The Great Movie Shorts (1972)

 

Leonard Maltin's The Great Movie Shorts is a seminal book on classic short subjects. While this book is still incredibly enjoyable and informative today, to truly appreciate it, you must put into the context of the time it was written. At this time most writings about movie focused on "important" films, nearly all of which were feature length. A whole book long study of the live action short subject of the 1930's and 40's was something virtually unheard of. Today there have been many books written about classic short subjects (Leonard Maltin would even co-write another on (with Richard W. Bann), The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang). As such this could have been a very basic history and still been an important book. That this is such a well-researched and incredibly informative (even today) book at this time makes it all the more impressive. 

This book is broken up into multiple different sections. The first of these is brief history of each major (and some not so major) Hollywood studio and their output in the short subject field. The second is a survey of many of the classic short subject series. This section makes up the bulk of the book and as well as the surveys each series gets a filmography giving you a list of each film, acting and directing credits and a plot summary. This section includes the most popular and famous series such as Laurel and Hardy, The Three Stooges, Our Gang (AKA The Little Rascals), Joe McDoakes, Pete Smith (whose shorts play on TCM regularly) and Charley Chase. Also included are the sound shorts of the beloved silent comedians Buster Keaton and Harry Langdon (the talkie work of legendary silent comedy producer Mack Sennett is even chronicled in this book). Here you get a great picture of an overlooked part of the work of some true Hollywood legends. There are also many series here that even the most avid cinephiles will not have seen or maybe even heard of. Not all the series listed here are comedies as we also get a look at such series as Crime Does Not Pay, John Nesbit's Passing Parade and Screen Snapshots. After this comes surveys of various genres that were not talked about in depth elsewhere in this book (newsreels, travelogues, musicals and sports). 

With all this the book marks a perfect introduction to those who wish to get further into classic short subjects, letting you know all aspects of the classic live action short subject, so that whatever your interests may be, you will know when to start. Maltin's writing also often fully reflects his passion for the subject and will make you want to seek out many of the films he has written about. Yet this book is equally essential to seasoned movie buffs. It's in-depth filmographies, look at obscure films (as well as the better-known ones), surprisingly in-depth histories and especially its quotes from many of those who worked on these films (many of whom Maltin talked to firsthand) make this just as essential reading for true cinephiles. Beyond this the book is simply a lot of fun to read. 

This book would be reissued and updated in 2015, when it would be retitled Selected Short Subjects" From Spanky to the Three Stooges. 

This book should have a treasured place in every movie buff's library. It certainly has a very cherished place in mine.