Customer Reviews

Celluloid San Francisco: The Film Lover's Guide to Bay Area Movie Locations

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This well researched book is a must have for anyone who loves film, San Francisco and history of the films that have been shot in SF and Northern California.

Part history book and part insight to locations and venues, this carefully researched tome is a delight - with photos and maps to give you an idea just how much SF has been used as a location.

And no wonder, as beiing one of the most beautiful cities in the US.

SF was indeed a favorite location of Hitchcock's.

Van Buskirk, who's other SF Book - GAY BY THE BAY, appears to have a love affair with SF and his delight leaps off the page.

It made me want to get my walking shoes and search out some of these locations.

A great book for gifts.

BUY THIS BOOK.

Celluloid San Francisco combines two of my loves-SF and films. This is a brand new way to see the City on the Bay...Van Buskirk and Shank are modern historians. They know the territory and share it. I can only imagine how many hours went into researching the movie locations. The many black and white photos are a plus...and a trip down memory lane for this reader...unexpected gifts are the three sections on areas around SF. This is a travel book that's found its way into my hands and into my luggage just prior to my Spring trip southward. For sure it's a must have.

I read this book with great interest as a SF resident. Mr. Van Buskirk and Mr. Shank certainly did their homework. Their knowledge of Bay Area movies is fantastic, and their delivery by geography is right on.

This book is a fun read and also seems like it would be a great travel guide. The maps are easy to read and there are tons of photos. If you're planning a trip to San Francisco make room in your suitcase for this book. If you can't make it to the City By The Bay, this book can tell you what films to rent so you can take a "virtual tour." The text is smart and the research is thorough. I highly reccommend this book.

"Celluloid San Francisco" is a rather exhaustive guide to movie locations around San Francisco. In fact, for my purposes as a tourist visiting the Bay Area, it was a bit too overstuffed to be easy to use. It is quite crammed with sites used in obscure B-movies (and, I daresay, C-movies) and for random scenes in not especially memorable TV shows. A lot of the entries are also rather repetitive and have the feel of being simply padding.

As a "Vertigo" fan, I found "Footsteps In The Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco" a lot more useful and much better written, though it was limited to Hitchcock movies, so I must admit that I had to turn to "Celluloid San Francisco" to find the sites of Bacall's art deco apartment from "Dark Passage" and Mel Brooks' glass elevator ride in "High Anxiety."

Anyone who loves anything in the SF Bay Area and in the movies will have a feast with Celluloid San Francisco. I was instantly charmed by the slick title, the elegant cover, the generous amount of photos, movie posters and other evocative details of illustration. Then I checked the index and found my favorite SF movie, Vertigo, represented 17 times. The authors are obviously serious about their passion. The research alone is impressive (an understatement), but there is much more. There is good writing, delivered in small, appetizing bites, there is a sharp eye for detail, mixed with playful irony. The love for SF as a place of culture and adventure jumps off the pages like bubbles of champaign. If you think I am making this up, go to page 94-95, entry no 50: The Fairmont Hotel, and learn that this is where Hitchcock stayed while shooting Vertigo, where "Orson Welles unexpectantly encountered William Randolph Hearst, the model for Citizen Kane's megalomaniacal character" in the elevator, where Tony Bennett first sang "I Left My Heart in San Francisco", where Marlene Dietrich......

But don't believe me -- see for yourself.

Renate Stendhal, author of "Gertrude Stein in Words and Pictures"

I love San Francisco, but, as a recent arrival to the area, I have soon discovered that filming here seems to be a thing of the past and there is hardly any work to be found in the motion picture industry. "Trauma", the only TV series filming here was cancelled by NBC, although a few remaining episodes were in production as of a few weeks ago. Most of the commercials, with a couple of exceptions, seem to be ultra low budgets of the "Hi, I am so and so of So and So Appliance" variety. As a Director of Photography coming from San Juan/Miami, I did more jobs for national brands and independent films than I expect I'll ever be doing here. Nevertheless, this book should be interesting to see what it was like, then have a good cry. What happened?.

In "The Other Sister"...1998...Juliette Lewis, Jim says the church in the final wedding scene is St. Peter and Paul. Wrong! The church used is St. Francis of Assisi on Vallejo.

Omitted two movies with scenes of San Francisco:

...The Gathering of Eagles...1963...Rock Hudson

...The Killer Elite...1975...James Caan

While these items are not major, a guide should be complete and thoroughly researched. I feel that Mr. Van Buskirk gets a B- for this guide and a two star rating.

San Francisco has a timeless beauty that shines through in this beautiful book. It's no wonder so many great films have chosen this city as their backdrop, with it's amazing architecture, history and natural beauty. Van Buskirk's book celebrates this beauty and offers some fascinating inside information on the films that were shot there. Reading through the book gives a chance to revisit some of these classic films. Highly recommended.