New Book: Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen

Leonard Maltin has an interesting new book coming out in a few weeks, LEONARD MALTIN'S 151 BEST MOVIES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN. Click the title of this post for the Amazon link.

The book will be released February 9th.

151 BEST MOVIES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN is described at the Turner Classic Movies site: "Maltin has written the perfect book for everyone who has ever walked into a video store and been so overwhelmed that they rented a movie they had already seen twice... In this book, Maltin unearths 151 movies that he thinks have been unfairly under-rated, and explains why. Reading this book will inspire you to see all of the movies described here and you won't be disappointed in any of them."

I love Mr. Maltin, but I do wish he'd take a look at some movies he's underrated himself, particularly in the area of musicals and Westerns. Just two stars for WHITE CHRISTMAS? Even if a reviewer doesn't share my enthusiasm for the film, it's hard for me to understand how a two-star rating is justified. And only 3-1/2 stars for THE SOUND OF MUSIC? Tastes differ, but...

As mentioned here previously, Maltin's indispensable CLASSIC MOVIE GUIDE will publish its first new edition in half a decade on March 30th.

Along these lines I'd also like to mention a similar book on lesser-known movies which is already available, John DiLeo's SCREEN SAVERS: 40 REMARKABLE MOVIES AWAITING REDISCOVERY. Mr. DiLeo kindly sent me a copy a few weeks ago which I've been enjoying very much. I've particularly had fun reading chapters on a pair of films I've seen for the first time over the last year or so, THE TALL TARGET (1951) and IT STARTED WITH EVE (1941), which are both available on DVD.

I hope to review the book at greater length when I finish it. (I love to read but tend to progress slowly on books these days, as I must read hundreds of pages a day for my business.) In the meantime, be sure to visit the Screen Savers website, blogrolled on the left.

February 16th Update: A recent post on Leonard Maltin's site says that 151 BEST MOVIES YOU'VE NEVER SEEN focuses on films of the last 20 years. I'm thus unlikely to get it since I'm much more interested in films made prior to 1965.