THE ESSENTIALS VOL. 2: 52 MORE MUST-SEE MOVIES AND WHY THEY MATTER Paperback – 20 October 2020

Any fan of Turner Classic Movies should know the name Jeremy Arnold. Such a fan might have even seen him on the channel. His name is entwined with a long-term series entitled The Essentials, which presents films (uncut and commercial-free, of course) judged by the TCM staff to be must-see movies for the cinematic aficionado. The book under review here is the second volume of 52 essential films, published in 2020. The foreword was written by Ben Mankiewicz, one of the two people most closely associated with Turner Classic Movies. The other person is, of course, Robert Osborne, who wrote the foreword for the first volume. I am still mourning Robert Osborne, who walked off the set in 2017. For me, he epitomized TCM, but Ben Mankiewicz is a very capable and personable replacement for a man who, in reality, is irreplaceable. The second Arnold volume, however, is just as mesmerizing as was the first. As I was reading this book, I kept thinking, “Why was this film not in the first volume. It seems like such an obvious first choice.” Yes, Casablanca was included in the first volume, but The Maltese Falcon is in the second one. Many other pairings like this one could be mentioned and it would be fun to mention them here, but my main hope is that I can enthuse cinephiles to pick up the first volume, read it, and then play a guessing game about which films were chosen for the second volume and see what the resulting score is. Both books cover much of the same time span, expectedly beginning in the Silent Era, with Metropolis (1927) and Sunrise in the same year and ending with This is Spinal Tap (1984) in the first volume and Field of Dreams (1989) in the second. The same chapter layout is used in both volumes, which is consistently intriguing. Each treatment begins with a list of credits, including the director, producer(s), and screenplay author(s). The film company, year of release, running length, and whether black & white or color are indicated, as well as a capsule of the film storyline. Then, Arnold explores why he thinks the film is essential and for what the viewer should watch. In addition, commentary is offered by the TCM host and the invited co-host. Finally, each chapter is decorated with a selection of images from the film, including often the initial poster. Nicely enough, even with films released in color, the photographic images are often in black and white. I found that no matters how many times I might have seen a given film or how much I had read about it previously, there was something interesting to learn, pointed out by Arnold. So, am I recommending you buy this book? Oh, yeah. And don’t forget to buy the first volume at the same time.

I gave this book and another one in the series as a gift to my mother in law. She loves movies, the older the better. She often calls me and shares interesting facts that she’s learned.

I love movies and this book gives great ideas to watch some of the great oldies!

52 more intriguing choices from TCM. I have the first volume, and this is a great addition. TCM's selection criteria for "essential" movies and for the subset they include in the books is interesting, and I find myself agreeing with their choices almost all the time. Like the first volume, this one is loaded with great pictures and pithy text describing each movie. I find myself referring to both volumes when I want to refresh my memory...

If you read the previous essentials book from TCM then you know what your getting into. It’s a marvelous book full of great information and even better movies ranging from the 20s to the 80s. It’s got informative and entertaining insight on brilliant classics such as High Noon, Rashomon, Psycho, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Harlan County USA, Field of Dreams, The Maltese Falcon, The Sting and many more. If you loved the last book or need a new viewing guide, this book is perfect for you. This is a great sequel to the last book and I can’t wait for a third!!