Films of 1947

Every year of the golden age of Hollywood produced worthy films, but certain years turned out bumper crops of great classic movies. 1939 immediately comes to mind, of course, but other years also turned out scores of timeless pictures that still enthrall audiences today. Whenever I'm working on a compilation of classic film reviews for my Beyond Casablanca books, I always find that 1947 is one of those years, offering an embarrassment of cinematic riches where the worthy contenders always outnumber the space I can devote to them. It's an especially good year for film noir, but excellent dramas and comedies also abound; you can thank 1947 for as diverse a selection as Out of the Past, Miracle on 34th Street, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, and The Egg and I. Since I can never get all the great 1947 films into a single book, here are the ones that I have, at least, posted reviews of here on Virtual Virago. Check out how many terrific pictures this one year produced!

BLACK NARCISSUS
BORN TO KILL
CROSSFIRE
DARK PASSAGE
THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
IT HAPPENED ON 5TH AVENUE
IT'S A JOKE, SON!
KISS OF DEATH
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET 
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
THE UNSUSPECTED


Here are the 1947 films that I review in Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching (which you can get for just 99 cents on Amazon Kindle, if you're so inclined).

THE EGG AND I
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
OUT OF THE PAST

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer is the sole representative of the year in Beyond Casablanca II: 101 Classic Movies Worth Watching (also 99 cents on Amazon Kindle). I had to make tough choices for that one to have room for films from the early 1960s, and the triple threat of Cary Grant, Shirley Temple, and Myrna Loy made it a choice that covered a lot of cinematic ground. It's also wonderfully funny and less familiar to many viewers than Grant's signature films.

But wait, there's more! Here are some other memorable films from 1947 that I haven't gotten around to writing about yet. This is just a partial list, but clearly there is work to be done.

ANGEL AND THE BADMAN
THE BISHOP'S WIFE
BRUTE FORCE
DAISY KENYON
DEAD RECKONING
A DOUBLE LIFE
FOREVER AMBER
GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT
POSSESSED

What's your favorite film from 1947? If you had to pick just three to include in a book, which ones would you choose? I'll be thinking about that question myself as I work on my next book-length compilation of reviews.

BEYOND CASABLANCA is Free on Kindle This Week!

As promised in an earlier post, I am now running promos on the ebook version of BEYOND CASABLANCA. Beginning Monday, August 11, 2014, and running through Friday, the ebook is free on Kindle, and I hope you'll either consider the book for yourself or encourage friends to give it a try. It contains many exclusive reviews that you won't find here on Virtual Virago or on my Examiner column.

While you're at it, you might have a look at BEYOND CASABLANCA II, which offers 101 more classic movie reviews, or EVERYDAY MONSTERS, my newly released short story collection.

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to visit the Amazon link and helps me get the word out. I'd really love to give away a  lot of copies this week! The point of the book is to connect readers with great classic films, and hopefully the free promo will promote that aim.

BEYOND CASABLANCA 2nd Edition Ebook is Now Available

A while back my publisher at Westview announced some changes in the way they work. Sadly, the downside of the alteration is that the print version of BEYOND CASABLANCA is no longer available from online stores (I can still get print copies directly). On the plus side, I'm now able to run promotions and sales on the Kindle version of the book. As of August 6, 2014, the new ebook version of BEYOND CASABLANCA is available, and you can find it here.

The best part of releasing the new version is that I was able to fix a few errors that had been bothering me since 2012! I had a date wrong and an alphabetizing error, and both of those have just bugged the heck out of me ever since I first noticed them. All of the important content is the same, though, so don't worry if you already have a print or ebook copy.

This is a huge month for me as a writer; I have several projects coming to fruition, and I hope 2015 will be an exciting year of reaching new readers and finishing even more books. I do have another classic movie book in the works, but I have also been working on a novel and a short story collection. If you're interested in the wildly varied projects I have worked on, you can visit my Amazon Author Page.

Thanks to everyone who has supported and enjoyed BEYOND CASABLANCA. I hope it will find more readers and inspire lots of people to watch more old movies!

