It was the scream—and the shower scene—heard ’round the world. Just 40 minutes into Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, we watch—horrified but rapt—as Marion Crane (played by Janet Leigh) is stabbed to death in the shower stall of the now infamous Bates Hotel. At first we think Norman Bates’ mentally deranged mother is the murderer, but we come to realize that there is no Mrs. Bates—or no living Mrs. Bates—and that Norman himself (played pitch-perfectly by Anthony Perkins) is the true psycho.

Just how Hitchcock created his masterpiece—and what it did to change the landscape of American filmmaking and audience perception in the 1960s and beyond—is the subject of film critic David Thomson’s authoritative The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder. Thomson’s detailed and insightful primer is the perfect book for Hitchcock aficionados and general film fans alike.

The eyes have it Mother’s birthday? Nephew’s graduation? Second cousin twice removed’s wedding? If you need help selecting a gift for any occasion, you’ve come to the right place. What gift is always the right color, the right size, and the right price? Why, books, of course! Do you know someone who is so trendy that when they go shopping, they think their clothes are out of style before they can get them to the cash register? Laugh and learn with Holly Brubach’s A Dedicated Follower of Fashion (Phaidon, $29.95, 071483887X). A collection of 27 essays published during the past two decades, Brubach’s writings offer insight on trends, designers, models, and photographers. There are chapters dedicated to men, shoes, visionaries, and plus-sizes. Luckily, the photographs featured were carefully selected, so some of fashion’s . . . er, more outrageous phases are kept within the text. It is a witty, educated observation that isn’t muddled into tedium or grandiosity. Brubach takes a scenic route from Paris to New York, with plenty of stops along the way.

One hundred and five years ago, a subtitle reading An Illustrated Monthly was added to the masthead of National Geographic. Since then, photographs featured in the magazine have told stories that reflect our world and the times in which we live. Beginning with those early photographs, six authors have compiled an era-by-era account of the 20th century in National Geographic Photographs: The Milestones (National Geographic Society, $50, 0792275209). Often working in rigorous or rudimentary settings, many of the photographers featured are true pioneers of photojournalism. Look on the wedding portrait of a late 19th-century Zulu couple; observe the conditions of an early 20th-century Mexican cigarette factory; visit Lappland, New York, the Arctic, and scores of other places and events that were hallmarks of the past century. Very often, photographers would return to a previous site with mixed results; progress is evident in many of these revisits, while other photographs reflect areas that remain untouched by time.

If breathtaking scenery and colorful history excites someone on your gift list, you can’t do much better than Scotland. Checkmark Books has captured the majesty and mystery of this gorgeous country in Heritage of Scotland: A Cultural History of Scotland and Its People ($29.95, 06003552609). Author Nathaniel Harris’s enormous undertaking covers everything from Scotland’s landscape to its literary offerings. Beautiful artwork and photographs are featured alongside an abundance of information about Scottish people and their traditions. And yes, clans, kilts, and bagpipes are included, but readers will soon discover there is so much more! Visit the Highland Games, look at priceless works of art, learn the complex linguistic history of the Scottish people, observe the country’s most famous structures, many dating back to prehistoric times. Heritage of Scotland is a great item for history buffs and anyone with Scottish roots.

It’s a classic dilemma: You’re standing in the video store, thinking, What’s that movie from the 1940s, the one where John Wayne plays a naval officer and has an affair with a nurse, played by Donna Reed? This dilemma is easily resolved with VideoHound’s War Movies: Classic Conflict on Film. Mike Mayo has compiled and arranged over 200 war movies according to the war depicted. This guide includes many documentaries and overlooked films, like The Fighting Sullivans and Come and See. There are sidebars profiling famous actors, listings of full movie credits, and 200 photographs to peruse. Mayo provides commentary and synopsis for each film, mentioning the controversies and histories surrounding some of Hollywood’s most powerful movies. Amid trivia and quotes, Mayo is kind enough to include a See Also section for each film, for moviewatchers who are interested in other films that are similar in content, direction, or have the same stars . . . just in case your first choice has been rented out!

Starry, starry night by Pat H. Broeske ‘Tis the season for show business awards shows, which, collectively, seem to honor every possible subject and category. But try as everyone might, there is no topping the granddaddy of awards shows the one that has spanned seven decades and continues to generate breathless guessing games. But if the Academy Awards are at the heart of the movie industry’s biggest, most anticipated night of the year which this year comes on March 21 they are not the driving force behind movie making. Money is.

