"Making Of" Book On Film Coming

[Jonathan Smith - Author]

I just got around to ordering these two books. Looking forward to them!

Thank you Eric, and I hope you find them of interest.

 

[kneserlambert]

It turned out my order was screwed up. The copy of Volume 2 I got had a Volume 2 cover but the internal contents were Volume 1! They sent me an e-book as a stopgap until I get it right but that is the first time I've ever seen that kind of a screw-up.

The production photos and extensive detail is outstanding. If I have one quibble it's the fact that with so much attention to the technical production, there isn't as much discussion on the changing nature of the scripts as I would have liked to have seen, especially since I have one of the earlier drafts from when Stanley Kramer was attached to the project and the final version. The need for US Navy cooperation is what clearly caused much of the suspense from Cussler's novel involving the US-Soviet clash to be eliminated, right down to its changed ending since official US policy was to not do anything to antagonize the USSR at that point in time. But contrasting the earlier draft with the final version I think deserved just a bit more attention since that info is out there.

It was also helpful to see it clarified that the footage of the sinking from the lost prologue that was used in the 1982 Voyagers episode was actually outtake footage trims, and not footage lifted directly from the cut prologue. Lew Grade had been insistent from the beginning that he didn't want to see the sinking depicted, so it's amazing it actually got filmed in the first place. That said, it should have been included.

You're not alone; I've been in a similar situation. I thought I was the only one feeling that way until I saw your response.

 

[Eric Paddon]

The first book arrived, "The Entertainment Collection". A very impressive collection of photographs and publicity material! The poster which had the words, "Now They Have Found The Titanic! Be There When We Raise The Titanic" I remember when the film was out and it was kind of meant to tie into the fact that the first Jack Grimm expedition to try and find the wreck was going on during the summer of 1980 and Grimm, ever the publicity hound that he was, was releasing all kinds of stories about finding hopeful sonar targets to indicate that he was sure he'd found the wreck (which then culminated in his 1981 declaration of insisting that he'd photographed a "propeller").

That got me to thinking. What if Grimm had found the wreck in the summer of 1980 when the film came out? Might that have at least gotten the film some more box office, middling to negative reviews and all? It would have certainly been the perfect tie-in.

 

[kneserlambert]

The first book arrived, "The Entertainment Collection". A very impressive collection of photographs and publicity material! The poster which had the words, "Now They Have Found The Titanic! Be There When We Raise The Titanic" I remember when the film was out and it was kind of meant to tie into the fact that the first Jack Grimm expedition to try and find the wreck was going on during the summer of 1980 and Grimm, ever the publicity hound that he was, was releasing all kinds of stories about finding hopeful sonar targets to indicate that he was sure he'd found the wreck (which then culminated in his 1981 declaration of insisting that he'd photographed a "propeller").

That got me to thinking. What if Grimm had found the wreck in the summer of 1980 when the film came out? Might that have at least gotten the film some more box office, middling to negative reviews and all? It would have certainly been the perfect tie-in.

thats make sens!