CMBA eBooks Available on Amazon!

Last year, CMBA hosted two great blogathons: Underseen and Underrated and Banned and Blacklisted. We had a number of really fine entries for both events and these essays have been collected and edited by Annette Bochenek into two new ebooks available for purchase on Amazon and for free on Smashwords.

You may have seen them being promoted on Facebook at the CMBA Private Screening Room, but if not, here is some more detail about them.... please check them out!

Underseen and Underrated: Celebrating Lesser-Known Classic Films

This collection of ten essays turns the spotlight on rare films including Afraid to Talk ( 1932 ), Carrie ( 1952 ), Simon and Laura ( 1955 ), A Majority of One ( 1961 ), and Between the Lions ( 1977 ). John Greco, Patricia Schneider, Jocelyn Dunphy, and Ivan G. Shreve Jr. are among some of the contributors.

All proceeds from Amazon sales go towards the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Underseen-Underrated-Celebrating-Lesser-Known-Classic-ebook/dp/B0764K1GJN

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/751566

Banned and Blacklisted: Too Hot to Handle 

This collection of thirteen essays explores the films and actors who were affected by censorship, whether it be the result of the Hays Code, racism, or the McCarthy-era blacklist scare. Contributors to this ebook include Lara Fowler, Annette Bochenek, Danilo Castro, and Kellee Pratt among others.

All proceeds from Amazon go towards the National Film Preservation Foundation.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079NQ74VF/

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/788764

CMBA Profile: Chaplin Film by Film

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we’re featuring  Brian J. Robb, of Chaplin: Film by Film

Chaplin: Film by Film is a project after our own heart. On the centenary of the release of each of Charlie Chaplin's movies, blogger Brian J. Robb posted an homage to that film. This gave him a very busy 2014, but as Chaplin's output slowed down, Robb opted to surge ahead of him (he's all the way up to September, 1918, now!). In general, each post includes a synopsis, basic production information, stills, historical background, film analysis, and some excerpts from contemporary reviews. Whether you're a complete novice or a Chaplin expert, you're bound to learn something and have fun doing so. 

Brian would like you to take a look at this post, in which he discusses Chaplin's historic contract with Mutual Film Company for $670,000, which made him the highest paid film maker at the time. It's an original write up of a much-reported event, one that contributed to the rise of the Hollywood "star system" that followed. According to Brian, "It’s a nice, self-contained story covering a pivotal period in Chaplin’s professional and personal life, and a good jumping on point for readers keen to discover more about Chaplin, including his two years of filmmaking prior to that point and everything that followed from it."

CMBA Profile: Classic Film Observations and Obsessions

CMBA profiles one or two of our classic movie bloggers every month. This week, we’re featuring Jocelyn Dunphy, of Classic Film Observations and Obsessions:

Classic Film Observations and Obsessions is the expression of one woman’s fixation on classic film. Jocelyn likes to focus on one actor, director, or theme in films and run through as many movies and as much reading as she can, until she moves on to another focus. In 2016, for example, she put a lot of time into Van Heflin, a one time winner of Best Supporting Actor who shows up in a surprising range of movies. More recently, she’s been looking at Werner Herzog, who she got to see live at a screening. When Jocelyn sinks her teeth into something, she doesn’t let go easily!

Jocelyn would like you to take a look at this post, from the centennial of the birth of actor Robert Mitchum. It’s another example of her going in depth into the workings of an actor who fascinate her. It’s a review of the 1973 Mitchum movie “The Friends of Eddie Coyle,” a lesser-known movie she was lucky enough to see screened in a theater in Boston. She tells us of the post, “I think it captures my own voice well, in how I logged my own reactions to the movie.  I think those who read it will get a good sense of who I am as a blogger and film enthusiast.” We would have to agree!