In The Gross: The Hits, the Flops The Summer That Ate Hollywood (St. Martin’s Press, $24.95, 0312198949), Peter Bart explores the hows, the whys, and the surprises of the summer 1998 box office derby. As the editor-in-chief for Variety and Daily Variety, Bart had access to the executives and filmmakers behind a disparate slate, including the effects extravaganzas Godzilla and Armageddon, the paranoid character study The Truman Show, and that goofy exercise in raunchy, There’s Something About Mary. From the genesis of the various films (inspiration for the Bruce Willis character in Armageddon was real-life firefighting legend, Red Adair), to their development (too many were written by committee ), to the final product (following a test screening, The Avengers went through a major reworking), and on through their journey at the box office, The Gross looks at the way big business has impacted the industry, which has itself become a big business.

Along the way, Bart delivers some enticing cameo appearances. In fact, given its roster of names stars, filmmakers, power-brokers and more it is curious that this book does not have an index, for some of its liveliest material concerns the names behind the titles. In recalling a meeting with Steven Spielberg, a sceenwriter is quoted as saying, He’s like a Mafia boss in that he subtly flaunts his power. Indeed, while talking about a script particular, Spielberg said, We should ask the President that question. He’s my house guest next weekend. Even the rich and famous can’t resist name-dropping.

The rich and famous, as well as the artistes, have figured prominently in the saga of the Oscars. The predictably unpredictable awards race has honored both the obscure performer and the superstar, art house titles, and epics. In that respect, the lavish 70 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards (Abbeville Press, $65, 0789204843) reflects society, as well as the various film years.

Written by Robert Osborne, longtime columnist for the Hollywood Reporter, this newly revised and expanded edition has as much appeal to the movie buff as to the scholar. The tone may be ultra-respectful after all, this is the authorized account of Oscar but the detailed year-by-year summations are rife with facts and juicy trivia. Just in time for this year’s Oscar night parties, Dining with the Stars (Pocket, $22, 0671017497) serves up all kinds of tasty possibilities. Here’s one possible menu: Halle Berry’s Almond-Berry Brie Appetizer, Shirley MacLaine’s Favorite Chicken Soup, Joanne Woodward’s Sole Cabernet, and, for dessert, Dolly Parton’s, uh, Stack Pie. More than one hundred celebrities share their favorite recipes, knowing that a portion of the book’s net proceeds will benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles. Whether they earn awards/money, many movies contain special gags or references some obvious, many not. Bill Givens, who has chronicled blunders via a series of books about film flubs, now goes after Reel Gags: Jokes, Sight Gags, and Directors’ Tricks from Your Favorite Films. Did you know that the first one to be eaten by a T-Rex in Jurassic Park was one of the movie’s screenwriters? Now you do.

Starry, starry night by Pat H. Broeske ‘Tis the season for show business awards shows, which, collectively, seem to honor every possible subject and category. But try as everyone might, there is no topping the granddaddy of awards shows the one that has spanned seven decades and continues to generate breathless guessing games. But if the Academy Awards are at the heart of the movie industry’s biggest, most anticipated night of the year which this year comes on March 21 they are not the driving force behind movie making. Money is.

In The Gross: The Hits, the Flops The Summer That Ate Hollywood (St. Martin’s Press, $24.95, 0312198949), Peter Bart explores the hows, the whys, and the surprises of the summer 1998 box office derby. As the editor-in-chief for Variety and Daily Variety, Bart had access to the executives and filmmakers behind a disparate slate, including the effects extravaganzas Godzilla and Armageddon, the paranoid character study The Truman Show, and that goofy exercise in raunchy, There’s Something About Mary. From the genesis of the various films (inspiration for the Bruce Willis character in Armageddon was real-life firefighting legend, Red Adair), to their development (too many were written by committee ), to the final product (following a test screening, The Avengers went through a major reworking), and on through their journey at the box office, The Gross looks at the way big business has impacted the industry, which has itself become a big business.

Along the way, Bart delivers some enticing cameo appearances. In fact, given its roster of names stars, filmmakers, power-brokers and more it is curious that this book does not have an index, for some of its liveliest material concerns the names behind the titles. In recalling a meeting with Steven Spielberg, a sceenwriter is quoted as saying, He’s like a Mafia boss in that he subtly flaunts his power. Indeed, while talking about a script particular, Spielberg said, We should ask the President that question. He’s my house guest next weekend. Even the rich and famous can’t resist name-dropping.

