killing her husband and infant daughter! Now Andrea becomes a hardened avenger who seeks vengeance against the killers.Andrea must leave Earth and go to the alien Jod homeworld and join their elite military service called Tenebrea in the hopes of finding the killers! She endure a harsh training and prejudice of the Jod in her struggle and finally going undercover to the terrorists' homeworld, Cor Ordinate and lead a rebellion of clones! The authors have written superior military sf saga about a young woman who immediately gets our sympathy in her struggles to find justice for her murdered family. The authors' world-building skills are above-average in creating Jod civilization and fascist Cor Ordinate.I especially like the rugged scenes of the training of Tenebrea and finally gripping battle scenes upon Cor Ordinate.Bring on the next Andrea Flores novel, I want more!
Cor Ordinate
homeworld

Wow is the first word out of my mouth when I finished this first book of the trilogy. I immediately wanted the story to go on so I could see what happens next. I couldn't put it down!! I was lucky enough to buy it when Roxann was signing them at a convention. I read the entire book in one day!! If you like military and sci-fi stuff, you will love this one!! Bravo to both Roxann and Daniel for such an entertaining and thought provoking book!! Can't wait for the next installment coming out soon!!

I was lucky enough to pick up this book at a book signing and so I've got a signed hard-backed special edition!!! The cover is by the 4X award winning artist, Dan Curry -- he's done some of the coolest visual effects you see in Hollywood. And the book was a real page-turner!! Roxann Dawson is as talented a writer as she is an actress -- and she's really gorgeous in person. Dan Graham seems like a bit of a character and I think his training the Army Rangers paid off in the way he wrote about military exercises and strategy. The whole book was very well written and I'm looking forward to the next book. As a matter of fact, I came to Amazon.com to see if they were carrying it yet. I hope it comes out in hardback, too, so I can get one of the copies. Anyone know how I can get it signed? I wouldn't mind seeing Roxann again!! ;-)

Do you like star wars? Well this is a book about it. It has lots of star wars facts that you might not know. It has a lot of battles + space battles and Jedi vs. Jedi, Jedi vs. sith and clones vs. C.I.S. It has a ton of star wars things. So if you really love star wars than read STAR WARS EPIC BATTLES.

As the title suggests, "Epic Battles" is a look at combat in the Star Wars universe. It's a terrific premise for a book since young viewers have often found the fight scenes to be one of the most compelling dynamics of the story. The book takes a thematic approach and looks at land and space battles. The major conflicts are well covered including the campaigns that happened on Naboo, Geonosis, Kashyyyk, Hoth and Endor. In addition to the major space skirmishes, time is spent on the more exciting dogfights like Obi-Wan Kenobi's Jedi Starfighter vs. Jango Fett's Slave I. In addition, Author Simon Beecroft discusses the saga's most interesting lightsaber duels. The book does in excellent job of showing how the Sith are behind much of the galaxy's discord. A strength of the title is that is pulls the entire saga (all six films) together. A glossary is included. In terms of the illustrations, the vast majority were lifted from the films. While the pictures are high quality, the writing is also good. Given the 48 page length and vocabulary level, this title is best suited to readers on a fourth or fifth grade level. "Epic Battles" offers an exciting look at the great conflicts of the Star Wars saga.

I bought all the Star Wars DK Readers for my six year-old son. He was bringing home the most insipid reading books as homework, and was not interested in the content, or in reading them, at all. The Star Wars series and other super-heroes readers have had a huge positive impact on his eagerness to read. This book is aimed at an older age group, but we read it together and he is aiming for the day when he gets the 'certificate' for reading the entire book on his own (he is working up from the easier books).

I have not read the book but I am guessing it's a good book. Hey! after all it is Ewan Mc Gregor.

This is a great book for anybody serious about undertsanding mcgregor. It's really well reserached and has plenty of funny stories about his life. A cracking read.

I am a HUGE fan of Ewan McGregor, and this book really gives u the lowdown on this star. This book, although lacking in pictures compared to "ewan mcgregor-from junkie to jedi" makes up in it's writing. It is really written to keep u interested and puts the good and the bad in, which is important. Excellent book!

The Exchange Student is another great Malcolm in the Middle story by Pan Pollack. This sensational short novel is just like watching an episode on television, and with your imagination seeing all the characters you forget it is actually a book.

In this episode the Krelboyne class is hosting an exchange student for a week and a host family needs to be found. Lois finds out and offers to have the host the student in their house. He will stay in the boys' room. To Malcolm, Reese and Dewey this an excellent opportunity for a slave. When Malcolm's teacher shows up with the student to everyone's surprise she is a girl named Camillia. Lois is thrilled, Camilla is the daughter she always wanted. The boys are thrown out of their room for Camillia and she quickly starts to take Malcolm's role in the family and at school, much to his jealousy. Reese and Dewey are not thrilled either with the inconvenience to their lives and there is nothing they can do. Meanwhile Mother's Day is coming up.

This is an excellent book for readers of all ages. It is a short novel so kids or those who do not like reading long novels can read it too. Krelboyne Parrot also by the same author Pam Pollack is as good as this novel if not better. Tom Mason another author also has some books in this series. I have read The Hostage Crisis, which is good and worthwhile buying, but not in the same league as Pollack's work. This is an hilarious novel, I will definitely be buying the other books in this series I have not yet read as you can never have enough Malcolm in the Middle.

This book is about a family that gets an exchange student who is a genus like Malcolm, to come stay for a week of ciaos. It's like a normal day at there house ciaos is everywhere and it's time to go to school, Malcolm finds out at school that his mom has volentered to have an exchange student come stay and he wasn't happy. The door bell rang the next day they opened up the door not to expect that the student was a girl! That meant that Camellia would get the boys room and they would have to squeeze on the couch. All of a sudden the phone rings and it's Francis Malcolm holds the phone up to Reese Francis says that he sent the Mother's day gift already and he cut off the nose of his school's statue and told them when they get it throw it out or throw it away. After that phone the boys were upset because everything was going Camellia's way, the next day it was time to go to the barber shop in the mall, Malcolm and Reese didn't want haircuts and at the barber it was even worse. When they were in the chairs they started fighting and spraying shaving cream everywhere, after they were done they were banned from ever getting a hair cut again. When they got home Dewey was acting strange, they tried to get it out of him but he wouldn't tell. At dinner time Camellia found a package under the bed and she gave it to Lois, she opened it to find a Mother's day gift and a nose. The next day they went to the mall and bought a Mother's day gift, that night Malcolm checked for the gift it was gone. They went out for Mother's day dinner and got banned from that restaurant. I can not give away the ending but if this book has seen interesting for you go buy, borrow, or check it out thank you for reading my review.

This story is about a kid named Malcolm. This girl named Camellia is coming to live with Malcolm's family for a week. Everyone loves her, exept Malcolm. Even Francis is on her side. Malcolm is worried that Camellia is going to take over his family. This book is a must have for all fans of Malcolm in The Middle.