Offbeat gifts delight film fans on Christmas list
With Hanukkah underway and Christmas right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to think about offbeat gifts that will delight that avid film fan on your list. Some stocking-stuffer suggestions guaranteed to make any movie maven smile include:
Out-of-the-ordinary
subscriptions
Many people have subscriptions to mainstream magazines such as Premiere and Entertainment Weekly, but some lower-profile publications offer film fans 12 months of interesting and informative reading.
Those include:
– The DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter (P.O. Box 420, East Rockaway, N.Y. 11518-0420; phone: 516-594-9304; fax: 516-594-930; www.DVDLaser.com; $47.50 a year):
Writer-publisher-editor Douglas Pratt provides extensive analysis of new disc titles in his highly respected offering.
Pratt isn’t worried about making a reader-friendly publication, which is readily apparent from this newsletter that looks like the text was prepared on a typewriter and then simply pasted onto the page.
His critical opinions on the films are secondary to the information he provides on the quality of the DVD pressings, which can vary greatly. Before investing in any title, it’s always helpful to refer to The DVD-Laser Disc Newsletter, which lets you know the offerings that will sparkle on your home-entertainment system and others that should remain on the store shelf.
– Movie Collector’s World (Arena Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 309, Fraser, MI 48026;
Phone: 586-774-4311; fax: 703-940-4566; www.mcwonline.com; $16.95 for six issues; $29.95 for one year):
Anyone thinking about starting a collection of movie posters, lobby cards and memorabilia should love this publication. MCW contains hundreds of ads for classic posters, articles on collecting and photo layouts from film-oriented conventions (such as the Chiller Theatre Expo held in Secaucus, N.J.).
The current issue of MCW (No. 679), for example, contains an advertisement showing original posters from “Frankenstein” with Boris Karloff, “Babe Comes Home” with Babe Ruth and “The Wizard of Oz” with Judy Garland that sold for $189,750, $138,000 and $18,400, respectively. It also includes an article on “Collecting Christmas Movie Autographs,” informing readers that a Donna Reed signature on a black-and-white still from “It’s A Wonderful Life” would command $150 to $185, while a photo from “White Christmas” signed by Bing Crosby would bring $175.
MCW abounds with such fun facts for both longtime and beginning movie-memorabilia collectors.
– Now Playing (P.O. Box 420933, Palm Coast, Florida 32142-0933; 1-800-TCM-1002; www.turnerclassicmovie.com; $11.95 a year):
Fans of the vintage movies shown on the outstanding Turner Classic Movies cable channel should be delighted by Now Playing, TCM’s official magazine.
Each month, the publication provides complete listings and descriptions of all titles – some of which remain unavailable on VHS or DVD – being shown on TCM. The slick mini-magazine also contains articles on the featured star of the month and vintage art work and photos from the titles being screened.
Films get booked
To analyze individual movies, the British Film Institute offers a series of books ($13.95 each) that take a single motion picture and study it thoroughly.
The illustrated paperbacks provide an easy way to get intimate with some of the greatest films ever made.
The titles in the BFI series include: Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” with Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead; Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson; Jim Jarmusch’s “Dead Man” with Johnny Depp; Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” with Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss; Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in America” with Robert De Niro and James Woods; Nicolas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” with Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland; Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” with De Niro and Jodie Foster; Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” with Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman; George Stevens’ “Shane” with Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur; Michael Mann’s “Heat” with De Niro and Al Pacino; and Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” and “Vertigo” with Tippi Hedren and Kim Novak, respectively.
And for counterculture fans, the BFI book on Dennis Hopper’s “Easy Rider” starring Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson has been packaged with “Easy Rider: 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition” (Columbia TriStar; $29.99), which also includes the compact-disc soundtrack of the biker classic. It’s a great gift set for that rebel without a cause on your list.