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TERRORS OF THE SCREEN-Frank Manchel. As said previously, found this at the little library at Fort Baker CA (right across from San Francisco Bay) in the summer of 1971. My nine year old self had about five FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND and one CASTLE OF FRANKENSTEIN and had some back history with actors/films, but this gave me a crash course from the turn of the century up to 1968 with films/people I had never heard of like THE CABINET OF DR CALIGARI, NOSFERATU, M, James Whale and Val Lewton. It also helped that my local CREATURE FEATURES was having a "90 Day Freeze" showing Double Features of mainly old Universals at about the same time.
After seeing a copy for sale on CREEPY CLASSICS.COM, I had to place an order, probably more for nostalgia sakes than anything else. While I still enjoyed it very much (especially all the photos which so captivated me back then), found it very academically written, almost a McFarland type tome, without the sense of fun many horror histories benefit from. Some goofs and a tendency to throw in spoilers (especially PSYCHO) lessened the books qualities. But to be fair, no Internet back than, so he was probably relying on memory/notes and this is one of the earlier Horror film histories that I know of (Manchel lists some recommended books in the back. some of which I liked very much, especially the Carlos Claren ILLUSTRATED HISTORY OF THE HORROR FILM). So worth checking out and while it hasn't aged well. still takes me back to the little boy who was embarking on a new, exciting and lifelong love affair.
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