Recommended reading - Silent Movies The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture

 

Silent Movies
The Birth of Film and the Triumph of Movie Culture

by Peter Kobel.
Preface by Martin Scorsese.
Foreword by Kevin Brownlow.
 
Published by Little, Brown and Company.
Published 2007.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0316117919
ISBN-13: 978-0316117913
 
Description:
 

Drawing on the extraordinary collection of The Library of Congress, one of the greatest repositories for silent film and memorabilia, Peter Kobel has created the definitive visual history of silent film. From its birth in the 1890s, with the earliest narrative shorts, through the brilliant full-length features of the 1920s, Silent Movies captures the greatest directors and actors and their immortal films.

 

Silent Movies also looks at the technology of early film, the use of color photography, and the restoration work being spearheaded by some of Hollywood's most important directors, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

 

Richly illustrated from the Library of Congress's extensive collection of posters, paper prints, film stills, and memorabilia – most of which have never been in print – Silent Movies is an important work of history that will also be a sought-after gift book for all lovers of film.

 

"If you ever wondered why film buffs get weak in the knees about the movies made before talkies, this book can help you understand. . . . it is beautifully designed with a dazzling array of movie stills, posters and promo material drawn from the Library of Congress' memorabilia collection." – San Francisco Chronicle.
 
"The definitive visual history of silent film." – New York Daily News.
 
"A handsomely designed and illustrated pictorial history of the voiceless cinema." – Los Angeles Times.
 
"A ravishing, oversize, million-pound study of the silent movie era, not just its films, but its promotion, its culture and the way these movies changed how we think about the world." – Washington Post Express.
 
"Kobel has lovingly detailed this world-from the zany publicity campaigns to the lavish scripts to the decadent star lifestyles. SILENT MOVIES is an essential addition to any film or design lover's library." – Encore magazine.
 
"Spectacular." – The New York Times.
 
"This isn't a coffee table book, though any coffee table would be lucky to be graced by it. The excellent text manages the trick of being exhaustive without being exhausting, while the photos – and stills, and posters, and lobby cards – are enchanting." – Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal Online.

On this day in movie and book history - Raging Bull (1980)

Raging Bull

directed by Martin Scorsese,

written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin,

based on the book Raging Bull: My Story by Jake LaMotta, Peter Savage and Joseph Carter,

was released in the United States on December 19, 1980.

Main theme music: Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni.

Cast:

Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci, Frank Vincent, Nicholas Colasanto, Theresa Saldana, Mario Gallo, Frank Adonis, Joseph Bono, Frank Topham, Lori Anne Flax, Charles Scorsese, Don Dunphy, Bill Hanrahan, Rita Bennett, James V. Christy, Bernie Allen, Floyd Anderson, Gene LeBell, Harold Valan, Victor Magnotta, Johnny Barnes, John Thomas, Kenny Davis, Paul Carmello, Jimmy Lennon Sr., Bobby Rings, Kevin Mahon, Marty Denkin, Shay Duffin, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, Dick Whittington, Jack Lotz, Kevin Breslin, Louis Raftis, Frank Shain, Coley Wallace, Fritzie Higgins, George Latka, Fred Dennis, Robert B. Loring, Johnny Turner, Vern De Paul, Chuck Hassett, Ken Richards, Peter Fain, Billy Varga, Harvey Parry, Ted Husing, Michael Badalucco, Thomas Beansy Lobasso, Paul Forrest, Peter Petrella, Sal Serafino Tomassetti, Geraldine Smith, Mardik Martin, Maryjane Lauria, Linda Artuso, Peter Savage, Daniel P. Conte, Joe Malanga, Sabine Turco Jr., Steve Orlando, Silvio García Jr., John Arceri, Joseph A. Morale, James Dimodica, Robert Uricola, Andrea Orlando, Allan Malamud, D.J. Blair, Laura James, Richard McMurray, Mary Albee, Lisa Katz, Candy Moore, Richard A. Berk, Theodore Saunders, Noah Young, Nick Trisko, Lou Tiano, Bob Evan Collins, Wally K. Berns, Allen Joseph, Bob Aaron, Glenn Leigh Marshall, Martin Scorsese, Joseph Bergmann, Scott Crawford, Dennis Crosswhite, Robert Dahdah, Bruno DiGiorgi, Marty Farrell, Bobby Giordano, R. Michael Givens, Charles Guardino, Bob Harks, Chuck Hicks, Michael Charles Hill, Leonard B. John, Walt La Rue, Angelo Lamonea, David LeBell, Tony Lip, Bill Mazer, Thomas Murphy, Dennis O'Neill, Gil Perkins, Gene Poe, Jerry Schram, Glenn Stanton, John Turturro, McKenzie Westmore, Jimmy Williams.

Recommended reading - Raging Bull

Raging Bull: My Story

by Jake LaMotta, Peter Savage and Joseph Carter.

Introduction by Nick Tosches.
 
Filmed as Raging Bull (1980), directed by Martin Scorsese.
 
First published 1970.
Published by Da Capo Press.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0306808080
ISBN-13: 978-0306808081
 
Description:
 

Meet Jake LaMotta: thief, rapist, killer. Raised in the Bronx slums, he fought on the streets, got sent to reform school, and served time in prison. Trusting no one, slugging everyone, he beat his wife, his best friends, even the mobsters who kept the title just out of reach. But the same forces that made him a criminal – fear, rage, jealousy, self-hate, guilt – combined with his drive and intelligence to make him a winner in the ring. At age twenty-seven, after eight years of fighting, he became Middleweight Champion of the World, a hero to thousands. Then, at the peak of success, he fell apart and began a swift, harrowing descent into nightmare. Raging Bull, the Bronx Bull's brutally candid memoir, tells it all – fights, jails, sex, money – surpassing, in hard-hitting prose, even the movie that immortalized it.