The rich and famous, as well as the artistes, have figured prominently in the saga of the Oscars. The predictably unpredictable awards race has honored both the obscure performer and the superstar, art house titles, and epics. In that respect, the lavish 70 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards reflects society, as well as the various film years.

Written by Robert Osborne, longtime columnist for the Hollywood Reporter, this newly revised and expanded edition has as much appeal to the movie buff as to the scholar. The tone may be ultra-respectful after all, this is the authorized account of Oscar but the detailed year-by-year summations are rife with facts and juicy trivia. Just in time for this year’s Oscar night parties, Dining with the Stars (Pocket, $22, 0671017497) serves up all kinds of tasty possibilities. Here’s one possible menu: Halle Berry’s Almond-Berry Brie Appetizer, Shirley MacLaine’s Favorite Chicken Soup, Joanne Woodward’s Sole Cabernet, and, for dessert, Dolly Parton’s, uh, Stack Pie. More than one hundred celebrities share their favorite recipes, knowing that a portion of the book’s net proceeds will benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles. Whether they earn awards/money, many movies contain special gags or references some obvious, many not. Bill Givens, who has chronicled blunders via a series of books about film flubs, now goes after Reel Gags: Jokes, Sight Gags, and Directors’ Tricks from Your Favorite Films (Renaissance Books, $9.95, 1580630421). Did you know that the first one to be eaten by a T-Rex in Jurassic Park was one of the movie’s screenwriters? Now you do.

Starry, starry night by Pat H. Broeske ‘Tis the season for show business awards shows, which, collectively, seem to honor every possible subject and category. But try as everyone might, there is no topping the granddaddy of awards shows the one that has spanned seven decades and continues to generate breathless guessing games. But if the Academy Awards are at the heart of the movie industry’s biggest, most anticipated night of the year which this year comes on March 21 they are not the driving force behind movie making. Money is.

In The Gross: The Hits, the Flops The Summer That Ate Hollywood, Peter Bart explores the hows, the whys, and the surprises of the summer 1998 box office derby. As the editor-in-chief for Variety and Daily Variety, Bart had access to the executives and filmmakers behind a disparate slate, including the effects extravaganzas Godzilla and Armageddon, the paranoid character study The Truman Show, and that goofy exercise in raunchy, There’s Something About Mary. From the genesis of the various films (inspiration for the Bruce Willis character in Armageddon was real-life firefighting legend, Red Adair), to their development (too many were written by committee ), to the final product (following a test screening, The Avengers went through a major reworking), and on through their journey at the box office, The Gross looks at the way big business has impacted the industry, which has itself become a big business.

Along the way, Bart delivers some enticing cameo appearances. In fact, given its roster of names stars, filmmakers, power-brokers and more it is curious that this book does not have an index, for some of its liveliest material concerns the names behind the titles. In recalling a meeting with Steven Spielberg, a sceenwriter is quoted as saying, He’s like a Mafia boss in that he subtly flaunts his power. Indeed, while talking about a script particular, Spielberg said, We should ask the President that question. He’s my house guest next weekend. Even the rich and famous can’t resist name-dropping.

The rich and famous, as well as the artistes, have figured prominently in the saga of the Oscars. The predictably unpredictable awards race has honored both the obscure performer and the superstar, art house titles, and epics. In that respect, the lavish 70 Years of the Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards (Abbeville Press, $65, 0789204843) reflects society, as well as the various film years.

Written by Robert Osborne, longtime columnist for the Hollywood Reporter, this newly revised and expanded edition has as much appeal to the movie buff as to the scholar. The tone may be ultra-respectful after all, this is the authorized account of Oscar but the detailed year-by-year summations are rife with facts and juicy trivia. Just in time for this year’s Oscar night parties, Dining with the Stars (Pocket, $22, 0671017497) serves up all kinds of tasty possibilities. Here’s one possible menu: Halle Berry’s Almond-Berry Brie Appetizer, Shirley MacLaine’s Favorite Chicken Soup, Joanne Woodward’s Sole Cabernet, and, for dessert, Dolly Parton’s, uh, Stack Pie. More than one hundred celebrities share their favorite recipes, knowing that a portion of the book’s net proceeds will benefit AIDS Project Los Angeles. Whether they earn awards/money, many movies contain special gags or references some obvious, many not. Bill Givens, who has chronicled blunders via a series of books about film flubs, now goes after Reel Gags: Jokes, Sight Gags, and Directors’ Tricks from Your Favorite Films (Renaissance Books, $9.95, 1580630421). Did you know that the first one to be eaten by a T-Rex in Jurassic Park was one of the movie’s screenwriters? Now you do.

