"Warning Shadows" by Gary Giddins

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a movie studio in possession of a fortune must be in want of Great Books."

This is just one of many brilliant,eccentric and elegant chapter introductions in collection of magazine articles published between 2005 and 2009 (mostly in "The New York Sun") and now nicely preserved under title "Warning shadows: home alone with classic cinema" by Gary Giddins . Giddins, who is an excellent music critic shows that he is not limited on just one territory: he writes about classic movies with the same fair and wit,often pointing at lesser known gems (1967 soviet "Anna Karenina") and offering his view on works by Kurosawa, Bergman, Tati and everything from "Blade Runner" to "Ben Hur", amusing his readers with riches of anecdotes along the way. I actually have his celebrated biography of Bing Crosby (that covers first part of Bing's career, hopefully there will be a sequel) so was no surprised that Crosby somehow found the way even in this book, as he left his mark in the movies as well. Giddins is a true wit, a man who knows how to engage a reader with a funny touch and often pointing at quality or lack of it in the classic movies - his opinions often suggest re-viewing and surely I am not the only one who noted few names down during the reading of this collection. Because it's basically collection of essays, it can be enjoyed slowly - myself,I was initially browsing trough some of my favorite pieces, going backwards and forwards, until eventually I read the whole darn thing from cover to cover once again with the biggest pleasure.

Touching not only the selected movies and giving intriguing informations about actors,directors and producers, Giddins also writes about the movie industry and the way audience perceive movie entertainment - he writes about nickelodeon days and muses what a long way we crossed from watching the movies trough the hole in a machine until present day when (again) movie watching is solitary business,often confined to a electronic notebook gadgets. In a way, this book is a love letter to countless cinema theaters that are now a thing of the past and in fact there is a heartfelt tribute to long-gone New York cinemas listed at the beginning of the book. Combining his knowledge of movies and music,Giddins is in my opinion in the same league as equally gifted Will Friedwald (author of "Jazz singing") and hopefully this work will inspire others to continue in the same league. Excellent reading that surely invites re-visits and it shows how wonderful and sincere the work can be when is done with love.