Friday, September 25, 2015

Friday's Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books: More Covers This Week - Falling To Death




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Falling out a window or off a roof or high ledge or wherever, as seen on the covers of vintage mysteries. Not a great way to die, but the covers are startlingly eye-catching - don't you think?

I've read four of these, but please don't ask me to tell you what they're about. The only one I remember is THE HIGH WINDOW by Raymond Chandler which was turned into the movie, THE BRASHER DOUBLOON starring George Montgomery as a very dapper Philip Marlowe. I will add this: I tried watching THE BRASHER DOUBLOON on youtube the other day and I found the film unwatchable - which surprised meI had once liked and had good memories of this from having seen it on early television years ago. So, memories fail, tastes change. No big surprise there, I guess.

Physically, George Montgomery makes a fine Marlowe but I hadn't realized just how much sleaze had worked its way into his demeanor - Marlow is many things, but sleazy he ain't. And Nancy Guild is cringe-inducing. She is another of those unlikable Chandler 'heroines' whose behavior is inexplicable, but she does it with so little style (in a pitiful attempt to ape Lauren Bacall, I suppose). Well, okay, I love Florence Bates, but not here. This is a film better left unviewed, its details unremembered.

The book isn't bad at all. Read that instead.

It's Friday, so don't forget to check in at author Patricia Abbott's blog, Pattinase, to see what forgotten or overlooked books other bloggers are talking about today. 

26 comments:

  1. I love the Curtiss cover (very MAD MEN) - I am totally confused about the William Irish (Cornell Woolrich) book - Is it a noivel? I have not come across it under either title. Thanks for that Yvette, I really will have to see if I can track it down

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    1. It has an alternate title, Sergio - SOMEBODY ON THE PHONE (small type, I don't know if you saw it). Didn't realize Irish was a pen name, but then I didn't recognize the name at all. The cover just fit my thesis. Ha.

      Yes, I see what you mean about the Curtiss cover. Good catch. :)

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  2. I have enjoyed all of those authors. I loved the comedy in the Granby books by Francis Beeding but can no longer find them.

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    1. They are very difficult to find. I don't think I've ever read any Beeding. Even John Dickson Carr is hard to find - my library has NO copies of his books. But old paperbacks are easy enough to come by online. But really, you'd think the library would have some.

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  3. You post about the most interesting topics! Especially about some of the cover illustrations. I don't know how you find all the covers to support your subject. "Defenestration" - I love the word!

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    1. Thanks, Joan. I am a person with quirky tastes. 'Defenestration' is a great word but didn't use it because two of the covers are not of people falling out of windows - strictly speaking. :)

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  4. Kind of macabre for your blog, Yvette! Even I wouldn't have dreamed up a tribute to defenestration and falling from heights. ;^) The guy in the last one looks like he's having a blast instead of being scared he's about to die. Almost like he's bungee jumping. But without the cord.

    The Helen Reilly book is a very good mystery novel and has fashion design as a background. I reviewed it on my blog a while ago. THE HIGH WINDOW has some of Chandler's best writing and is overlooked as one of his better books, IMO. I've read both Carrs, owned and sold a copy of the John Newton Chance book without ever reading it, and have never heard of David Gammon. I don't think it has anything to do with the movie series about the Falcon starring Tom Conway and his brother George Sanders.

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    1. As I mentioned to Joan, 'defenestration' is not strictly accurate here, John. Two of the people don't seem to be falling from windows at all. Did you really think this macabre? Hmmm. Yeah, you're probably right. :) I'd like to get my hands on the Helen Reilly book as well as the Stuart Palmer - have you read that one?

      I enjoyed THE HIGH WINDOW and always wondered why no one talks about it much. I've never heard of David Gammon either - but then that's not so unusual for me.

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  5. I find all movies on YouTube to be unwatchable. It's the medium, I think. A television, even an old B&W one, would be better. Plus Montgomery was a terrible as Marlowe. I like the book though.

