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.The Hound of the Baskervilles (Penguin Classics)

by: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

July 05, 2001
The image of Sherlock Holmes in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is perhaps the most enduring image we have of him. You see, an Inverness cloak and deerstalker cap are inappropriate wardrobe for the town, and belong in the country. Sherlock Holmes is predominantly a city dweller and city investigator; it is relatively uncommon that he treks out on adventures, but the case of the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville and the attempted murder of Sir Henry Baskerville led him to the Dartmoor plain. Thus, country garb was in order. This is where we get much of our imagery.

Also helping with this is that every major actor to play Holmes has considered 'Hound of the Baskervilles' to be the ultimate Holmes story to act -- rather like ... Read More:
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.Ken Adam Designs the Movies: James Bond and Beyond

by: Christopher Frayling, Ken Adam

September 29, 2008
The image of Sherlock Holmes in 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' is perhaps the most enduring image we have of him. You see, an Inverness cloak and deerstalker cap are inappropriate wardrobe for the town, and belong in the country. Sherlock Holmes is predominantly a city dweller and city investigator; it is relatively uncommon that he treks out on adventures, but the case of the mysterious death of Sir Charles Baskerville and the attempted murder of Sir Henry Baskerville led him to the Dartmoor plain. Thus, country garb was in order. This is where we get much of our imagery.

Also helping with this is that every major actor to play Holmes has considered 'Hound of the Baskervilles' to be the ultimate Holmes story to act -- rather like ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Ken Adam Designs the Movies: James Bond and Beyond

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.Spaghetti Westerns: Cowboys and Europeans from Karl May to Sergio Leone (Cinema and Society)

by: Christopher Frayling

January 27, 2006
After reading Frayling's biography of Leone I had to go back and buy this. Prefering Once Upon A Time ... to the Dollars Trilogy, for me it was worth it for just that chapter. Perhaps there's too much focus on Leone, but he was the main man and I can't let that slight flaw slip the rating to four stars from a deserved five. It cost me shop-price £16 so strong advice would be to use Amazon!
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Used Price: £7.29

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.Sergio Leone: Once Upon a Time in Italy

by: Christopher Frayling

April 21, 2008
This is the definitive Leone biography. Meticulously researched with access to the key players either directly or through secondary sources. Particularly worthy of mention is the way the author brings the subject back to life by weaving quotes from Leone skilfully into the narrative. This book has the goods on the movies, how they were made and the source material that inspired them. However, and this is the only serious quibble with this book, one wonders if it is necessary to go into such detail regarding the plot outline particularly of Once Upon A Time In America which is repeated a couple of times through the book. Perhaps the author wishes to convey the agonizing lengths to which Leone had to go to bring this epic project into being but this over ... Read More:
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Used Price: £9.00

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.Sergio Leone: Something To Do With Death

by: Christopher Frayling

March 06, 2000
This is the definitive Leone biography. Meticulously researched with access to the key players either directly or through secondary sources. Particularly worthy of mention is the way the author brings the subject back to life by weaving quotes from Leone skilfully into the narrative. This book has the goods on the movies, how they were made and the source material that inspired them. However, and this is the only serious quibble with this book, one wonders if it is necessary to go into such detail regarding the plot outline particularly of Once Upon A Time In America which is repeated a couple of times through the book. Perhaps the author wishes to convey the agonizing lengths to which Leone had to go to bring this epic project into being but this over-detailing ... Read More:
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Used Price: £3.85

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.Gothic Reader: A Critical Anthology

by: Martin Myrone, Christopher Frayling

January 27, 2006
Compiled to accompany the Tate Gallery's 'Gothic Nightmares' show in 2006, focusing on Fuseli and Blake, this book daunted me at first and it sat on the shelf for over a year before I got around to reading it. When I did, I found that, far from being a dry collection of near-incomprehensible 18th-century writings, it was thoroughly readable and fizzed and crackled with interest. It investigates the crucial epoch when the 'Gothic' sensibility was established through a well-chosen, and very wide-ranging rag-bag of extracts and contemporary comments, sprinkled with images from the exhibition itself, and by doing so traces the links Gothic had with elements already circulating in popular culture (old-fashioned ghost stories, for instance), the theory of the Sublime, and art. ... Read More:
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Used Price: £7.47

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.The Face of Tutankhamun

from: Faber and Faber

November 23, 1992
Compiled to accompany the Tate Gallery's 'Gothic Nightmares' show in 2006, focusing on Fuseli and Blake, this book daunted me at first and it sat on the shelf for over a year before I got around to reading it. When I did, I found that, far from being a dry collection of near-incomprehensible 18th-century writings, it was thoroughly readable and fizzed and crackled with interest. It investigates the crucial epoch when the 'Gothic' sensibility was established through a well-chosen, and very wide-ranging rag-bag of extracts and contemporary comments, sprinkled with images from the exhibition itself, and by doing so traces the links Gothic had with elements already circulating in popular culture (old-fashioned ghost stories, for instance), the theory of the Sublime, and art. ... Read More:
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.Strange Landscape: Journey Through the Middle Ages

by: Christopher Frayling

May 25, 1995
This is the BBC book that accompanied a series that I didn't see: in it Frayling engages with the Middle Ages and reveals the period to be both familiar and alienating. He starts with a chapter taking an interesting look at out reception of medieval culture - from heavy metal to Lord of the Rings, via some genuine scholarly work, and then selects areas to focus on: medieval religious architecture, the clash of reason and faith personified by Abelard (and Heloise) vs. Bernard de Clairvaux, Dante's Divine Comedy.

This is a stimulating and interesting book both for the specialist and (as it's a BBC book) for anyone with an interest in this period. He doesn't eschew but equally doesn't focus on the usual historical stuff i.e. crusades, knights, courtly love etc, ... Read More:
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.Ken Adam: The Art of Production Design

by: Christopher Frayling

September 15, 2005
This book is important because it gives a great picture of this amazing person:
His background; a childhood under the nazis; what he did during the war; how he became one of the pre-eminent and most influential Production Designers ever.

Christopher Frayling has compiled a number of interviews for this book: so there are a number of fun and telling anecdotes, and there are some dialogues that might contain useful ideas when it comes to convincing others that an idea will succeed!

I'll mark this book low, because this should really be part of a set: with another one for colour plates of what Ken Adam is celebrated for - his Visual work.

I should've realised that I'd be disappointed: the low price is a tip-off.

I find it a huge ... Read More:
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Used Price: £3.53

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.Horror Poster Art

from: Aurum Press Ltd

October 21, 2004
This book is important because it gives a great picture of this amazing person:
His background; a childhood under the nazis; what he did during the war; how he became one of the pre-eminent and most influential Production Designers ever.

Christopher Frayling has compiled a number of interviews for this book: so there are a number of fun and telling anecdotes, and there are some dialogues that might contain useful ideas when it comes to convincing others that an idea will succeed!

I'll mark this book low, because this should really be part of a set: with another one for colour plates of what Ken Adam is celebrated for - his Visual work.

I should've realised that I'd be disappointed: the low price is a tip-off.

I find it a huge ... Read More:
>>See More Reviews & Details on Horror Poster Art

Used Price: £41.77