Two Great Books for the Classic Movie Fan in Your Life!

Picture Show: Classic Movie Posters from the TCM Archives

Turner Classic Movies may be best known for running the timeless films we never tire of watching, but behind the scenes is another treasure few get to see: a vast archive of posters from more than seven decades of movie making, including the remarkable collections of the great studios RKO, MGM, and Warner Bros. Picture Show gathers more than 150 of the most compelling and memorable examples for a scenic tour of Hollywood history and a dazzling compendium of graphic design excellence. From the great dramas such as Casablanca to one of the most distinguished monster movies, King Kong, to the legendary comedy of the Thin Man series, these emblems of another era speak volumes about the evolution of film, design, and popular culture. Throughout, author Dianna Edwards elucidates the historical relevance and touches on the stunning tropes of the posters, peppered with juicy bits of star-powered gossip. Including a number of seldom-seen examples, Picture Show is an introduction to great movies through their treasured posters.

Publishers Weekly says:

Ranging from the stunning to the silly, the vintage movie posters gathered in this illustrated book reek of campy nostalgia. Edwards, a contributor to STEP inside design magazine, calls them "small-scale masterpieces of strategic communication." She's ransacked the Turner Classic Movies archives to come up with a playful bunch of film ads, shown here in full-color matte images, that serve as "an introduction to classic movies presented through the prism of their posters." Among the subjects covered are femmes fatales (e.g., Lana Turner in 1946's The Postman Always Rings Twice and Joan Evans in 1951's On the Loose), "acrimony-in-matrimony" (e.g., Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall in 1957's Designing Woman) and heartbreak and yearning (e.g., Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in 1932's Red Dust). Edwards holds off on making in-depth comments about the posters, letting viewers deduce for themselves the underlying meaning of the suggestive poster for 1952's The Lusty Men. 
Product Details:

168 pages, paperback, dimensions 11.8 x 8.9 x 0.8 inches

The Making of Some Like It Hot: My Memories of Marilyn Monroe and the Classic American Movie

By Tony Curtis, Mark A. Vieira - John Wiley & Sons (2009) - Paperback- 199 pages (Advance Proof)

Some Like It Hot occupies a unique place in American culture. This beloved classic showcases five comic geniuses: Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, I.A.L Diamond, Billy Wilder, and Marilyn Monroe. It has been honored by the American Film Institute as the Funniest Film of All Time. It has contributed quotes, styles, and stories to film lore. Yet the full story of its making has never been told. In this book, Tony Curtis opens up a treasure trove of memories to tell for the first time: How he was hired for the film How he and Jack Lemmon learned to dress in drag The day-by-day excitement and turmoil of the production What he learned from Jack Lemmon How Billy Wilder disappointed him Why Marilyn was so hard to work with Why he had an affair with Marilyn in Coronado Why he had a fistfight on the set The truth about Marilyn's miscarriage Why Marilyn believed she was carrying Tony's child How the film overcame a lukewarm reception With scores of unseen black-and-white photos throughout, and an eight-page color insert that shows what the movie would have looked like in Technicolor, The Making of "Some Like It Hot" is the definitive book on a definitive movie.