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Is anyone familiar with this book? Is it worth buying?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seductive-Cinem ... ent+cinema" target="_blank

Michael O'Regan wrote:Is anyone familiar with this book? Is it worth buying?

Yes and yes. It's idiosyncratic and personal, but well worth the read.

It is one of my favourite books about the silent cinema.

There is so much information about silent films, and personal anecdotes by the Author, James Card.

One story he tells, is how he managed to get his hands on the only print available of Peter Pan.
Everytime I watch it I thank Mr. Card for it.

There is so much more in this book.
It is worth having for anyone who is interested or love silent films.

It was one of the very first silent film books I ever read, because it was one of the only silent film books at my local library. This was a mistake; it's definitely one I'd recommend to readers who already have a firm grounding in the era. As Frederica indicates, it's essentially Card's take on things, and you may not always agree with his biases towards or away from certain people, but it's all interesting stuff nonetheless.

Very idiosyncratic-- I like the part where he claims to have witnessed WWII starting two weeks earlier than everyone says-- and a bit gossipy and more than a bit score-settling. More for the person who knows the personalities of both film and film preservation, in which case you'll enjoy all the dishing (though Card avoids mentioning that his relationship with Louise Brooks was more than preservationist, so to speak). Anyway, as said above, maybe not the first book to read on the subject, but enjoyable and interesting.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and agree with the general tone of the descriptions above. It’s full of quirky, memorable anecdotes that supplement what we’ve already heard from Brownlow, Everson, Slide, etc. I especially liked Mr. Card’s description of the day he met with Cecil B. DeMille (“in his Mussolini-sized office”), and tried to persuade him to hand over prints of his silent films to the newly established Eastman House archive. And I enjoyed the story about how Card took Ramon Novarro and Maurice Chevalier out to dinner late one night in beautiful downtown Rochester, and found all the restaurants closed. They wound up eating at an all-night hamburger joint!

Lots more where that came from . . .

I like James Card anecdote about finding a nitrate print of Peter
Pan (1924) in a fifth floor vault. It was part of a film library
used for organ practice.

I was going to say that anything my Mr Card has to be of interest as I was first acquainted with some of his work when he brought a number of 'Treasures From the Eastman House' over here to London when I was a young member of the British Film Institute. Alas, living 70 miles away I saw precious few of them. This certainly looks like one to add to the 'must get' list...

And it may be worth your comparing copies / prices with Abebooks. There's one which sounds very good (from the States) but is a little inconvenient for me to order at present so if you haven't gone for one already...

Fortunately our cat ordered a copy for a Father's Day present, so I shall have the pleasure of reading it at last...

Extremely well written by a man who has a passion for the silents. Not quite up to the presentation in Michael Powell's memoirs, but worth getting, keeping, referring to. If I remember correctly, Card is especially annoying to D. W. Griffith's admirers. He makes the case that most of the innovations credited to Griffith had already been done in Italian films.
If people like Card hadn't started collecting and archiving silents back in the 50s, we'd be missing many more treasures than we are now.

Funny that this should come up on Nitrateville at this moment. I recently posted a lengthy review of Seductive Cinema here if anyone is interested.

There's also the Seductive comedy film shown at the corner of this site - It's 'PARIS EN 5 JOURS', the French 1925 movie in the fragment version at '# 4 - Lost 35mm Nitrate Film FOUND !'. How much could you be seduced ?

I picked up this book while perusing the shelves at a bookstore in NYC. Very much enjoyed it, particularly the way he wrote with such passion about John Barrymore and Norma Shearer.

The earlier comment about "score settling", though, was spot-on. Clearly NOT an Iris Barry fan!

Mike Gebert wrote:Very idiosyncratic...and a bit gossipy and more than a bit score-settling...though Card avoids mentioning that his relationship with Louise Brooks was more than preservationist, so to speak...

Who's getting gossipy now? Regardless, I really enjoyed the book and silent film would be in a much sadder state without the efforts of Mr.Card. While I don't know a lot about them, he seems to be a lot like Rohauer and Barry. Each appear to have had their own personal agenda and made some questionable decisions but without their passion there would be a lot fewer surviving films.

Anthony Slide's review of the book for "Classic Images" was the most negative review I've ever read of any film book.
Henry Nicolella