If Jorge Luis Borges had equipped one of his realer-than-real alternate universes with a 16-screen megaplex cinema, the marquee would doubtless look something like the index of Chris Gore’s The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made. To read Gore’s litany of failed movie projects is to enter a Bizarro World of film history, in which Orson Welles is as prolific as Spielberg, and Disney and Dali are comrades in cartoons.

Ever since the Medved brothers compiled their Golden Turkey books in the 1980s, an entire subgenre has evolved on the subject of bad and bizarre movies that actually got made. Gore’s book is the flipside: movie ideas that were shelved before or during production. Some are legendary, like the aborted Marilyn Monroe vehicle Something’s Gotta Give. Others may have been canned for good reason for instance, Swirlee, about a mob boss with an ice-cream cone for a head. All are tantalizing glimpses of a movie heritage that never was.

Most tantalizing are the unrealized projects of cinema giants. On hand are such celluloid phantoms as Josef von Sternberg’s unfinished Roman epic I, Claudius, in which Charles Laughton reputedly gave the performance of his career; and Sergei Eisenstein’s adaptation of An American Tragedy. From these early follies Gore progresses to amazing what-ifs such as the Alfred Hitchcock-James Stewart thriller The Blind Man, an Ingmar Bergman Merry Widow, and a Stanley Kubrick Napoleon that would’ve starred you guessed it Jack Nicholson.

Not that all the projects the book cites are so lofty. If you’ve ever longed for a cinematic death match between the acid-blooded Alien and the armor-plated Predator, you can read Gore’s book and dream. Comic-book yarns, movie parodies, a Roger Rabbit sequel set in wartime the author greets each with enthusiasm and a movie nut’s righteous indignation that he’ll never get to see them.

The founder of Film Threat magazine and a burr in Hollywood’s side for the better part of a decade, Gore uses his premise as a platform for diatribes against tight-fisted moneymen, studio philistines, and a cookie-cutter production process that crushes creativity. In some cases say, a senior citizens’ Animal House directed by Jerry Lewis it’s hard not to side with the suits. And one project Gore describes, a movie about Orson Welles’s famed pro-union stage production The Cradle Will Rock, has indeed been filmed by director Tim Robbins for release this year by a major studio, at that. If a similar fate were to befall every wildcat project listed in The 50 Greatest Movies Never Made, film history would be a lot more interesting.

Jim Ridley writes about movies for the Nashville Scene.

Not since Francois Truffaut took on Alfred Hitchcock in the 1960s has there been such an illuminating exchange in print between a director and a critical fan. In Kazan: The Master Director Discusses His Films, filmmaker and writer Jeff Young interviews the renowned and controversial director Elia Kazan over an extended period, beginning the interviews in 1971 as the director neared the end of his career. The publication of Kazan’s autobiography contributed to the delays this book encountered in seeing print.

