I posted this over at the DVD Times forums back in 2006 - so its over two years old, but the following is the bulk of my film book collection - I must update this...sometime.

**********

The following is my collection of film books, hopefully this list will be useful for anyone looking to read about movies. Film books tend to go in and out of print quite a lot so a 2nd hand bookstore or a charity shop might contain all sorts of treasure, they’re well worth a visit. Most out of print books can be bought in online stores like Amazon market place dealers or eBay…. The list is divided into sections to make it easier. Because I’m doing this list as fast as I can, I’ve left out some stuff which might be less than useful (like a book about New German Cinema, published before Fassbinder’s death) and out of date review books…

Silent Cinema
Hollywood and American Cinema
Director Biographies Part 1 (Hollywood, Classic cinema)
Directors Biogs Part 2 (World Cinema, Classic Cinema continued)
Directors Biogs Part 3 (Cult Cinema)
Actors, Producers Biogs
Japanese Cinema
Cult Film Writing (Horror, Exploitation, Sci-fi)
Books About Individual Films



*************************************************************
Silent Cinema (see also Directors, Actors section)
*************************************************************
THE PARADE’S GONE BY- Kevin Browlow

ADVENTURES WITH D.W. GRIFFITH – Karl Brown

******************************************************
Hollywood and American Cinema
******************************************************
THE GENIUS OF THE SYSTEM : Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era - Thomas Shatz

CITY OF NETS - A Portrait of Hollywood in the 1940's - Otto Friedrich

INSIDE WARNER BROS. (1935 – 1951) - Rudy Behlmer

TENDER COMRADES : A Backstory of the Hollywood Blacklist - Patrick McGilligan and Paul Buhle

"YOU AIN'T HEARD NOTHIN' YET" : The American Talking Film History and Memory 1927-1949 – Andrew Sarris

THE WHOLE EQUATION : A History of Hollywood - David Thomson

THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE – Robert Evans

EASY RIDERS, RAGING BULLS: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood – Peter Biskind

DOWN AND DIRTY PICTURES : Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film - Peter Biskind

THE EGOS HAVE LANDED: Rise and Fall of Palace Pictures - Angus Finney
Not a Hollywood book, but a great read about UK indie Palace...remember the great Palace VHS cases ?

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON : The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood's Darkest and Best Kept Secrets – Kenneth Anger

HOLLYWOOD BABYLON 2 – Kenneth Anger

**************************************
Directors Biographies Part 1 (Hollywood, Classic cinema)
**************************************
D.W. GRIFFITH : An American Life - Richard Schickel

CHAPLIN: His Life and Art - David Robinson

CHARLES CHAPLIN: My Autobiography - Charlie Chaplin

SEARCHING FOR JOHN FORD: A LIFE - Joseph McBride

ABOUT JOHN FORD – Lindsay Anderson

THE DARK SIDE OF GENIUS: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock - Donald Spoto

ALFRED HITCHCOCK : A Life in Darkness and Light - Patrick McGilligan

HITCHCOCK'S NOTEBOOKS: An Authorized And Illustrated Look Inside The Creative Mind Of Alfred Hitchcock - Dan Auiler

THE HITCHCOCK MURDERS - Peter Conrad

GEORGE CUKOR: A DOUBLE LIFE : A Biography of the Gentleman Director - Patrick McGilligan

FRANK CAPRA: The Castastrophe of Success - Joseph McBride

FRITZ LANG: The Nature of the Beast - Patrick McGilligan

DESPITE THE SYSTEM : Orson Welles Versus the Hollywood Studios - Clinton Heylin

THIS IS ORSON WELLES - Orson Welles, Peter Bogdanovich

SIRK ON SIRK: Interviews with Jon Halliday

ON SUNSET BOULEVARD : The Life and Times of Billy Wilder - Ed Sikov

KAZAN ON KAZAN - Elia Kazan, Jeff Young

ELIA KAZAN: A Life - Elia Kazan

NICHOLAS RAY : An American Life - Bernard Eisenschitz, Tom Milne

A THIRD FACE : My Tale of Writing, Fighting and Filmmaking - Sam Fuller

A SIEGEL FILM: An Autobiography - Don Siegel

CASSAVETES ON CASSAVETES - John Cassavetes, Ray Carney

STANLEY KUBRICK: A Biography - Vincent Lobrutto

JOESPH LOSEY: A Revenge on Life - David Caute

SAM PECKINPAH: If They Move...Kill 'em! - David Weddle

SCORSESE ON SCORSESE – Martin Scorsese

SCRADER ON SCRADER – Paul Scrader

FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA: A Filmmaker's Life - Michael Schumacher

