Film Facts
All things concerning the master of suspense are elucidated in The Encyclopedia of Alfred Hitchcock. From The Birds to Joseph Conrad (whose Secret Agent Hitchcock adapted for his film Sabotage) to The Wrong Man, brief entries describe the films, stars and themes of Hitchcock's career, as well as the theorists who study him and the filmmakers who imitate him. Written by Thomas Leitch, director of the University of Delaware's film studies program, this comprehensive resource is part of Facts on File's Great Filmmakers series of A to Z references on the world's most important directors. (Facts on File, $60 416p ISBN 0-8160-4386-6; paper $19.95 -4387-6; May)
In time for the spring release of Columbia Pictures' Spider-Man comes a history of the comic book hero in all his many incarnations. Spider-Man Confidential: From Comic Icon to Hollywood Hero recounts the 1962 birth of Spider-Man, created by Marvel Comics editor Stan Lee as a kind of everyman hero who would break with the comic book formula by losing as many battles as he won. Entertainment writer Edward Gross (X-Files Confidential) briefly traces the evolution of the strip and provides episode guides for the various Spider-Man animated television series. He also details the making of the Hollywood film and offers a "Rogues' Gallery" of Spider-Man's enemies. (Hyperion, $16.95 paper 304p ISBN 0-7868-8722-2; Apr.)
Was Fidel Castro an extra in a Hollywood movie? Did Hitchcock ask Grace Kelly to do a strip tease in her window? Do murder rates go up when the Santa Ana winds arrive? These and other rumors are explained and dispelled (or verified) in L.A. Exposed: Strange Myths and Curious Legends in the City of Angels. Paul Young (Buzzwords: L.A. Freshspeak, with Anna Scotti) researched dozens of persistent urban myths and scandals surrounding the celebrities, landmarks, natural history, politicians and criminals of Los Angeles. Writing in the breathless, hyperbolic style of the tabloid stories he investigates, the knowledgeable Young is not immune to stirring up a few conspiracy theories of his own. (St. Martin's/Griffin, $21.95 paper 320p ISBN 0-312-20646-1; Apr.)
Producers, animation directors, actresses and others talk about their Hollywood careers in Great Women of Film. Author and filmmaker Helena Lumme (Screenwriters: America's Storytellers in Portrait) profiles entertainment industry luminaries like composer Rachel Portman (who wrote the Oscar-nominated scores for The Cider House Rules and Chocolat), producer Christine Vachon (Happiness; Boys Don't Cry) and actress Susan Sarandon. Illustrated with lush color photographs, the book accompanies a current photo exhibit of the same name at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. (Watson-Guptill/Billboard, $29.95 128p ISBN 0-8230-7956-2; Mar.)
