Bøger af John L. Flynn

Revised and Updated, this Third Edition of Phantoms of the Opera: The Face Behind the Mask includes lots of new material from the Gerard Butler-Emmy Rossum Phantom as well as dozens of other productions that have come out in the 15 years since the book was last printed. Mention The Phantom of the Opera at a dinner party, and each guest will have his or her own vivid, almost visceral, recollection of the tale of a disfigured musical genius and his unrequited love for a beautiful, young singer. Someone will undoubtedly pantomime the famous scene from the silent era film in which Mary Philbin (as Christine Daae) sneaks up behind the Phantom, while he is playing the organ in his subterranean lair, and unmasks the great Lon Chaney, revealing his horribly disfigured face to the audience and her. Another guest is likely to burst into song, recalling The Music of the Night from the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Still another guest may describe the scene in which the Phantom cuts the cables free and sends the magnificent chandelier crashing down upon the patrons of the Paris Opera House. The original story contains so many richly textured scenes that each of us, at one time or another, has been seduced by the Phantom, and embraced the dark, labyrinthine world of author Gaston Leroux. Most of the productions have been as equally rich with great scenes and great performances. This book is a tribute to Leroux, his most famous novel, and those adaptations inspired by it.

Life on the planet Jupiter? Former Senator Mitchell Ryan had always been told the violent, storm-tossed world was devoid of life. He had dismissed rumors of a strange life form living in the energy rich atmosphere as mere fantasy. In a solar system gone mad with civil war, the last thing he needed was an unknown; factor to complicate his mission to supply critical energy resources to Earth and its fracturing colonial empire. But he soon discovers the Jovians are the least of his worries. Confronted with several mysterious deaths, sabotage, and similar acts of terrorism - possibly perpetrated by wealthy politicians who profit from the current crisis of fear - Ryan faces a dilemma that will change his life and determine the fate of the solar system forever. A suspense thriller with elements of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Contact, you'll be kept on the edge of your seat until the final page.

Since the debut of Superman in 1938, superheroes have been a ubiquitous part of our popular culture. They have dominated American comic books for nearly 70 years, and their stories have crossed over into other media. They have been featured in daily comic strips, filled the pages of pulp magazines, figured in radio dramas, appeared on television, and headlined cinema marquees around the world. In many ways, their legendary tales of courage and derring-do form a modern mythology that has deep roots in our culture, our moral and spiritual beliefs, and our whole way of life. Myths are, after all, nothing more than narratives about heroic beings that are intended to explain some broader truth about the universe and our place in it. Superheroes represent our innermost desires and ideals. They show us how we wish to see ourselves. This book is a celebration of the 101 superheroes who have made the transition from page to screen and continue to reflect our bravery and the noblest part of human nature.

For almost seventy years, Hollywood has had a love affair with marauding aliens from beyond space bent on world domination and generally making our lives miserable. In 1951, the first real alien menace was thawed out at a remote arctic outpost, and reflected our Cold War fears as that thing from another world. The call to keep watching the skies was a prophetic warning that other alien terrors would soon be coming our way. Come, they did! Theater marquees all over the world paid deference to the invasion with lurid titles like It! The Terror from Beyond Space and The Fiend without a Face. The cycle eventually ran its cinematic course, and was replaced by other fears and anxieties. Then, in 1979, by borrowing very liberally from the lurid sci-fi movies of the past, Ridley Scott unleashed one of the cinema's greatest monsters. Alien was a visceral experience that exploited out repressed desires and hidden fears, and helped to remind us why our Paleolithic ancestors were so afraid of the dark. This book is a celebration of the Alien movies, their precursors and their competitors.

Earth invaded by Mars! Millions incinerated by heat ray! Panic grips nation as Martian tripods advance on Washington! Remember the headlines? They said it wouldn't happen here, and then, wave after wave, the Martians attacked the Earth with a vengeance. H.G. Wells' great novel, The War of the Worlds, chronicled the first wave. Then Orson Welles' 1938 radio broadcast, followed by George Pal's 1953 movie. The Martians kept coming! This book is a tribute to Wells and those radio, television, comic book, and film adaptations that have been inspired by it. This second edition includes material on the Steven Spielberg blockbuster (with Tom Cruise), the two Pendragon adaptations, Mars Attacks, Independence Day, The Great Martian War 1913-1917, War of the Worlds: Goliath, the 2019 BBC miniseries, the 2019 8-part Fox-Studio Canal series, and plenty more...

50 Years of Hammer Horror by John L. Flynn, Ph.D. is the follow-up book to his popular 75 Years of Universal Monsters. Hammer Film Productions was the most successful independent film company in the world. Between 1935 and 1983, the company produced more than 250 motion pictures and television shows, and their signature productions headlined theater marquees all around the globe. Those productions included thrillers, comedies, historical dramas, and science fiction. The company was best known for its series of gothic horror films, now termed Hammer Horror, that were produced from the late Fifties to the middle Seventies. During those nineteen years, from 1957 to 1976, Hammer Films reigned supreme as the world's premier producer of horror movies, enjoying worldwide financial success and creative freedom. Chief among its box office successes were new incarnations of Frankenstein, Dracula, the Mummy, the Werewolf, the Phantom of the Opera, and many others. In fact, Hammer emerged as the successor to Universal Pictures' horror film legacy. Virtually, every creature-feature Universal had filmed in black-and-white monochrome, Hammer remade in glorious Eastman Technicolor. This book is a celebration of the small independent studio that changed the look of horror films forever.

They were like Gods. Count Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Phantom of the Opera, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, and Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon formed a modern-pay pantheon that ruled the mythical kingdom of Hollywood. They dwelt at Universal, their Olympian-like home in the hills of northern Los Angeles. Their stories were the stuff of legend in the most successful horror films ever made. Both the Bela Lugosi version of "Dracula" and the Boris Karloff version of "Frankenstein" debuted in 1931, 75 years ago. They were followed by films that featured the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Invisible Man, the Phantom of the Opera, and many others. For twenty-five years, from 1931 to 1956, these famous monsters of filmland headlined box office marquees around the world. This book is a loving tribute to the immortal gods and monsters that we celebrate on this seventy-fifth anniversary of the Golden Age of the horror film. This second edition updates material to include "The Shape of Water" (2017) and "The Mummy" (2017) with Tom Cruise.