COPPOLA: A Biography - Peter Cowie

GEORGE LUCAS – John Baxter

STEVEN SPIELBERG – Joseph McBride

STONE: A Biography of Oliver Stone - James Riordan

WOODY ALLEN ON WOODY ALLEN - Woody Allen

*******************************************************
Directors Biographies Part 2 (World Cinema, Classic Cinema continued)
*******************************************************
THE EMPEROR AND THE WOLF: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune - Stuart Galbraith

INGMAR BERGMAN: A Critical Biography - Peter Cowie

PASOLINI REQUIEM - Barth David Schwartz

COCTEAU: A Biography - Francis Steegmuller

GODARD ON GODARD: Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard - Jean-Luc Godard

LETTERS – Jean Renoir
Not a very useful link I’m afraid, but my copy is a Faber hardback from 1994

LETTERS – Francois Truffaut

TIME WITHIN TIME: DIARIES, 1970-86 - Andrei Tarkovsky

SCULPTING IN TIME: Reflections on the Cinema - Andrei Tarkovsky

DAVID LEAN: A Biography - Kevin Brownlow

A LIFE IN MOVIES - Michael Powell

EMERIC PRESSBURGER: The Life and Death of a Screenwriter - Kevin Macdonald

ADVENTURES OF A SUBURBAN BOY - John Boorman

MALLE ON MALLE - Louis Malle, Philip French (Editor)

KIESLOWSKI ON KIESLOWSKI - Krzysztof Kieslowski

ROMAN BY POLANSKI - Roman Polanski

SERGIO LEONE - Something to Do With Death - Christopher Frayling

HERZOG ON HERZOG – Wener Herzog

PAUL VERHOEVEN - Rob Van Scheers

**********************************************
Directors Biographies Part 3 (Cult Cinema)
**********************************************
ALTERED STATES: The Autobiography of Ken Russell - Ken Russell

CRONENBERG ON CRONENBERG – David Cronenberg

LYNCH ON LYNCH – David Lynch

THE ZOMBIES THAT ATE PITTSBURGH: The Films of George A. Romero - Paul R. Gagne

BROKEN MIRRORS/BROKEN MINDS: The Dark Dreams of Dario Argento - Maitland McDonagh

ART OF DARKNESS: The Cinema of Dario Argento - Chris John Gallant

PROFONDO ARGENTO - Alan Jones

FANTASY FILM MEMORY: Directed By Dario Argento – John Martin
No link for this I’m afraid, it’s a 1991 English language French publication, (there’s a Jess Franco one too).

BEYOND TERROR: Films of Lucio Fulci - Stephen Thrower

CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST: And the Savage Cinema of Ruggero Deodato - Fenton, Grainger, Castoldi

BIG BOSOMS AND SQUARE JAWS: The Biography of Russ Meyer - Jimmy McDonough

A TASTE OF BLOOD: The Films of Herschell Gordon Lewis - Christopher Curry

AGITATOR: The Cinema of Takashi Miike - Tom Mes

DEREK JARMAN - Tony Peake

DESPERATE VISIONS: The Films of John Waters & the Kuchar Brothers - Jack Stevenson

SEX MURDER ART: Films of Jorg Buttgereit - David Kerekes

**********************************************
Actors, Producers Biographies
**********************************************
SHOWMAN: The Life of David O. Selznick - David Thomson

MEMO FROM DAVID O. SELZNICK : The Creation of "Gone with the Wind" and Other Motion Picture Classics, as Revealed in the Producer's Private Letters, Telegrams, Memorandums, and Autobiographical Remarks - David O. Selznick, Rudy Behlmer

LION OF HOLLYWOOD: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer - Scott Eyman

SAM SPIEGEL - Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni

HOW I MADE A HUNDRED MOVIES IN HOLLYWOOD AND NEVER LOST A DIME - Roger Corman

MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE: The Life and Times of W. C. Fields - Simon Louvish

THE LAST HERO: a Biography of Gary Cooper - Larry Swindell

CHARLES LAUGHTON: A Difficult Actor - Simon Callow

FATAL CHARM: The Life of Rex Harrison - Alexander Walker

IN THE ARENA: An Autobiography - Charlton Heston

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT - Michael Caine

JOHN WAYNE : The Politics of Celebrity - Garry Wills

BRANDO - Peter Manso

STEVE MCQUEEN: Portrait of an American Rebel - Marshall Terrill

KINSKI UNCUT: The Autobiography of Klaus Kinski - Klaus Kinski

BRUCE LEE: Fighting Spirit - Bruce Thomas

IF CHINS COULD KILL: Confessions of a B Movie Actor - Bruce Campbell

*********************
Japanese Cinema
*********************
A HUNDRED YEARS OF JAPANESE FILM: A Concise History, with a Selective Guide to DVDs and Videos - Donald Richie

THE MIDNIGHT EYE GUIDE TO NEW JAPANESE FILM - Tom Mes

OUTLAW MASTERS OF JAPANESE FILM - Chris D.