A Sneak Peek at BEYOND CASABLANCA II

I am almost ready to announce the publication of BEYOND CASABLANCA II: 101 CLASSIC MOVIES WORTH WATCHING, and with any luck it will be ready for readers in the next few days. In the mean time, I wanted to share the Table of Contents so that you can get a peek at the 101 movies I'm reviewing in the new book. Here are all of the films included in the new collection!

Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)

The Apartment (1960)

The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)

The Bad Seed (1956)

The Band Wagon (1953)

The Birds (1963)

Blood and Sand (1941)

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

Brief Encounter (1945)

The Canterville Ghost (1944)

Cape Fear (1962)

Captains Courageous (1937)

The Cat and the Canary (1927)

Charade (1963)

Cheaper by the Dozen (1950)

Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

Desk Set (1957)

Dial M for Murder (1954)

The Divorcee (1930)

The Doll (1919)

Don’t Bother to Knock (1952)

Dragonwyck (1946)

The Enchanted Cottage (1945)

Eyes without a Face (1960)

Father of the Bride (1950)

Fort Apache (1948)

42^nd Street (1933)

Fury (1936)

The Girl from Missouri (1934)

Grand Hotel (1932)

The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)

The Great Race (1965)

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)

The Gunfighter (1950)

Gunga Din (1939)

The Haunting (1963)

High Sierra (1941)

Holiday (1938)

House on Haunted Hill (1959)

How Green Was My Valley (1941)

Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964)

I Married a Witch (1942)

The Innocents (1961)

Island of Lost Souls (1932)

Jane Eyre (1943)

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

The Jazz Singer (1927)

Jewel Robbery (1932)

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

The Letter (1940)

Lifeboat (1944)

Little Caesar (1931)

The Lodger (1944)

Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938)

Mad Love (1935)

The Man from Laramie (1955)

McLintock! (1963)

Midnight (1939)

Mister Roberts (1955)

Modern Times (1936)

Monkey Business (1952)

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)

The Music Man (1962)

My Darling Clementine (1946)

National Velvet (1944)

Niagara (1953)

Night Nurse (1931)

Night of the Demon (1957)

Of Human Bondage (1934)

On Approval (1944)

On Dangerous Ground (1952)

The Palm Beach Story (1942)

Pat and Mike (1952)

Peeping Tom (1960)

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Roman Holiday (1953)

Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)

Safety Last! (1923)

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

The Seven Year Itch (1955)

Stalag 17 (1953)

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

The Stranger (1946)

Swing Time (1936)

Tension (1949)

They Drive by Night (1940)

The Thing from Another World (1951)

The Three Musketeers (1948)

Torch Song (1953)

Touch of Evil (1958)

The Trouble with Angels (1966)

Vertigo (1958)

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Westward the Women (1951)

White Christmas (1954)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

The Women (1939)

Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

You Can’t Take It with You (1938)

If you read the blog very often, you'll recognize some of these movies as ones that I have reviewed here, but lots of the reviews are exclusive to the new book. As you can see, I'm venturing a little farther forward in time with this collection by including movies from the 1960s. That trade-off means the focus is a little more explicitly American and British; one of these days I'll put together a world cinema collection, but for now my audience tends to be more mainstream. Like the original book, BEYOND CASABLANCA II offers movies from many different genres, decades, directors, and stars, and balancing all of those elements with the need to get most of the alphabet covered is no small task.

BEYOND CASABLANCA II is going to be available exclusively on Kindle for now; I want to see how it does before I commit to doing a print edition. The retail price will be $4.99, but I hope to run a free promo for it once it goes live.

Six Books for Your Classic Movie Christmas List

It's time to start the Christmas shopping in earnest, and your friends and relations are asking you what you want this year. Maybe you're doing some Christmas shopping for fellow cinephiles, as well. DVDs can be tricky, since everyone with a serious film obsession already owns enough movies to restock a closed Blockbuster location. Whether you're looking for gifts for yourself or others, books can be a great choice. Here are six relatively new books about classic movie topics that you might consider.