Kazan’s career as a movie director began with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1945 and ended with The Last Tycoon in 1976. His total output of 19 films include the classics East of Eden, which introduced James Dean to the world, and On the Waterfront, which similarly introduced Marlon Brando. Kazan was also a prolific novelist and theater director. Unfortunately, his achievements as a director are often eclipsed by the controversy over his naming names testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee during the McCarthy days of the 1950s. Many of Hollywood’s liberal members, such as actor Nick Nolte, sat on their hands in protest during the applause for Kazan as he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1999 Academy Awards. Young is unabashed in his admiration for Kazan’s work. His films moved me more than anyone else’s, he writes. I was transported, taken into the worlds they depicted, made privy to the inner tensions, conflicts, and feelings of Kazan’s characters, in whom I’d always found some part of myself. . . . Kazan’s films both forced and enabled me to think about my life and to view the world around me as I never had before. This was artistry of a very high order. In an age in which artistry seems replaced by gimmickry, and in which computer-generated worlds replace the landscapes of the human soul, an artist like Kazan stands as a reminder of what great cinema is all about. Kazan’s greatest strength as a director understanding acting and how to bring out the best in actors is increasingly becoming a lost art. Reading this book is inspirational, because it transports the reader back into a value system that needs to be rediscovered by the next generation of filmmakers. This book is not merely an homage by an admiring fan. Instead it is an exchange between two filmmakers on the art of filmmaking, which forces the director into a searching examination of his work, blemishes and all. With a chapter on each of Kazan’s films, the interviewer pushes the director to provide reasons for doing what he did, even when they are in disagreement. As I said, all of my sentiments are diametrically opposed to yours. Nothing you’ve said changes that, Young interjects during a discussion of Kazan’s incriminating Congressional testimony. At another point, when Kazan tries to defend his direction of Gentleman’s Agreement, admittedly one of his weaker works, Young challenges Kazan by saying, “I disagree. I think the details were not done well at all. The party scene at Celeste Holm’s apartment is full of cliches and stereotypes. When Kazan tries to defend his direction of Gentleman’s Agreement, admittedly one of his weaker works, Young challenges Kazan by saying, I disagree. I think the details were not done well at all. The party scene at Celeste Holm’s apartment is full of cliches and stereotypes. With this frank, sometimes confrontational, but always admiring style, Young brings out the best thoughts from the fertile mind of this great filmmaker. It is invaluable for filmmakers wanting an inside look into the reasoning that goes behind the thousands of decisions made in the creative filmmaking process. After you’ve read the book, you’ll want to rent the movies.

David Hinton is the dean of Watkins Institute College of Art and Design.

Lifestyles of the musical and famous Your friend Fred must make a speech at his company’s annual convention, and he hasn’t a clue where to begin collecting his information. You want to help Fred with his fact-finding mission, but private detectives are pricey, and your Web search returned hundreds of thousands of sites. What gift doesn’t require bloodhounds, a modem, or a fingerprint kit? Why books, of course! Ê ÊAt some point, everyone must write a report, an article, or speech. Reference books are imperative for research and documentation, and the handier, the better. Random House’s Famous Name Finder ($14, 037570602X) is the perfect tool when you can remember a name but can’t quite place the person. This book will eliminate the need to ask, who’s that person you know, the one who was married to . . . because it cross-references 10,000 people from various fields, including sports, entertainment, the arts, and history. Can’t remember the first name? Can’t remember the last name? Can’t remember the real name? The Famous Name Finder is indexed by first name, last name, nickname, and spouse’s name; each entry also includes biographical information. How many times have you watched a movie based on a favorite book, and walked away thinking about the differences between the two? Novels into Film: The Encyclopedia of Movies Adapted from Books is a book that identifies and examines how a book is translated to the big screen. Each entry includes a brief synopsis of the novel, and the film or films that adapted its story. The differences between the two, as well as differences in themes, characters, etc., are studied. Brief bibliographies are listed at the end of each passage, and various photographs are included. There is some critique involved, but the major emphasis here is not to determine the success or failure of film adaptations, but rather to inform the reader of the unique and specific process that goes into the translation of print to film. With a foreword by director Robert Wise, Novels into Film is a great choice for folks who love books, movies, or both. Everyone is familiar with dictionaries and encyclopedias, but references books are taking different and exciting paths that extend beyond mere alphabetizing. The Oxford Children’s Book of Famous People (Oxford University Press, $37.50, 0195215176) examines the lives of 1,000 well-known figures. From Aesop to Pele to William I, this is an ideal resource for short writing assignments, or a springboard for larger, more detailed amounts of research. Updated for the millennium, The Oxford Children’s Book of Famous People also includes entries about more recent notables, such as Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Bill Gates, and Diana, Princess of Wales, to name a few. Readers will find extra guidance from the directories in the back, organized by theme and period. This is a wonderful quick-reference addition to any workspace.

