Epic Films: Casts, Credits and Commentary on Over 350 Historical Spectacle Movies, Second Edition [Hardcover]

Gary A. Smith (Author), Stephen Papich (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 2004 | ISBN-10: 0786415304 | ISBN-13: 978-0786415304 | Edition: 2 Sub

"Epic" films, those concerned with monumental events and larger-than-life characters, cover the period from the Creation to the A.D. 1200s and have been churned out by Hollywood and overseas studios since the dawn of filmmaking. Arguably the master of the genre, Cecil B. DeMille hit upon the perfect mixture of sex, splendor, and the sacred to lure audiences to his epic productions.

Each of the 355 alphabetically arranged entries in this book includes casts and credits, plot synopsis, and narratives on the making of the films. This second addition is accompanied by all new photographs.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Epic films continue to delight and impress audiences. As early as 1907, the year of the first version of Ben-Hur, large-scale historical movies were being produced. Smith, a frequent film reviewer, describes 355 epics in this volume, starting with Judith of Bethulia (1914) and ending with the 2000 Oscar-winning Gladiator. This second edition has about 50 percent more entries, and all commentary is based on viewing rather than occasional recollection, as in the first edition.

Most of the films are from the U.S and Italy. Smith limits his scope to "the period of time from the creation to the thirteenth century--from cavemen to the Crusades." Thus, the reader will not find Gone with the Wind in these pages. The work is not exhaustive; television productions are few and not as extensively treated. Although a few comic epics are included, such as The Three Stooges Meet Hercules, the Monty Python classics Life of Brian and The Holy Grail as well as Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part 1 are omitted.

Smith's introduction provides an objective and encompassing history of epics, noting the interplay between film and TV. Each alphabetically arranged entry ranges from a quarter-page to two pages in length. The first paragraph lists the production credits (producer, director, crew, cast), followed by a plot summary. About a fifth of the entries give production history, editorial commentary, and snippets from movie reviews. Black-and-white photos complement the text on almost every page. Twenty other films are credited in the first appendix (with no explanation for why they are given this treatment), and 21 more epics that were not completed are listed in the second appendix. A bibliography and index complete the volume. It should be noted that the index of titles and names is incomplete and not always accurate. A chronological list of films, a list by country, and a list by topic (e.g., King Arthur, prehistoric, etc.) would have been useful.

Although the coverage is not complete, this volume provides a good introduction to the mainstream genre. Public, academic, and high-school libraries may consider this reference as a pleasant addition to their film collections. RBB
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"one of the few reference works on this subject" -- ARBA

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company; 2 Sub edition (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786415304
• ISBN-13: 978-0786415304
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,267,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars Most of what you wanted to know about historical epics., August 21, 2011

By 

Steven Daedalus "Steve" (Deming, NM USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Epic Films: Casts, Credits and Commentary on More Than 350 Historical Spectacle Movies, 2d ed. (Paperback)

Gary Allen Smith should get some sort of medal for having sat through and taken notes on 355 historical epics, of which 222 appeared in the first edition. I mean, "Ben Hur", okay. But ten times as many "Ursus in the Valley of the Lions," starring Ed Fury as Ursus and Alberto Lupo as Ayak? That took what might aptly be called "coraggio."
Holy Exclamation, they turned out a lot of garbage over the years!

The films are arranged alphabetically and the main cast and crew are listed for each. The reviews themselves, sometimes opinionated and sometimes more descriptive than anything else, occupy about half a page apiece, which is enough for most films. Just the right amount of space is given to photos from each film.

It's well written. The prose is clear and free of heady aesthetic theory. You don't need to have read Jacques Derrida or Foucault or Levi-Strauss to understand what Smith is getting at -- and thank heaven for small favors.

Smith's opinions are pretty candid, and I admire the work for that. He's not a snob. If some piece of 1959 Italian junk starring some muscleman as a Roman God is lousy, he tells us what it lacks to make it better. He doesn't dismiss it out of hand. I would, but he doesn't. Sometimes he puts his finger on something in a movie that's been bothering me too but that I've never been able to put a name to. He did it, for instance, with "Alexander the Great," the one with Frederick March as Philip the Barbarian and Richard Burton as Alexander. "Robert Rossen's 'Alexander the Great' is both literate and lavish; what it isn't is lively. . . . This biography of the youthful Greek warrior is told with restraint, a quality which Richard Burton would have done well to some degree in his characterization of the title role. Instead he rants, raves, and chews the beautiful Spanish scenery." Smith isn't always that nasty. The reviews are balanced for the most part, and in the case of "Alexander" he goes on to point out its virtues too.

It's not the kind of book you'll read from beginning to end. It's the kind you dabble in during quiet moments or during TV commercials, skipping around from page to page, checking on your favorites, chuckling over the manifestly absurd.

Kind of fun, overall. And nice to keep at hand in case one shows up on the tube. Many of them are so obscure that I doubt they ever will. And most of THOSE deserve that obscurity.