VIVIEN LEIGH: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT - By Kendra Bean, with forward by Claire Bloom

This newest biography of the iconic leading lady is getting great reviews, and I have it at the top of my own wishlist this year. Plenty of  photos enhance the story of Leigh's life and career. The book is currently available in hardback for $22.89 on Amazon, which I think would be preferable to the cheaper Kindle edition because of the illustrations.

A LIFE OF BARBARA STANWYCK: STEEL-TRUE 1907-1940 - By Victoria Wilson

This biography of Stanwyck just came out on November 12, 2013, which means that even hardcore classic movie fans probably don't have it yet. The actress certainly lived an interesting life, so any biography ought to make for exciting reading. Although it retails for $40, you can get the hardcover edition on Amazon for $29.70, while the Kindle edition is just $14.99.

ANN DVORAK: HOLLYWOOD'S FORGOTTEN REBEL - By Christina Rice

If you're looking for a new biography of a more obscure star, you might try this account of the life of Ann Dvorak, perhaps best remembered today for her role in Scarface (1932). This is the first full-length biography of the actress, so it should offer plenty of new information to fans of her films. Published by the University Press of Kentucky, the book retails for $40 but is available in hardcover on Amazon for $35.23. The Kindle edition is $22.99, rather steep for a Kindle ebook but typical of an academic publisher's pricing.

PEG ENTWISTLE AND THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN SUICIDE - By James Zeruk Jr.

Having published two books with McFarland myself, I'm always happy to help get the word out about their authors' publications. James Zeruk is a fellow classic movie fan whose biography of the tragic Peg Entwistle ought to please seriously hardcore classic movie enthusiasts.  Like most McFarland books, the paperback is pretty expensive; Amazon has it for $37.95, but you can get the Kindle edition for $17.99. This book was just released in October, so it's still quite new.

EXTRAS OF EARLY HOLLYWOOD: A HISTORY OF THE CROWD, 1913-1945 - By Kerry Segrave

If you want to get really deep into the obscure people of classic cinema, try Kerry Segrave's account of Hollywood extras. This is also a McFarland title; it was released in April 2013, but it looks like it has flown beneath the radar enough to be something even avid film fans might not know about yet. (McFarland mostly sells to libraries and doesn't really promote its titles to general readers.)

BEYOND CASABLANCA: 100 CLASSIC MOVIES WORTH WATCHING - By Jennifer C. Garlen

My own book came out just a little over a year ago, and people who have bought it tell me they enjoyed it. Beyond Casablanca is meant to be a guide book for both newcomers and veteran fans; as the title suggests, I try to get beyond the most obvious classic movies to discuss films that people might not be as familiar with today. It's available in paperback on Amazon for $16.20 and on Kindle for $4.99.

What books are on your classic movie Christmas wishlist this year?

A Shroud of Thoughts Reviews BEYOND CASABLANCA

Terry of A Shroud of Thoughts has posted a new review of BEYOND CASABLANCA, so I wanted to share it here. Thanks so much, Terry! While you're visiting, check out the rest of Terry's blog and his own book, TELEVISION: RARE & WELL-DONE.

A Shroud of Thoughts: Beyond Casablanca by Jennifer C. Garlen: If you are a classic film buff and Turner Classic Movies fan on Twitter or Google+, you may be familiar  with Jennifer Garlen. Jennifer is t...

BEYOND CASABLANCA on Goodreads

Goodreads is a wonderful site for readers, and I enjoy using it to keep track of my own reading and find new books that I might like. BEYOND CASABLANCA: 100 CLASSIC MOVIES WORTH WATCHING also has its own Goodreads page, where you can add the book to your "to-read" list, rate it, and even write reviews.

Here's the link to BEYOND CASABLANCA on Goodreads. I hope you'll check it out! So far, the book has 12 ratings and 3 reviews, and it's on over 200 "to-read" lists. You can also visit my Author Page, have a look at my other books, and even become a fan (I have 11 fans right now - maybe I'm not ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille!). If you feel especially social, you can become a Goodreads friend and share book suggestions and your reading lists with me, which I very much enjoy.