Picture this: a gorgeous volume of album covers. DK Publishing’s 100 Best Album Covers: The Stories Behind the Sleeves ($19.95, 078944951X) provides music lovers with the inside scoop on the most artistically innovative album covers of all time. Learn about the visual artists behind the works, the labor-intense production schedules, the concepts behind the finished products and the alternative plans for jackets that were banned in certain countries. What makes this book particularly interesting is that authors Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell do not focus on the recording artists themselves; while certain Elvis, Beatles, and Prince albums are included, you’ll also find The Popinjays, System 7, and Happy Mondays receive equal page time. There’s plenty of insider information provided, but the focus is not on who topped the charts, but who had the eye-catching album covers. 100 Best Album Covers is a refreshing alternative for both music and art lovers. Cajun music is as flavorful as its food, and thanks to University Press of Mississippi, readers may sample it once again. Cajun and Creole Music Makers (Musiciens cadiens et creoles) ($35, 1578061709) has been re-issued and updated, thanks to author Barry Jean Ancelet and photographer Elemore Morgan Jr. Originally published in 1984, Cajun and Creole Music Makers is the definitive volume of Louisiana culture. To update the book for its re-issue, Ancelet and Morgan returned to the original material and added more recent musicians like Steve Riley and Dirk Powell. In some cases, such as Christine Balfa’s, it is a then and now perspective of Louisiana life. The text is featured in both English and French, and over 100 photographs show these musicians in various surroundings. The result is an intimate look at the inner workings and sustaining power behind the music. Who says information has to come in black and white text? Seaports of the South: A Journey (Longstreet Press, $25,1563524996) is very informative and also beautiful enough to display. Author Louis D. Rubin Jr. and photographer John F. Harrington look at 13 seaports found in South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Readers will travel with these two men, who have been friends since age 16, and marvel at the history and distinct personality that distinguish each seaport. Rubin and Harrington recount the development each port has undergone, particularly after the Civil War, and the unique commercial role that each seaport plays in our nation’s economy. Climb aboard and enjoy this spectacular journey through time and this region.

Long live the King The King may be dead, but the books keep coming. In the 21 years since Elvis Presley’s death, on August 16, 1977, a veritable cottage publishing industry has emerged. A year ago, when I was adding to the bulging shelves as co-author (with Peter Harry Brown) of Down at the End of Lonely Street: The Life and Death of Elvis Presley I counted more than 300 titles. And those were just the English-language entries! Why? Chalk up the interest, in part, to Presley’s status in popular culture: he was the pulsating force of a revolution that got a generation all shook up. Then there’s the man himself and the enigma. And of course, there is the music. Music is the heart of one of the latest Elvis entries, Elvis Presley: A Life in Music: The Complete Recording Sessions ( St. Martin’s, $35, 0312185723), which is lavishly detailed and illustrated. Written by the authoritative Ernst Jorgensen, the book’s revelations range from the obscure (the first Elvis song to boast percussion was I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone ) to the heart-breaking (during his last concert, a slurry and sadly bloated Elvis introduced Are You Lonesome Tonight? and then, as if to answer, said, and I am. . . ). Jorgensen, an Elvis fan turned director of RCA’s Elvis catalogue, also underscores an overlooked Elvis talent as a savvy music producer. As a promoter, no one was more savvy than former carnival huckster Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis’s longtime manager, and subject of My Boy Elvis: The Colonel Tom Parker Story (Barricade, $22, 1569801274). This is the first of a spate of upcoming titles about the colorful Parker, who passed away in 1997, and though some anecdotes related by Sean O’Neal (Elvis Inc: The Fall and Rise of the Presley Empire) are familiar to Presleyphiles, there are new details about the Colonel’s early years. O’Neal also adroitly analyzes the Colonel’s motives for wanting Elvis to do Army time and details how he masterminded the post-Army career comeback. Elvis’s movie career, pre- and post-Army, is the subject of Eric Braun’s The Elvis Film Encyclopedia: An Impartial Guide to the Films of Elvis. Actually, it’s not all that impartial. In grading the songs from Elvis’s films, Braun gives three stars (out of a possible five) to the embarrassing Confidence, from the movie Clambake. And he gives just two stars to Can’t Help Falling in Love, the great Presley ballad from Blue Hawaii. Quibbles with ratings aside, the text is informative, as well as lively. The same can be said for most Elvis movies. Early Elvis is remembered in Elvis, Hank, and Me: Making Musical History on the Louisiana Hayride (St. Martin’s, $23.95, 0312185731), in which Horace Logan (with co-author Bill Sloan), recounts his days as producer and emcee of the show, which was broadcast over CBS radio. After bombing at the Grand Ole Opry, a young Elvis found a home away from home at the Shreveport program, which introduced him to much of the country and also featured music legends including Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and Slim Whitman. Elvis’s early career is also recalled in That’s Alright, Elvis: The Untold Story of Elvis’s First Guitarist and Manager, Scotty Moore (Schirmer, $25, 0028645995), as told to James Dickerson. Way back when, Moore, bass player Bill Black, and Elvis were known as the Blue Moon Boys. From those early days on the road, to his latter-day revival, Moore (a Gibson man) has been a pivotal musical force. Moving from music to marriage: Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley (Berkley Boulevard Books, $7.50, 0425165442), contradicts the official story delivered by Priscilla in her autobiography. Elvis’s famed ex has long maintained that she was a virgin when she finally married The King. Not so per this account, by Suzanne Finstad which relies heavily on the allegations of a former Presley buddy named Currie Grant (who has since been hit with a lawsuit, over his claims, by Priscilla). It was Grant who introduced the 14-year-old schoolgirl to the world’s most famous G.I., then 25, and stationed in Germany. But first, says Grant, he coerced the virginal Priscilla into sleeping with him as a kind of payment. As Finstad put it, She had entered into a Faustian pact to meet Elvis. It should be noted that Grant, at the time of the alleged tryst with the teenager, was 28, married, and the father of two. Along with sex and drugs, this page-turner includes a good cat fight between Priscilla and an Elvis fan complete with screaming and hair-pulling and a National Enquirer-ish ploy, with the use of a voice stress test to determine who’s telling the truth, in a tape-recorded encounter between Priscilla and Grant. I still don’t know who to believe . . . On the novelty side, Elvis gets the pop-up treatment in Elvis Remembered: A Three-Dimensional Celebration (Pop-Up Press, $29.95, 1888443456). See Elvis pop-up at the 1956 Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, which marked his landmark return to his hometown of Tupelo, Mississippi. He also cuts quite a 3-D figure in his famous gold lame suit, during his 1968 comeback concert, and during the so-called Jumpsuit Tours. In The Quotable King (Cumberland House, $8.95, 188895244X) Elvis’s words pop-out as categorized by Elizabeth McKeon and Linda Everett in chapters such as Early Elvis, Meet the Press, and Elvis on Elvis. There are Elvis’s observations on movies ( The only thing that’s worse than watching a bad movie is being in one ); his taste in burgers ( I like it done well. I ain’t ordering a pet ); and more. Speaking of more: Due in November is Elvis Presley 1956 (Abrams, $17.95, 0810908999), featuring photos by Marvin Israel. January will see the publication of Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley (Little, Brown, $27.95, 0316332224). This is Peter Guralnick’s follow-up to his acclaimed 1994 early Elvis biography, Last Train to Memphis. Also due in January is Colonel Tom Parker: The Carny Who Managed the King, by James Dickerson (Watson-Guptill, $24.95, 0823084213).