EROS IN HELL: Sex, Blood and Madness in Japanese Cinema - Jack Hunter

************************************
Cult Film Writing (Horror, Exploitation, Sci-fi)
************************************
THE OVERLOOK FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA: HORROR (The Overlook Film Encyclopedia Series) - Phil Hardy

THE OVERLOOK FILM ENCYCLOPEDIA: SCIENCE FICTION (The Overlook Film Encyclopedia Series) - Phil Hardy

THE PSYCHOTRONIC VIDEO GUIDE TO FILM - Michael J. Weldon

SLEAZOID EXPRESS: A Mind-Twisting Tour Through the Grindhouse Cinema of Times Square - Bill Landis

SLIMETIME: A Guide to Sleazy, Mindless Movies - Steven Puchalski

NIGHTMARE MOVIES: A Critical Guide To Horror Films - Kim Newman

KILLING FOR CULTURE: An Illustrated History of Death Film from Mondo to Snuff - David Kerekes

LOST HIGHWAYS: AN ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF ROAD MOVIES - Jack Sargeant

THE MONSTER SHOW: A Cultural History of Horror - David J. Skal

FLESH AND BLOOD COMPENDIUM: Cinema and Video for Adults - Harvey Fenton

BOOK OF THE DEAD: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema - Jamie Russell

DVD DELIRIUM VOLUMES 1 / 2 / 3 : The International Guide to Weird and Wonderful Films on DVD - Nathaniel Thompson

EYEBALL COMPENDIUM: Sex & Horror, Art & Exploitation - Stephen Thrower

SEE NO EVIL: Banned Films and Video Controversy - David Kerekes

SHOCK! HORROR!: Astounding Artwork from the Video Nasty Era - Marc Morris

***************************
Books about Individual films
***************************
PICTURE - Lillian Ross

THE DEVIL'S CANDY: The Bonfire of the Vanities Goes to Hollywood - Julie Salamon

FINAL CUT : Art, Money, and Ego in the Making of Heaven's Gate, the Film That Sank United Artists - Steven Bach

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE COMPANION - Stefan Jaworzyn

CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES: The Complete History of Friday the 13th - Peter M. Bracke

WES CRAVEN'S LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT - David A. Szulkin

WILLIAM PETER BLATTY ON THE EXORCIST: From Novel To Film - William Peter Blatty

THE APOCALYPSE NOW BOOK - Peter Cowie

NOTES ON THE MAKING OF APOCALYPSE NOW - Eleanor Coppola

MONEY INTO LIGHT: A Diary - John Boorman
This is John Boorman's journet of making THE EMERALD FOREST
.
.
.

I was looking at these yesterday at Amazon's site. They look quite good and comprehensive. (Strangely, I didn't notice Volume 2 available at the moment, will have to look into that further.) Do you recommend a better reference/buying/review book than these? What caught my attention about these was the information that they supposedly have on what country/label/whatever has the best available cut of the films, and so on. That's the kind of detail that makes me dork out and have more than one copy of a film, when a better version exists than something I have. I was thinking that these books might help me cut down on some of that, plus the sheer size of the collections make me think that they'd be great for reference material on things I've not seen or heard of.

Great list, by the way. I have several of those books you listed.

Thanks...

-Wil

Hey Wil,

Thanks for the kind word there.... Yes, the DVD Delerium books are totally essential for the cult movie collector... In essence the books are a compendium of the Mondo Digital website, so if You want a taster of what the books contain head over there...

As for the availability of Vol 2, I've heard the books are due to go out of print soon. FAB Press who put the books out are one of the few companies that mean it when they say limited edition... Their Mario Bava book (not the Tim Lucas one), a Nusploitation book and their Ruggero Deodato book, are all highly sought after nowadays...

I've just checked the FAB website and they're offering all 3 DVD Deleriums in one package -

http://www.fabpress.com/vsearch.php?CO=FAB074

I get all my FAB books of them and they are good guys to deal with, 100% safe...

I wonder what "Shop Soiled Copy" means in their opinion. A little bit worn from just sitting on a shelf is one thing, creased covers, tears, and coffee stains are another. I recently received a gift certificate to Amazon and was thinking of ordering all of them there for that reason, but since they are out of Volume 2, I may just order that one from Fab Press. Amazon has that "ships in 2-3 weeks" message up, which I take to mean that they can get it, but if they can't, I could at least be sure to get one from Fab, even if a little worn, before it's gone.