Even if a classic movie guide isn't your thing, Goodreads is definitely worth a visit, and it's a great way to enhance your experience as a reader of whatever kinds of books you love!

As always, BEYOND CASABLANCA is available in paperback on both Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and you can buy it directly from the publisher, Westview. The Kindle edition is only $4.99 on Amazon.

BEYOND CASABLANCA Interview on Classic Movie Hub

Just thought I would take a break from writing reviews to let people know that Classic Movie Hub has recently posted an interview with me about BEYOND CASABLANCA: 100 CLASSIC MOVIES WORTH WATCHING. CMH is a great site, and I encourage you to visit and poke around! You'll find blog posts from lots of classic movie bloggers, fun facts, and articles about all kinds of people, places, and things related to classic movies.

Here's the link to the CMH interview.

Thanks to Classic Movie Hub for supporting me!

Win Copies of BEYOND CASABLANCA on Classic Movie Hub in April!

My wonderful friend over at Classic Movie Hub is running a terrific series of contests this month, and the prizes are copies of my book, Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching. If you haven't made CMH a regular stop in your browsing already, this is a great time to visit and get to know the site. CMH helps classic movie fans find blogs of interest and also serves as a treasure trove of knowledge about all kinds of classic film information. I especially enjoy the birthday section of the site and visit it pretty much every day to find out which classic film notables are marking birthdays, but CMH has articles about museums, films, and lots of other subjects, too.

CMH will have five copies of Beyond Casablanca to give away to contest winners all this month. I really appreciate the help in letting people know about the book, and I hope that the winners will enjoy their copies! The final copy will be a signed edition, so look out for that one if you like your books autographed.

If you're not sure you want to win a copy of the book, you can find out more about it and even read preview pages at Amazon. You can also get crazy and buy the Kindle edition for $4.99, but you should still check out Classic Movie Hub and enter the contest.

Like Pinterest? You can check out the visual Table of Contents for Beyond Casablanca and follow Classic Movie Hub there for photos of classic stars and stills from films.

Thanks to CMH for running this promotion, and good luck to everyone who enters!

Books, Movies, and Books about Movies

2012 was an unusually busy year for yours truly, both as a film blogger and as a writer. The Virtual Virago blog is mostly a classic movie review site these days, but I still post the occasional literary or pop culture discussion, as well as conference papers. When I'm not blogging here or writing articles over at Examiner.com, I'm typing away at some project or other. What have I been up to lately? Here's a quick look.

THE COMPLETE NOVELS OF JANE AUSTEN (2013) - Just published by Race Point, this edition has all of the novels plus an introduction written by me. It will probably sell better than anything else I ever work on, but, sadly, my name isn't even in the product information (I feel like Austen in her own lifetime - "By a Lady" and all that). Here's hoping I got a byline in the actual book! The publisher is currently doing a Giveaway on Goodreads if you happen to be a Janeite in need of a lavish, hardcover Valentine for yourself.

BEYOND CASABLANCA: 100 CLASSIC MOVIES WORTH WATCHING (2012) - My darling project, which took three years from start to finish, is the book I am most proud of to date. Writing this collection of reviews was so much fun that I would love to do a second book! I have made so many wonderful friends in the classic movie fan community, and this book has been an attempt to honor those friendships by sharing these wonderful old films with others. The book is now on Kindle for $4.99, which I hope will encourage some new readers to give it a try.


 

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (2012) - Barnes & Noble occasionally hires me to write introductions to classic novels, and this one was especially nice to work on because I love Austen and her pop culture cred. The edition they produced is really nice, and I also provided all of the bonus material you'll find inside. Besides, who wouldn't love to see her name on the same page with Jane Austen's?