Who said Elvis was dead? Biographer Pat H. Broeske is also a Hollywood reporter who regularly contributes to Entertainment Weekly.

Film seems to have succeeded the written word as preferred narrative vehicle of our time; and though it is no small irony that writers have championed the cinema, they have articulated a unique insight into the medium.

However, given the infinite range of periods and tastes that films have defined and created in this century, there are seemingly an infinite number of points of reference. With O.

K. You Mugs, a well-edited collection of articles primarily focused on those iconic stars and character actors from the noir ’40s and ’50s, the writer’s true love of film is given full play in an idiosyncratic gathering of appreciative writing.

The classic era of films from those aforementioned decades is the touchstone on which the writers build their perspectives; the articles often take a mournful, loving tone toward their respective subjects on screen. Editors Luc Sante and Melissa Holbrook Pierson provide a preface that stands out as a fine piece of critical acumen, offering an insightful overview of the book’s theme.

Because movie actors in their many guises are explored, there is a kaleidoscopic effect to much of the book’s stand-out writing. Dave Hickey, for example, uses Robert Mitchum to explore how the male filmic presence affects culture. There is also sharp analysis of other film persona who have added to our fascination with the film experience: actors and actresses such as Dana Andrews, Warren Oates, Dan Duryea, Margaret Dumont, Jean Arthur, the Warner Brothers cast of supporting characters, and even Elmer Fudd.

The book also includes other shared experiences and memories, such as Robert Polito’s sobering remembrance of faded movie star Barbara Payton, and Chris Offutt’s recollections of visits to the movie theater as a young boy.

O.

K. You Mugs offers deep insight into the meaning of film, proving that it is perhaps more significant than we choose to believe. The book also proves that films need the perspective of writers who plumb their symbolic depths, just as writers need film to articulate their own personal dramas. ¦ Thomas Sanfilip is a poet and writer living in Chicago.

