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Gripping Chapters: The Sound Movie Serial
Gripping Chapters is much more than a history of the sound motion picture serial. Here you'll find all of the sources for sound movie serials, including comic strips, comic books, the pulps, novels and radio shows. There are chapters analyzing the cliffhanger endings of serial episodes, with information focusing on cheat cliffhanger endings, such as time expansion cheats, "survived through it cheats," and re-shot footage cheats, as well as a study of some of the cleverest and most exciting cliffhanger endings of all time. Other topics include serial sequels and series, the stars who appeared in serials, prolific contributors to serials, and stock footage and bloopers, plus an appreciation of three very special The Phantom Empire, Flash Gordon and Zorro's Black Whip.
428 pages, Paperback
First published May 28, 2010
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October 8, 2011
Movie serials really are a forgotten chapter in cinema history. Speaking to young people today there is virtually no point of comparison with modern cinema to explain quitw how serials worked.
Backer is a solicitor who takes a fairly systematic approach to analysing serials. He is expecially keen on lists and takes several themes to build up chapter long listings of examples that support his themes (such as types of cliffhangers, famous actors who were involved in the serials and the use of stock footage.)
The tone is occasionally a little clinical - this is far from being a dynamic piece of writing and there is no really new information. It would be best to describe this as an observational guide where the author has sat down and watched his chosen subject in depth and written a book on what he has observed. Perhaps it needed a little bit of new research to give it a selling point or frisson. Nevertheless the book is a welcome addition to an obscure subject and I do not regret the purchase.
Backer is a solicitor who takes a fairly systematic approach to analysing serials. He is expecially keen on lists and takes several themes to build up chapter long listings of examples that support his themes (such as types of cliffhangers, famous actors who were involved in the serials and the use of stock footage.)
The tone is occasionally a little clinical - this is far from being a dynamic piece of writing and there is no really new information. It would be best to describe this as an observational guide where the author has sat down and watched his chosen subject in depth and written a book on what he has observed. Perhaps it needed a little bit of new research to give it a selling point or frisson. Nevertheless the book is a welcome addition to an obscure subject and I do not regret the purchase.
Displaying 1 of 1 review