SHERLOCK HOLMES FOR THE 21st CENTURY (2012) - My usual partner in crime, Anissa Graham, and I co-authored an essay for this McFarland anthology by Lynnette Porter. "Sex and the Single Sleuth" looks at the ways that film and TV adaptations have made Sherlock Holmes sexy, especially in the last few years. Of course, we also talk about Basil Rathbone and the early days of Holmes on film!

THE WIDER WORLDS OF JIM HENSON (2012) - Anissa and I finished editing our second McFarland anthology of essays about the works of Jim Henson, this time widening our scope to include films like Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal and series like Fraggle Rock. We had some wonderful contributors who wrote fascinating essays. I wrote "Fandom and Nostalgia in Disney's The Muppets" and co-wrote "Telling Toy Stories in The Christmas Toy." These anthologies are a lot of work, but we have gotten to know some great scholars from around the world, and hopefully other people find our contributions to Muppet Studies useful.


I've finally gotten to the point where I say, "I'm a writer," when people ask me what I do, and I think I might actually mean it. We'll see what I manage to get done in 2013...

BEYOND CASABLANCA is now on Kindle!

I'm very pleased to announce that BEYOND CASABLANCA: 100 CLASSIC MOVIES WORTH WATCHING, is now available as an ebook for Kindle, and right now you can buy the book for only $4.99! I have been working on making this happen since before Christmas, so I'm very excited that it is now a reality. I hope it will help these great old movies find more viewers and new fans.

BEYOND CASABLANCA is also still available as a paperback from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com, and if you're buying the book for an older relative or friend that is probably still the best way to go. It has been a big hit with my lifetime learners, which makes me happy because it was written with them in mind.

There are also only a few days left for the Goodreads Giveaway of BEYOND CASABLANCA, and we're up to 300 entries so far! If you'd like to win a free copy, head over there before January 31 and put your name in the hat.

Goodreads Giveaway for BEYOND CASABLANCA

If you're interested in winning a free copy of Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching, there are three copies up for grabs in my Goodreads Giveaway. Goodreads is a great site for book lovers, and it's free to create a profile. The Giveaway runs from now until January 31, at which point Goodreads will send me the contact information for the three lucky winners it randomly selects.

Here's the link to the Goodreads page for Beyond Casablanca. Just click "Enter to Win" to get a chance at scoring a free book! While you're there, you can also check out the other Giveaway promotions. There are always lots of new books!

The especially curious can even visit my Goodreads Author page to see the other books I've helped to produce, including two anthologies about the works of Jim Henson and editions of literary classics for Barnes & Noble.

Blog Reviews of BEYOND CASABLANCA

A few of my fellow bloggers have taken the time to write reviews of my book, Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching, and I want to share them here in hopes of sending some traffic their way and also proving that I'm not the only person who likes my book. :)

K. Dale Koontz over at Unfettered Brilliance was one of the first people to buy a copy AND actually read it. Here's her review, which also includes a discussion of the movie, Hotel Transylvania.

Will McKinley of Cinematically Insane just posted this very thorough review. Thanks, Will!

There are also a couple of reviews over on the Amazon page for the book, which you can find here.

If anyone else takes the time to post a review of the book on a blog or site, please let me know, and I will post a link to it, too.

Christmas Shopping for Classic Movie Fans?

If you happen to have classic movie fans on your Christmas list this year, you might consider getting them my book, Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching. I bet you that they don't already have it! It's $18 at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com, and on Amazon it is available for Prime free shipping.

I'm really proud of the book and excited to be able to share my passion for classic films with readers. As a teacher, both of college students and lifetime learners, one of my favorite things has been the chance to introduce students to film. It's a wonderful moment when someone comes up to me and tells me how much they enjoyed a movie that they watched for the first time in one of my classes! The book is an effort to share that same experience on a larger scale. I hope people will enjoy reading it, but even more I hope it will lead them to classic movies they have never seen before or help them appreciate old favorites in new ways.

