Collectors of paper movie memorabilia might be familiar with and even own a number of film booklets. These film booklets, generally published in Europe, contain film stills plus a condensed story of an American film. The popular Biblioteca Films or Los Films del Far-West publications, by Gato Negro in Barcelona, Spain, are commonly seen in places like antique shops, ephemera shows, or online auction sites. Often printed on newspaper-quality paper, these film books were acquired by cinema patrons in the lobby at the box office. While these film booklets are an intriguing addition to any paper film collection, they can also be used as a valuable tool in writing about a film plot – particularly if none is available through standard Hollywood trade or consumer publications, found at Lantern Media History. The writer may also have an account with Newspapers.com, but there is only minimal information such as cinema ads, showing notices, and a blurb about the movie itself in their database.
Say the writer needs to compose the plot for “The Desert Pirate”. The only source available is a film booklet titled “El Pirata del Desierto”. While the writer has a fairly good grasp of written Spanish – keeping in mind the film booklets from Spain are in Castilian Spanish, not Latin Spanish – can breeze through the reading of the booklet which is about twelve pages long, and come away with a grasp of the characters in the story and the plot. The writer can then type up the plot, include the character names, who appears in the film, who wrote and directed it too. Even a piece of dialogue from the film booklet might be included in the write-up along with the plot to stress a character’s persona. Any outside information, such as filming locations or other onset tidbits published in a newspaper can also be included. Most importantly, if original sources must be included along with the write-up, list the publication and film title it is for.
Note: This article was first published on September 27, 2018.
