TARZAN ON FILM

TARZAN ON FILM. Scott Tracy Griffin. Foreword by Casper Van Dien. Titan; 2016.

Griffin, who previously authored Tarzan: The Centennial Celebration, is back with a new coffee table tome that focuses on the Tarzan motion pictures and the various actors (supporting cast as well as stars) who appeared in them. There is no actual film criticism in the book, although there are loads of pictures and background notes on each production. Tarzan On Film looks at the silent Tarzan movies, the serials such as Tarzan the Fearless and The New Adventures of Tarzan, and all of the films starring everyone from Johnny Weissmuller to Mike Henry and beyond, as well as chapters on the various TV series starring the Ape Man (as well as cartoon series and animated features). You'll learn that Acquanetta of Tarzan and the Leopard Woman was born Mildred Davenport and was black passing for white, and that Woody Strode was dubbed by a British actor for Tarzan's Three Challenges, among other tidbits.

Verdict: No critical analysis, but Tarzan movie fans will love the info and photos. ***.

HOLMES OF THE MOVIES

HOLMES OF THE MOVIES: The Screen Career of Sherlock Holmes. David Stuart Davis. Bramhall House; 1978. Foreword by Peter Cushing.

This entertaining book on movies featuring the famous character Sherlock Holmes has chapters on silent films such as The Murder On Baker Street;  the stage adaptation Sherlock Holmes starring William Gillette; early interpretations of Holmes played by Clive Brook, Reginald Owen, and even Raymond Massey; Arthur Wontner, considered one of the best of the early Holmesian thespians; and, of course, the most famous of actors to play Holmes, Basil Rathbone. Rathbone's many Holmes films are covered, and there are additional chapters on TV series starring Ronald Howard and Peter Cushing; the Hammer film The Hound of the Baskervilles, also starring Cushing; sixties films such as Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace and A Study in Terror; Billy Wilder's The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes; and more recent films that have had anything to do with the character, such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. Knowledgeable and engaging, Holmes of the Movies is loaded with great photographs.

Verdict: All you could want to know about Sherlock Holmes on film, on stage, and on TV. ***.

SOLO -- A James Bond Novel

SOLO. A James Bond novel. William Boyd. HarperCollins; 2013.

The year is 1969 and James Bond's boss, "M," asks 007 to intercede in a civil war going on in a small West African nation, Zanzarin. Oil has been found on one tribe's land, and said tribe decides to secede instead of sharing the bounty with the entire country. The head of this new nation of Duham is Solomon Adeka, who might have to be "taken care of" because Duham is now seen as a threat to certain oil interests. Portraying a journalist, Bond infiltrates Duham with the help of a pretty agent named Blessing Ogilvy-Grant, and encounters the vicious mercenary Kobus Breed and a millionaire philanthropist named Hulbert Linck who is using his money to bring arms and more mercenaries into Duham to fight against Zanzarin forces. Betrayed by familiar faces and nearly killed, Bond winds up in Washington, D.C., on an unsanctioned (or "solo" mission) where he re-encounters some of the Duhami players as well as Felix Leiter of the CIA, and comes face to face with hard and cold facts of war and oil. Solo is a more serious and sobering James Bond novel than usual, with less of the more flamboyant aspects of the 007 books written by Ian Fleming and John Gardner. Suspenseful and intriguing, the only flaw in Solo is that there is no really memorable villain for Bond to match wits with, as Kobus Breed is merely an especially nasty underling. Still, this is a solid, entertaining Bond book. A questionable aspect of the book is how an agent of Bond's ability can be taken by surprise -- by a group of men, no less -- sneaking up on him on more than one occasion.

Verdict: Solid 007. ***.