Vintage Sand Episode 32: The Vintage Sand Guide to Our Favorite Film Books

Vintage Sand

We know what you’re thinking. How can those Vintage Sand guys be so durned knowledgeable about film and yet still maintain their humility? Well, of course the three of us have seen way too many films over the years, but the truth is that so much of what has shaped our lives as filmgoers has come from reading some of the great books written about film by filmmakers, great critics, and film historians. At Vintage Sand, we’ve never claimed any expertise in film as such. We have tried simply to share our enthusiasm in the hope of opening doors for our listeners regarding our favorite films and perhaps some different and useful ways to watch them. So, instead of trying to take you to school this time, we’re taking you to the library. The titles we discuss in this episode, as mentioned above, do what film studies does best – open new doors. You’ll find that the books on our list are pretty much free of jargon (the use of the word “liminality” is expressly forbidden), as well as tell-all gossip. For the sake of time and sanity, we’ve omitted fictional works about Hollywood and the process of making movies; West’s The Day of the Locust, Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon, and Terry Southern’s Blue Movie, are some examples that are worth your time along those lines. So dig up your library cards, clean your glasses and come along with us to see why names like David Thomson and Donald Spoto are as important to our lives as film fanatics as names like Kubrick or Hitchcock.