PAST IMPERFECT; HISTORY ACCORDING TO THE MOVIES; REVISED & EXPANDED

Filmmakers often use dramatic license in playing with facts to enhance a story's drama, illuminate an overlooked perspective, or fuel historical debate. Here, 60 historical writers (including popular authors such as Stephen Jay Gould, Antonia Fraser, and Gore Vidal) look beneath the celluloid surface of classic movies to explore the relationship between film and reality, from prehistory ( Jurassic Park ) to modern times ( Dr. Strangelove, Malcolm X, Apocalypse Now ). Entries look at plot, costume design, technology, and character portrayals, examine the historical aftermath of events in the film, juxtapose film stills with historical paintings and photos, and suggest background reading for the historical period depicted in each film. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

This blockbustingly good book matches dozens of history flicks with historians who know what went on behind the scenes. A John Sayles/Eric Foner debate about the balance between veracity and dramatic license setsthe stage, then the curtain rises on Jurassic Park as reviewed by paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould. Scoffing at that movie's premise (revivifying extinct organisms) and criticizing its operating stereotype (the hubris of mad science), he establishes the pattern that imbues this volume with a rich and often risible character. For easy as it is to laugh at moviemakers' mistakes, it becomes more illuminating to ask why they warp or omit the facts. Errors in war movies, here in healthy numbers, seem to be a congenital if innocuous feature of the genre, but they tend not to inflict as much damage on popular perception of the past as do, say, some westerns or film biographies. The public becomes even more vulnerable to deception in such movies as JFK, a major mugging of the facts about Kennedy's murder, just as Birth of a Nation reinforced an earlier generation's belief in the virtues of white supremacy. Wherever historical reality meets celluloid imagination, this book's historians limn the collision with appealing conciseness, and an attractive layout replete with stills and sidebars further moves things along. Now that's entertainment no self-respecting library can do without. Gilbert Taylor

Perhaps this summer's boomlet of historical movies and costume dramas have sparked interest, for this is only one of several recent books by historians examining films set in the past. Editor Carnes (Secret Ritual and Manhood in Victorian America, LJ 8/89) persuaded 60 historical writers, including such popular figures as Gore Vidal, William Manchester, Antonia Frasier, James McPherson, and Frances FitzGerald, to write an original piece on an historical film. The authors gleefully skewer, pick apart, praise, and censure film classics such as Gone with the Wind, Mutiny on the Bounty, A Man for All Seasons, Spartacus, Jurassic Part, Patton, etc. There is, not surprisingly, considerable nitpicking over historical details, but the writers seem to share a common fondness for the movies. Indeed, several confess that their interest in history was first awakened by a film they saw as a child. Film buffs will thoroughly enjoy. Highly recommended for large public libraries and subject collections.?Marianne Cawley, Enoch Pratt Free Lib., Baltimore
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