Again, thanks for the recommendation though. I want to track down a copy of that Kinski book one day as well.

You haven't happened to have read the book that Tom Mes did on Shinya Tsukamoto, have you? Seriously considering that one, too.


-Wil

Yep, I have Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto but I have not read it yet.... Of Tsukamoto's work, I've only seen the Tetsuo films and Vital, so I'll need to see more before I get into the book... But, yeah, it looks like a great book, and Tom Mes knows Japanese Cinema... his book on Takashi Miike is pretty great as well....

My list is looking a little old these days, there's a bunch of stuff I've got since compiling the list....just too lazy to update it.... same applies to my DVD list....

I have read the Miike book and really enjoyed it. Where Tsukamoto is concerned, I really have enjoyed his films that I have seen. I've only seen the first Tetsuo (of that series), but really liked Vital and A Snake of June. I have Gemini, Nightmare Detective, and Bullet Ballet but haven't had time to watch them yet. I thought I might pick up that book on his work because the Miike one was so well done, as was The Midnight Eye Guide To Japanese Film. Gave me a little faith in Tom Mes.

-Wil

EDIT: Went back and reread about "Shop Worn Condition" at the Fab Press site and decided to go ahead and order the Volume 2 book from them. I'll order the other two from Amazon. They look like awesome reference books.

Oh yeah, Bullet Ballet, I have that one as well.... actually thats a really good movie if I remember....

The last book on Japanese cinema I got was Behind the Pink Curtain, FAB's book on Pink cinema... Must get a few pinku films and roman pornos before I dive into that one.... Any excuse really to watch dirty movies

I actually looked at this one the other day on Amazon as well, and realized that I don't know much about the genre, nor do I know exactly *how* interested in it I really am. I've been slightly curious to check out some of that I've heard referred to as Pinky Violence films and wondered if that's what pinku is. I may even have a couple of them already in the collection, but I'm not familiar enough with the various aspects of the subgenres to know.

One thing I know for sure, in my recent digging around the edges of the internet. I need to build my film reference books up. I have no excuse. I spend the same amount of a single book on a blind purchase of a dvd, when had I spent the money on the book, I could have found 50 or more movies I need to get that may have been better than the one dvd. (not that my DVD addiction needs to be encouraged.)

How does Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema compare to Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide? I'm sure there's a lot of re-hashing of info going on. Not sure I need 2 books on that topic, especially when a lot of the zombie movies out there are more fun to read about than watch. As much as I love them, I have to say that about it.

Also noticed you have a book on Derek Jarman, I've never seen any of his films, but have been mildly curious about him because Coil did some soundtrack work with him and I love Coil.

Yep, same here Wil, huge fan of Coil... The Derek Jarman book is the definitive word on Jarman, its a massive and weighty tome but sadly Coil's work on The Angelic Conversation and their contribution to Blue get only a few lines... So to does TG's work on Jarman's In the Shadow of the Sun. By the way, Coil's original music for Hellraiser gets only a fleeting mention in a Clive Barker biog I have as well... very disapointing....

Wil, definitely seek out a Derek Jarman film, maybe Jubilee, his punk film... its a good, soft place to begin...

I'll do that. I've seen Jubilee around a few times but never picked up or rented from Netflix.

Strange how Coil fans are impossible to find anywhere but on the internet. Then again, I'm not exactly sitting at the crossroads of civilization here, either.

Interesting list. Thanks for posting it. I've probably read about 15 or so of those.

I was wondering. Is "Lost Highways: An Illustrated History of Road Movies" good? I'm considering picking up a used copy.

Hey Johnny....

Yep, Lost Highways is a good one, with chapters devoted to Vanishing Point, Crash, El Topo, Two Lane Blacktop, Easy Rider, Weekend, David Lynch, Biker movie, Vampire road movies, Oz/NZ road movies... If you can get it used, go for it !

Well I think Future Noir : The Making of Blade Runner is a must have.
Hitchcock Truffaut as well...

On a side note. Hollywood Animal by Joe Eszterhas has a certain quality that some might find amusing.

Any of the Laura Mulvey books are pretty good theory and FILM ART by David Bordwell is almost required along with Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade...

Oh yeah, the Blade Runner book is fantastic.... I usually re-read it once a year... Before the Blade Runner SE came along, I used to dream about seeing all the alternative cuts outlined in the book.... I think the author does the comm. track on the BR Workprint in the SE...

Ordered all three of the DVD Delirium books. Will let you know what I make of them when they arrive. =)

Thanks for the recommendation!