If you'd like to know what the reviews in the book are like, you might spend a few minutes browsing this blog, where I post full-length reviews of classic films. I offer brief (spoiler-free!) plot summaries but focus on what a viewer needs to know to appreciate the movie before seeing it. I also try to provide a list of additional films a person might enjoy next. Because of my background as an English professor (I have a PhD in English from Auburn University, as well as degrees from Agnes Scott College and Georgia Southern University), I tend to discuss elements like narrative, character, and symbolism more than strictly technical aspects of cinematography. I also talk about the cultural legacy of a film - the forces that produced it and the influence it has had since its original release.

Since today is Black Friday, it's a great time to head on over to Amazon or Barnes & Noble and pop Beyond Casablanca in your shopping cart. Thanks to everyone out there who has already bought a copy, and happy shopping to everyone else!

Beyond Casablanca on Amazon
Beyond Casablanca on Barnes & Noble.com

Classic Movies at the Library in December

As part of my ongoing efforts to promote Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching, I'll be introducing and screening two classic movies at the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library in December. These are free events and open to the public, and of course I will have copies of the book for sale at both films!

On Monday, December 3, we'll be watching The African Queen (1951) with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. The next week, on Monday, December 10, we'll get into the holiday spirit with Frank Capra's Christmas classic, It's a Wonderful Life (1946), starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Thomas Mitchell.

Both events begin at 6 p.m. in the second floor room of the main library. If you live in the Huntsville area, I hope you'll join us for some communal movie watching and lively discussion!

Beyond Casablanca is currently available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com. 

Book Signing at the Huntsville Public Library

A quick break from this month's classic horror posts for this announcement!

I'll be talking about Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching and signing copies of the book at the Huntsville Madison County Public Library on Friday, October 12, 2012, from 1-2 p.m.

The event will take place just before my Friday Film Festival screening for LearningQUEST, so I hope a lot of my lifetime learning friends will be able to come.

If you can't make it, you can still order the book on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com. I'll also be doing some special public film events and talks closer to the end of the year.

Published by Westview

Many of my friends and academic colleagues are writers of one sort or another, so I want to make a point of recommending the publisher I used for Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching. I chose Published by Westview because my friend, Jeff Thompson, suggested them to me, and I have been really happy with that decision.

I have previously published with McFarland and have also worked with Sterling Publishing and Race Point Publishing, so I do have some experience with the process. I pitched Beyond Casablanca to a few small, traditional publishers, but the niche topic did not arouse much interest, and I realized that my project could gather dust for years while I hunted for a company that would take a chance on it. I certainly had enough faith in my book to invest what Westview charges for their services, and I think that the final product is just as nice as the books I have worked on with McFarland and the other publishers. I had the opportunity to choose from a variety of attractive cover designs, and I was able to make changes and corrections several times to get the book just right. The time from start to finish was very fast, and the book was on Amazon and Barnes & Noble before I even got my author copies in the mail!

I should especially mention the hard work and constant feedback from Mary Catherine Nelson, who frequently worked nights and weekends to keep the process moving forward as quickly as possible. She made me feel that my book was as important to her as it is to me, and that gave me great confidence in her desire to create a quality product.

If you are looking for a publisher for your book, I would absolutely recommend Published by Westview. Tell them I sent you!

By the way, you'll find all of my books that are currently in print on my Author Page on Amazon.com. The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson is due out from McFarland in January 2013, and I will update the page as my other projects become available.

Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching

I'm over the moon today because my book has finally arrived! Beyond Casablanca: 100 Classic Movies Worth Watching, is up on Amazon, and I just got my author copies in the mail today. If you like the Classic Films in Focus reviews that I write, you'll like the book, which includes a lot of brand-new material not previously posted here or at Examiner.com.

Thanks so much to Mary Catharine Nelson at Published by Westview for helping me get this into print, and thanks to my friend Jeff Thompson for suggesting them to me.

I hope people will enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed watching the movies and writing the reviews. It has been a three year labor of love and an awful lot of fun!

If you're interested in buying a copy of Beyond Casablanca, you can find it on Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com. 

Beyond Casablanca on Amazon
Beyond Casablanca on Barnes & Noble.com