Customer Reviews

B Western Actors Encyclopedia: Facts, Photos and Filmographies for More Than 250 Familiar Faces

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

 

 

A quote from a review reprinted above characterizes this disappointing book as "superbly researched." The reviewer must not be all that familiar with B-Westerns to have come to that bizarre conclusion. In fact, B Western Actors Encyclopedia doesn't seem to have been researched at all. And not only that, author Holland could hardly have used the volumes he quotes in his bibliography and still have managed to misspell the names of important genre director Spencer Gordon Bennet and popular heroine Lucile Browne. (The latter, almost needless to say, becomes Lucille Brown). Nitpicking? I don't think so. This, after all, is a volume that calls itself an encyclopedia. As a matter of fact, most fans of the genre will find themselves in the unusual situation of knowing more about the subject matter than the author. Someone once published a book debunking a recent biography of Errol Flynn. To compile a list of errors and omissions in B WESTERN ACTORS ENCYCLOPEDIA would probably prove just as exhausting. My one star is for McFarland's handsome design and several quite wonderful stills.

Ted Holland's B Western Actors Encyclopedia is the best book of it's kind I've read. It is full of info on actors and actress of bygone years. A great reference book. A must have for all western fans. John R. Tracy

In theory a book like this would be awesome, but when you get someone who clearly has not done much in depth research and has no idea on how to present his poorly researched data you get a mess.

The most glaring misinformation I found indicated that John Wayne played Singin' Sandy Saunders in numerous westerns. Now this wouldn't be too bad if this was the first book of any kind with info on John Wayne's B Westerns but seeing as how several other books printed well before this have the correct information it's inexcusable.

The other things that irk me, is how the filmography is presented. It's very hard to read it, as it's presented as almost as more of a sentence than any type of list. For instance (Let's just make a pretend listing)

Ben Cutter
(1935) Thunder Riders of the Golden West, The Phantom of the Golden Spitoon, A Wronged Hero and a big fight and a last shootout, (1936) Cattlemen vs the wild cupcakes, Strawberry Shortcake takes on Strawberry Rustlers, and the no plot but at least Gabby is here.

And the listings are broken up into two separate sections for those who started out as a hero then switched over to sidekick status. So it makes for a very incoherent book.

I have not read this book; however, am completely satisfied with my choice as a gift for my husband. He really enjoys this book and has spent many hours researching facts on all the western actors that he enjoyed watching in the past.