Grease, Night And Vampire

Limelight Editions just released a trio of books about films: two musicals and one genre.

Way back in the summer of 1978 the movie adaptation of the Broadway hit Grease bebopped its way onto the Silver Screen. Mega movie star John Travolta and country singer pop star Olivia Newton John starred as the two main lovebirds: Danny and Sandy. Taking into account Olivia was Australian, the story was slightly modified, along with adding a few new songs.

The film was a smash and spawned a whole new 1950s fever in the United States and around the world. Other movies and TV shows (like Happy Days) cashed in on the craze and within a short period of time Grease became a cultural pop phenomenon.

Author Stephen Tropiano takes a look at Grease in his book titled simply: Grease. He examines the humble beginnings of the musical to its meteoric rise to the most successful movie musical of all time. Grease is still the word!

Ray Marton examines the greatest rock ‘n’ roll movie of all time: A Hard Day’s Night. Starring the fab four (the Beatles) the low-budget film would set the standards by which all such films (and videos) that followed it would be judged.

United Artists set out to put out a low-budget film in order to promote the Beatles soundtrack record. What they ended up with was a break-out film incorporating radical camera angles and up close and personal shots of the group as they frantically, comically, set society on its collective ear.

The book examines the six-week shoot, including live studio recordings that helped fan the flame of the Beatles' popularity.

What is it about vampires that fascinates so many people? Alain Silver and James Ursini chronicle the fascinating and long history of the vampire film. The Vampire Film: From Nosferatu To True Blood is examined from its humble beginnings as a moody, dark and mysterious small scale film to its introduction to American audiences in Universal Studios Dracula film starring Bella Lugosi that catapulted vampire and horror films to the front of American psyche.

From there the genre exploded into films from all over the world. Horror, exotic love, mystery, sci-fi: all film genres at one point tackled the vampire theme-some successfully and others miserably.

Regardless of the film, audiences can’t seem to get enough of undead blood suckers and the genre continues to draw in audiences by the millions with each vampire film release.

The book contains exhaustive research on the vampire film with hundreds of photos from films all over the globe. It’s something to really sink your teeth into.