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New: Blood 'n' Thunder's Cliffhanger Classics 2
Topic Started: Jun 30 2017, 01:58 PM (779 Views)
riddlerider
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Hey, gang, I'm now offering Blood 'n' Thunder's Cliffhanger Classics, Volume 2. A followup to one of Murania Press's best-selling titles, it covers a whole bunch o' serials we all love. Unlike the first book, which exclusively featured essays originally published in Blood 'n' Thunder, this volume has a great deal of all-new material (as well as additions to some of the previously published articles). Fully one-third of the essays have never before seen print.

You can read more about the book's contents, and order your own copy, by clicking on this link:

http://muraniapress.com/book/blood-n-thunders-cliffhanger-classics-volume-2/

The $24.95 price tag includes shipping to domestic U.S. buyers only. (Sorry, Bats!) Front-cover scan attached below.
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Tal Chotali
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I picked up Ed's "Blood 'n' Thunder's Cliffhanger Classics 2" as an early birthday present to myself and I was glad I made the purchase. It is a wonderful companion to his first edition and is extremely entertaining. His extensive research into these films is very evident and it is refreshing to be able to pick this latest volume up and know that you are reading facts and Ed's well thought out opinions. I hope the rest of my fellow members of the Balcony have a chance to enjoy this!
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Pa Stark
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I just ordered both volumes of Cliffhanger Classics.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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Steve Colt
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It took me only a couple of days to finish this, it was very good. As expected, there is a lot of detail and original research. But what makes it a good read is the clear, comprehensive writing style. There is a lot of inside information about the making of these movies here and it is presented in a way that is easy enough to understand, but also economical in terms of word count. There is so much information in the Spy Smasher chapter, it probably could have been decompressed into a short book of its own!

Will there be a volume 3?
Hey, wait for me!
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The Batman
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Ed's writing style, coupled with his meticulous research, always make his publications a pleasure to read. And now Vol. 2 is available on Amazon North, allowing me to pick it up for only $30 Cdn, and avoid brutal postage charges if I ordered from Ed direct (sorry, Ed!).

However, I do recommend any U.S. based Balconeers to order from Ed directly, as that gives him the lion's share of the revenue on the sale, and you get free shipping, just like ordering from Amazon.

I haven't even read Vol. 2 yet, and I second the call for a Vol. 3.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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riddlerider
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Much thanks to previous posters for their kind words. I'm happy with the book, although no matter how many times I proofread these things I always manage to catch some minor mistakes and examples of sloppy writing after they go to press.

As it happens, Cliffhanger Classics Volume Two has gotten off to a much slower start, sales-wise, than Volume One. I can't explain this, especially since a full third of the book is newly written material, whereas the first book was made up entirely of articles reprinted from Blood 'n' Thunder.

I'm flattered by any interest in a potential third volume, and there's no doubt I could write a follow-up from unused research and interviews. I came very close to adding an essay on the two Nyokas, for example, but decided against it because I had already included several essays on jungle serials. For that same reason I omitted an article on Universal's Jungle Queen, based partly on my interviews with cast members Lois Collier and Eddie Quillan. I also came close to writing a piece on the Columbia Green Archer that would have had quotes from cast members Victor Jory and Dorothy Fay. (Iris Meredith having flatly refused to discuss that serial with me for reasons I've still never figured out.) And the many hours I spent in 1992 with serial writer Barry Shipman elicited a ton of info on a dozen or more Thirties Republics. Ditto for my time with Bill Witney, Yakima Canutt, et al. So if I don't do a third volume it won't be for lack of material. I just need to focus my efforts on things that most effectively use my time, which is increasingly precious.

Long story short, the way to guarantee a third volume is to help me sell the second. Favorable reviews on Amazon — and with one or two exceptions my books always get five-star reviews, for which I'm both grateful and flattered — really help, even if they're brief reviews like Tal's and Steve Colt's. The Batman has filed some glowing reviews of my books on Amazon in the past, and I hope he'll find CC 2 equally worthy.
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riddlerider
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Steve Colt
Aug 14 2017, 04:37 AM
There is so much information in the Spy Smasher chapter, it probably could have been decompressed into a short book of its own!

I'm really proud of that piece, which took a lot of work. To the best of my knowledge, nobody else has ever covered the making of a serial in that chronological manner, with that much detail. And yet, as many times as I added things to that essay, I still managed to leave out a long paragraph mentioning Carey Loftin's doubling of Spy Smasher in the motorcycle scenes and in a brief fight outside the brick factory.
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The Batman
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riddlerider
Aug 15 2017, 11:49 AM
(Iris Meredith having flatly refused to discuss that serial with me for reasons I've still never figured out.)


This. This is the kind of thing that other serial historians can't offer. Please bring on Vol. 3.

And I feel confident that Vol. 2 will earn its glowing review, as your previous books have. I just types what I like and feel others should check out.

Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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Pa Stark
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riddlerider
Aug 15 2017, 11:49 AM

I also came close to writing a piece on the Columbia Green Archer that would have had quotes from cast members Victor Jory and Dorothy Fay. (Iris Meredith having flatly refused to discuss that serial with me for reasons I've still never figured out.)
I screened chapter one of THE SHADOW with Victor Jory, and he said that James Horne was nuts. Someone I used to know was friends with Nell O'Day, the heroine of Horne's last serial, PERILS OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED. She told him that when they were on location, Horne wouldn't just tell the cast what he wanted, he would run up a hill yelling instructions, then run back down the hill. She said after finishing a serial, he would go to a sanitarium to recuperate.
Honest and Lovable Pa Stark
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riddlerider
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Pa Stark
Aug 15 2017, 07:24 PM
I screened chapter one of THE SHADOW with Victor Jory, and he said that James Horne was nuts. Someone I used to know was friends with Nell O'Day, the heroine of Horne's last serial, PERILS OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED. She told him that when they were on location, Horne wouldn't just tell the cast what he wanted, he would run up a hill yelling instructions, then run back down the hill. She said after finishing a serial, he would go to a sanitarium to recuperate.

Jory was rather more diplomatic in describing Horne to me, although that might have been because I was taping our interview. He indicated that Horne pretty much stuck to the script while directing The Shadow, but added and revised scenes for The Green Archer, which explains why he got screen credit as one of the writers.

I too have a friend who was quite close to Nell O'Day, as a result I spent lots of time with her at the 1984 San Francisco Cinecon, at which she was one of the guest stars. And yet, as much as we discussed her career — especially the Johnny Mack Brown Westerns she appeared in — it never occurred to me to ask her about Perils of the Royal Mounted. A regrettable lapse on my behalf.
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The Batman
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I'm a fan of the Horne serials, RR, has there ever been a biography written on the man?


Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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riddlerider
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The Batman
Aug 16 2017, 07:33 AM
I'm a fan of the Horne serials, RR, has there ever been a biography written on the man?



No, and even if one could be properly researched I doubt there would be more than a few dozen people who'd buy it.

I know this, though: He's a fascinating character, a true industry pioneer, whom most so-called film historians blithely dismiss as a comedy director who happened to helm some serials at the end of his career. There was a lot more to Horne than the Hal Roach films for which he's primarily known. He started working for Kalem at the tail end of the nickelodeon era and directed many of that company's two-reel Western and melodrama series films between 1915 and 1917: The Girl Detective, The Social Pirates, Stingaree, and The American Girl. Kalem was big on series with continuing characters but for some reason never produced a real serial. But the few installments of these series that survive are well made and have plenty of action.

When Kalem went belly-up, Horne directed four serials in a row, all of them well regarded at that time and a couple of them blockbuster hits: Hands Up (1918, Ruth Roland's first for Pathé), Bull's Eye (1918 Universal, Eddie Polo's first starring serial), The Midnight Man (1919 Universal, starring prizefighter "Gentleman Jim" Corbett), and The Third Eye (1920 Pathé, one of Warner Oland's last serials). He didn't direct a single comedy until 1920 or 1921, and by that time he'd already been behind the megaphone on almost 100 films. He continued to direct action melodramas well into the Twenties (including several Richard Talmadge vehicles).

Horne started working for Roach in 1925, but the film that seems to have cemented his reputation as a comedy director was The Cruise of the Jasper B (1926), produced by Cecil B. DeMille as a vehicle for Rod La Rocque.

Horne's tenure with Roach ended with one of his best films, Way Out West (1937). After that he was tapped by Jack Fier to co-direct The Spider's Web (1938) with Ray Taylor. From then on he made nothing but serials. Some people have written that the Horne-directed Columbias produced by Larry Darmour, beginning with The Shadow, are goofy because he was "primarily a comedy director." But it's obvious they were made that way deliberately, not because Horne didn't know his way around melodramatic serial action. Certainly The Spider's Web and Flying G-Men aren't in the same vein as The Green Archer and The Iron Claw.
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The Batman
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Thanks, RR, too bad there's no book, but appreciate the info. I haven't seen anything beyond Horne's serials, yet, but I enjoyed all the ones I have seen so far and find them refreshing entries in the serial cannon.


Always be yourself! Unless you can be Batman...then always be Batman!
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Fantomas
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James Horne Jr was sort of famous too:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/business/media/25horne.html
"For life is short, but death is long."
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riddlerider
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I almost always run a holiday-weekend sale over at the Murania Press site. For Labor Day Weekend I'm offering both volumes of Blood 'n' Thunder's Cliffhanger Classics for a total of $39.95, shipping included to buyers in the continental U.S. As each book lists for $24.95, that's a 20 percent discount. You can order it with a couple mouse clicks here:

http://muraniapress.com/book/labor-day-weekend-both-volumes-of-cliffhanger-classics/

Of course, if you only need Volume Two, well, you can get it here:

http://muraniapress.com/book/blood-n-thunders-cliffhanger-classics-volume-2/

The Amazon reviews are starting to come in, a couple of them contributed by Balconeers (who were extremely generous in their praise). Thus far Volume Two has received nothing but five-star reviews, mirroring the reception given Volume One.

Be advised that the sale ends at 11:59 pm on Monday night.
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