Words, Words, Words! Essays on Writers and Writing in Classic Film

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I am a contributor to this collection that contains essays on writing and writers in film. Essays include The Famous Ferguson Case (1932), Libeled Lady (1936), Theodora Goes Wild (1936), The Postman Always Ring Twice (1946), The Third Man (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Full of Life (1956) The Girl Hunters (1963), and The Front (1976). All Kindle profits go to the National Film Preservation Fund.

Lessons in the Dark

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Classic films are not just nostalgic. They are also avenues for learning and a passageway to take a look at ourselves as we were then and are now. Movies hold up a mirror to our past, our lives today and our future. We can see how far we have come; the mistakes that we made, the choices we made, both the good and the bad. Hopefully we are able to learn, realize the bad and not repeat them.

Lessons in the Dark by John Greco is a thoughtful, contemplative collection of short essays on film” – Jacqueline T. Lynch – Author of Ann Blyth: Actress, Singer, Star and Blogger at Another Old Movie Blog.com 

John takes us across the years from Mervyn LeRoy’s I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang in 1932 to Michael Roemer’s Nothing But a Man in 1964, from Anatole Litvak’s The Snake Pit to Bob Fosse’s Lenny in 1974. Across the decades we are given insights into people, personalities and the controversies that are always a part of life. There are many lessons to be learned in the dark. – Patricia Nolan-Hall Blogger at Caftan Woman

  

Film Noir at Twenty Four Frames Per Second

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Sex, violence and the dark mean streets of American cinema are looked at in this collection of essays and reviews from the classic film blog Twenty Four Frames. Twenty film noirs from famous works like “Ace in the Hole” and “Detour” to lesser-known but still intriguing films like “Cause for Alarm” and “Crashout” are explored.

“John’s prose is lean, mean, and to the point—no need for lacey artifice here. To me, the best thing a critic can bring to the table is to make you want to seek out films you haven’t crossed off your list yet…” Ivan G. Sherve Jr. Blogger at Thrilling Days of Yesteryear.

 CMBA Presents: Planes, Trains and Automobiles

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I am a contributor to this collection of essays about classic films on the move. Includes Our Hospitality (1923), Danger Lights (1930), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Sleepers West (1941), Detour (1945), I Know Where I’m Going! (1945), Duel in the Sun (1946), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), The Narrow Margin (1952), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), and Thunder Road (1958).

CMBA Presents: Fabulous Films of the 1930’s

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I am a contributor to this look at the 1930s which  was one of the most formative decades in Hollywood’s history, from the stilted, early talkies to the hallmark year of 1939 that saw films such as Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz released. This collection of 19 essays by a selection of the best classic film bloggers currently writing, members of the Classic Movie Blog Association (CMBA), covers mainstream hits like Sons of the Desert (1933) and Bringing Up Baby (1938), cult classics like Freaks (1932) and The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and even far more obscure titles like Men Call It Love (1931) and Idiot’s Delight (1939).

These essays– some playful, some extraordinarily informative, and others a mix of the two– help profile the decade that changed Hollywood in the public’s eye from a den of vice and sin to a veritable dream factory, picture by picture.

CMBA Presents: Underseen and Underrated

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I am a contributor to this book which looks at ten under seen an and underrated films including Gunman’s Walk, Unfaithfully Yours and my own article on the 1977 film Between the Lines. All ten contributors are members of the Classic Movie Blog Association.