The Actor's Book of Movie Monologues (Paperback)

~ Marisa Smith (Editor), Amy Schewel (Editor)
Key Phrases: continuity script, New York, Monologue One, Monologue Two (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A long-awaited and much-needed collection of long and short monologues for alltypes, taken from great films.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics) (December 2, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 014009475X
• ISBN-13: 978-0140094756
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #777,004 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars It was ok but lacked variety, October 2, 1998

By A Customer

The books monologues were aimed at people in there 30's and 40's. I was hoping they would be aimed at my age group which is the 20's and 30's. Maybe some day I will find something that suits me.

3.0 out of 5 stars My thoughts, June 29, 2006

By	B. Isham - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is a pretty good book. I was looking for a contemporary monologue and I wish it had a little bit more selection of those.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it!, December 3, 2002

By	D. Black "Paike" (NOVA, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Actor's Book of Movie Monologues (School & Library Binding)

I'm the second half of a 2-person book club, and we selected this book because we wanted to read something different. After many "hits" in our readings, this one was a big miss.

This is definitely a book geared toward actors as the title says. It's not for casual reading. But, even as a source of audition monologues, this book comes across as repetitive, vague, and one-dimensional.

The selection of movies starts in the 1930 and goes through many famous and infamous movies, which is great - a wide range. But it failed to give a diversity of characters, especially female characters, many of whom were the typical down-on-her-luck lasses. And the problem with the male characters selected is the demographic...white WASPs.

The emotional range doesn't get too far beyond the depressed and the depressing, which is useless to a character who's auditioning for a comedy and wants to show the producers and director that they are made for this part.

Comedy was rare, the monologue selections redundant (except for the classics like "To Kill a Mockingbird"), and the plot descriptions were vague at best. Rarely were the authors able to give a sufficient set-up of the plot and characterization for the monologues. It helped if the reader had seen the movie and understood the character's motivation and the plot, but the author's seem frightened to give away endings, when that isn't the point of their work.

Our book club gave this a rating of 3 out of 10, but here, that translates to a 1 star.

Don't waste your money...rent a movie instead.