On this day in movie history - Casino (1995)

Casino

directed by Martin Scorsese,

written by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese,

based on the book Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi,

was released in the United States on November 22, 1995.

Cast:

Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Don Rickles, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, L.Q. Jones, Dick Smothers, John Bloom, Pasquale Cajano, Melissa Prophet, Bill Allison, Philip Suriano, Erika von Tagen, Frankie Avalon, Steve Allen, Jayne Meadows, Jerry Vale, Joseph Rigano, Catherine Scorsese, Oscar Goodman, Gene Ruffini, Dominick Grieco, Richard Amalfitano, Richard F. Strafella, Casper Molee, David Leavitt, Peter Conti, Cathy Scorsese, Steve Vignari, Rick Crachy, Larry E. Nadler, Paul Herman, Salvatore Petrillo, Joey DePinto, Heidi Keller, Millicent Sheridan, Nobu Matsuhisa, Toru Nagai, Charlene Hunter, Dom Angelo, Joe Molinaro, Ali Pirouzkar, Frankie J. Allison, Jeff Scott Anderson, Jennifer M. Abbott, Frank Washko Jr., Christian A. Azzinaro, Robert C. Tetzlaff, Anthony Russell, Carol Wilson, Joe Lacoco, John Manca, Ronald Maccone, Buck Stephens, Joseph P. Reidy, Joe La Due, Fred Smith, Sonny D'Angelo, Greg Anderson, Stuart Nisbet, Tommy DeVito, Frank Adonis, Joseph Bono, Daniel P. Conte, Paul Dottore, Richard T. Smith, David Rose, Jonathan Kraft, Michael McKensie Pratt, Patti James, Ruth Gillis, Carol Cardwell, Dean Casper, Nan Brennan, Karyn Amalfitano, C.C. Carr, David Varriale, Darla House, Carol Krolick, Frank Regich, Herb Schwartz, Bret McCormick, Clem Caserta, Jed Mills, Janet Denti, Cameron Milzer, Leain Vashon, Jim Morgan Williams, Brian Le Baron, Shellee Renee, Alfred Nittoli, Carl Ciarfalio, Jack Orend, Linda Perri, Ffolliott Le Coque, J. Charles Thompson, Michael Paskevich, Mike Weatherford, Eric Randall, Gwen Castaldi, Brian Reddy, Roy Conrad, Andy Jarrell.

On this day in movie history - Cape Fear (1991)

Cape Fear

directed by Martin Scorsese,

written by Wesley Strick,

based on the novel The Executioners by John D. MacDonald,

was released in the United States on November 15, 1991.

Music by Bernard Herrmann and Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

Robert De Niro, Nick Nolte, Jessica Lange, Juliette Lewis, Joe Don Baker, Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, Martin Balsam, Illeana Douglas, Fred Thompson, Zully Montero, Craig Henne, Forest Burton, Edgar Allan Poe IV, Rod Ball, W. Paul Bodie, Joel Kolker, Antoni Corone, Tamara Jones, Roger Pretto, Parris Buckner, Margot Moreland, Will Knickerbocker, Robert L. Gerlach, Bruce E. Holdstein, Richard Wasserman, Paul Nagle Jr., Paul Froehler, Mary Ellen O'Brien, Jody Wilson, C.C. Costigan, Domenica Cameron-Scorsese, Gar Stephen, Billy D. Lucas, Ken Collins, Linda Perri, Libby Moyer, Catherine Scorsese, Charles Scorsese, Jackie Davis, George Grafas, Esther Rolle, Ken Waters.

On this day in movie history - Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

Bringing Out the Dead

directed by Martin Scorsese,

written by Paul Schrader,

based on the novel by Joe Connelly,

was released in the United States on October 22, 1999.

Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore, Marc Anthony, Mary Beth Hurt, Cliff Curtis, Nestor Serrano, Aida Turturro, Sonja Sohn, Cynthia Roman, Afemo Omilami, Cullen O. Johnson, Arthur J. Nascarella, Martin Scorsese, Julyana Soelistyo, Graciela Lecube, Marylouise Burke, Phyllis Somerville, Mary Diveny, Tom Riis Farrell, Aleks Shaklin, Leonid Citer, Jesus A. Del Rosario Jr., Larry Fessenden, Bernie Friedman, Theo Kogan, Fuschia! (Fuschia Walker), John Heffernan, Matthew Maher, Bronson Dudley, Marilyn McDonald, Ed Jupp Jr., J. Stanford Hoffman, Rita Norona Schrager, Don Berry, Mtume Gant, Michael A. Noto, Omar Scroggins, Craig muMs Grant, Michael Kenneth Williams, Andy Davoli, Charlene Hunter, Jesse Malin, Harper Simon, Joseph Monroe Webb, Jon Abrahams, Charis Michelsen, Lia Yang, Antone Pagán, Melissa Marsala, Betty Miller, Rosemary Gomez, Luis Rodriguez, Sylva Kelegian, Frank Ciornei, Catrina Ganey, Jennifer Lane Newman, John Bal, Raymond Cassar, Tom Cappadona, Jack O'Connell, Randy Foster, Richard Spore, James Hanlon, Chris Edwards, Mark Giordano, Michael Mulheren, David Zayas, Terry Serpico, Floyd Resnick, Megan Leigh, David Vasquez, Judy Reyes, Joseph P. Reidy, Queen Latifah, Erica Bamforth, Peju Bamgboshe, Carolyn Campbell, Michael Carbonaro, Joe Connelly, Marshall Dancing Elk Lucas, George F. Miller, Christine J. Noble, Davell j Owens, Brian Smyj.