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    1. The funny thing is, Richard, that I had good memories of the movie from long ago when I watched it on an old black and white TV. I shouldn't have tried to watch it again. Youtube is not my go=to for movie watching unless I don't want to pay any money and can't find the thing anywhere else. In some cases it's better than nothing. But not by much.

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  6. Yvette,

    I thought I knew all of the Lord Peter mysteries, but I never heard of _Suspicious Characters_. I wonder if the name was changed for publication in the US.

    Ah, I just did a search. The original title was _5 Red Herrings_ but was changed for its first publication in the US to _Suspicious Characters_. I guess later editions got the original title. I also recognize, now that I've got the familiar title, what the cover has to do with the book.

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    1. I'd never heard of it either, Fred, until I checked too. It's SO confusing when they change titles. But I do like watching for the overseas covers and the USA covers. Maybe I should do a post on that subject. :)

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    2. Yvette,

      Yes, I've been fooled a number of times that way--a new book by a favorite author only to discover that it's not a new book, but a new title, and usually after I've purchased the book!

      That would be an interesting but time-consuming project, I should think.

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  7. These covers are incredible and dramatic. They tell a story. More interesting than many of today's covers with just fonts or a simple design.

    I wonder if there is a museum somewhere with book covers displayed. These would make good displays.

    I used to be able to tell if I wanted to read a book or not by its cover -- the level of brutality shown, but now I can't tell anything. Just start reading and see if the violence goes over the top or not.

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    1. Kathy, I wish there were a museum for book covers. But in a way you can make your own museum on Pinterest. That's what I've done. I have a whole board devoted to vintage mysteries and their covers. Here's the link.
      https://www.pinterest.com/yvettespaintbox/a-vintage-mystery/

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  8. Yvette, these are the kind of covers I look for when I visit book exhibitions. Frankly, I haven't been all that lucky.

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    1. Well, hope springs eternal, Prashant. You never know where or when you'll stumble across one of these gems.

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  9. Dear Yvette,

    I enjoyed studying these covers because they show how different illustrators solve the challenge of evoking the sensation of falling. It looks as though the artist of the last cover used someone crawling across the floor as his reference, while the most successful (for me, anyway) is the image used in So Dies the Dreamer. That's the one that makes my hands go slightly sweaty!

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    1. Hi, Mark - You're right - that last cover DOES look like someone crawling across a floor. :) SO DIES THE DREAMER makes me uneasy as well, primarily, I suppose, because of the perspective. My favorites, aesthetic-wise, are THE EMERALD CLASP and MEET THE FALCON.

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  10. I have a fear of heights and the best covers here are giving me "high anxiety," as Mel Brooks titled one of his movies.

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    1. Oh, HIGH ANXIETY. I'd forgotten that. Ha. Remember the bus full of musicians?

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  11. Well, you've done it again, Yvette - you've found a Stuart Palmer book aboug Hildegarde Withers that hadn't been on my radar at all. So now "Four Lost Ladies" is sitting on my Kindle - to be read, I suspect, during the winter months. Sigh. Mount TBR never recedes, does it?

    Oh, and who in the world is that on the cover of Carr's "The Case of the Constant Suicides"? Not the guy falling from the tower (which at least does happen in the book) - I mean the...er...young lady mostly wearing a red dress that probably was not a good choice for a chilly Scottish night. Did I miss her somehow in the book?

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    1. You found it for your Kindle? Where? Oh, the cover of the Constant Suicides is misleading. But then so is the title. Since if I'm remembering correcting. there was only one suide - right? Or maybe just barely two. Hardly 'constant' suicides. Am I being picky?

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  12. This should take you to the Amazon page: http://amzn.to/1jInIik

    As for the constant suicides, I seem to recall that both "constant" and "suicides" were somewhat misleading...

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    1. Thanks, Les. Yeah, very misleading I thought. I expected a totally different story.

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    2. Just picked up my copy, Les. Good price. Thanks, again. :)

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