Among the unlikely results of a shipwreck 86 years ago is Leonardo DiCaprio’s current starring role in the daydreams of teenage females from Boise to Baghdad. DiCaprio was lucky to be aboard James Cameron’s film Titanic. By now, as everyone knows, the film can be described only in superlatives. It is the most expensive movie ever made, the highest-grossing motion picture of all time, the first film ever to gross $1 billion worldwide. Its soundtrack is surprise the best-selling ever. And it won more Oscars (11) than any film since, God help us, Ben Hur. The ship itself may have sunk for good, but its story has been resurrected, with a mixture of horror and glee, in books, documentaries, exhibitions, movies, and even a Broadway musical. And still they come. Herewith, marking the September release of Titanic on home video, a harvest of new books and booklike things. We might as well begin with another superlative the two biggest, most impressive, and most expensive books on our list. Even if you barely know the Titanic from the good ship Lollipop, you will enjoy Titanic: An Illustrated History (Hyperion, $39.95, 078686401X), by Don Lynch. Throughout, the lively text is illuminated by photos, drawings, maps, and the beautiful photorealistic paintings of Ken Marschall, who has emerged as the disaster’s visual historian. Marschall gets his own book, with text by Rick Archbold, in a fascinating survey of his three decades of work, Art of Titanic. Sketches, photos, and 80-plus gorgeous paintings illuminate the complicated process of historical illustration. No photograph can match Marschall’s poignant visions of either the gaiety aboard ship or the gloomy depths of the wreckage.

Simon and Schuster is publishing Titanic: Fortune and Fate ($30, 0684857103), the companion volume to the Mariner’s Museum exhibition of the same name. Artifacts include personal mementos, letters, and other moving records of the lives lost that night in 1912, with a text emphasizing less the well-known play-by-play and more the personalities involved. There are all sorts of stories of the shipwreck, but naturally eyewitness accounts are the most impressive. One such survivor, an observant young woman named Violet Jessup, wrote her memoirs in 1934. They are published for the first time in Titanic Survivor: The Newly Discovered Memoirs of Violet Jessup, Who Survived Both the Titanic and Britannic Disasters (Sheridan House, $23.95, 1574090356). She was a steward aboard the Titanic and a wartime nurse aboard the Britannic, and her story is as compelling as any in the disaster’s lore. Surprisingly, it’s also funny.

If you worry you missed the boat and want to catch up, you might try The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Titanic (Alpha Books, $18.95, 0028627121), by Jay Stevenson and Sharon Rutman. Like others in this series (which add up to a veritable idiot’s encyclopedia), this book manages to cram an astonishing amount of information into an irresistible browser format. Robert D. Ballard, co-leader of the 1985 expedition that found the sunken ship, first published his story in 1987. Now there is a newly updated trade paperback edition, The Discovery of the Titanic: Exploring the Greatest of All Lost Ships (Warner, $13.99, 0446671746), by Robert D. Ballard. Its many illustrations include paintings and touching sea-bottom photos.

If you really want to get behind the scenes, you should turn to a paperback entitled The Titanic Disaster Hearings: The Official Transcripts of the 1912 Senate Investigation (Pocket, $7.99, 0671025538), edited by Tom Kuntz. Following its 500 or so pages of compelling (okay, somewhat compelling) transcripts you’ll find an index of witnesses and a digest of their testimony. The most original new contributions to Titaniana are not even books at all. The Titanic Collection: Mementos of the Maiden Voyage (Chronicle, $24.95, 0811820521) is a handsomely packaged collection of facsimile documents. They come in a booklike box designed to resemble a steamer trunk, complete with hinges. A tray sets inside the trunk, and both spaces are filled with extraordinary facsimiles. Items include copies of a first class passenger ticket, the menu for the fateful night, the music repertoire, telegraph flimsies, luggage labels (yes, they’re adhesive), smudged and scribbled postcards, and many other documents. The packaging on Titanic: The Official Story (Random House, $25, 0375501150) is not quite so impressive, but the facsimiles are great fun. These documents are larger, and include stateroom charts, a newspaper page, the ship’s register form, telegrams. Far more evocative than mere photos of artifacts.

As you leave the bookstore with this armload, on your way to buy the video of Cameron’s *Titanic*, rest easy in the knowledge that at least a sequel seems unlikely. Michael Sims is a frequent contributor to BookPage and the author of Darwin’s Orchestra (Henry Holt).