Icons in the Fire : The Decline and Fall of Almost Everybody in the British Film Industry - Hardcover

Walker Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0752856103 ISBN 13: 9780752856100

Publisher: Orion Books Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

Book by Walker, Alexander

About this title

About the Author

Film critic of the 'Evening Standard' (London) since 1959 until his sudden death in July 2003. Alexander Walker was 'Critic of the Year' three times in the British Press Awards. A prolific broadcaster on television and radio, he wrote and narrated four series of 'Film Star' for the BBC. Alexander Walker was educated in Northern Ireland, on the Continent and in the United States. Before moving to London in 1959, he was film critic of the 'Birmingham Post'. Joseph Connolly (Introducer) is a Hampstead antiquarian bookseller turned novelist. He is literary executor to Walker's estate.

Review

"Impeccably researched, written with considerable eloquence and thoroughly provoking... required reading if you want to know how the film business works, and how if often doesn't, in Britain." -- Derek Malcolm THE EVENING STANDARD, 13 September "Each page shows (Walker's) elegance... Uncompromising and intelligent, this study requires some answers." -- SB Kelly THE SCOTSMAN, 2 October "A fitting tribute to the late Alexander Walker... whose shrewd and witty commentary is matched by a fine sense of moral outrage. Walker is tartly ironic about the various deluded visionaries, charlatans and egomaniacs who people his story, but his acute sense of comedy is countered by an undertow of genuine sadness at what has come to pass." -- Christopher Sylvester SUNDAY TIMES CULTURE, 10 October "As a nutshell summary of the problems bedevilling our films, it is unimprovable." -- David Gritten DAILY TELEGRAPH, 6 November "Walker is devastating... with a honed, wry wit. Each page shows his elegance. Uncompromising and intelligent." SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY, 3 October "[Walker] wrote like a dream... a glittering style which lights up this final, and posthumous, part of a trilogy." -- Quentin Falk ACADEMY MAGAZINE, December 04 "An excellent, indeed exhaustive, book ... very well-researched and readable. I was most impressed. ICONS deserves to sit atop any self-respecting film fan's bookshelf." SCREENTRADE MAGAZINE, November 04

Edition details

• Publisher: Orion Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0752856103
• ISBN 13: 9780752856100
• Binding: Hardcover