Idols, Icons, and Illusions

There is cinema . . . and there are the movies. This is a book for movie junkies: salutes to the once great but now forgotten stars, to the acknowledged behind-the-scenes movers and shakers, and to the movies themselves--the classics major and minor, the overlooked gems, the guiltiest of guilty pleasures. If you're old enough to remember Saturday matinees or late night fright flicks on your local TV channels--or just wish you were--grab a bag of popcorn, a soft seat, and enjoy the show. This book synopsizes dozens of films, and includes a variety of personal and critical essays written by Bill Mesce, Jr.

1: A Night to Remember (1958)
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Adapted from Walter Lord's book by Eric Ambler
James Cameron's Titanic (1997) might have had better special effects (change that; it had incredible effects), but its gooey teen romance front story pales next to this painstakingly exact adaptation of Walter Lord's classic account of the tragic 1912 sinking of the opulent ocean liner on her maiden voyage. It's a stirring and ultimately moving account of grace under pressure, of human hubris and waste, of heroism and infuriating indifference. Cameron caught some of it, but Night is wholly dedicated to it and it still stands as a textbook example of how to do it right.

BILL MESCE, JR. is a screenwriter, playwright, and author of fiction and nonfiction. He spent 27 years in the corporate communications area of pay-TV giant Home Box Office and is currently and adjunct instructor at several colleges and universities in his native New Jersey. From August 2010 to February 2014, he regularly wrote about film and television for the award winning online magazine Sound on Sight, which is where these pieces first appeared.