Photoplay Editions & Movie Tie-Ins
The Golden Years [1912-1969] ... Fantasy Films

Fantasy provides the moviegoer and the reader an escape from reality that is needed periodically for us all.  The expression “in the mind’s eye” takes a special meaning while reading and it is not uncommon to visualize some famous actor as a face for the novel’s characters.  Conversely the film viewer can simply recall the actor’s image while reading the latest film edition, after the theater event.  Using our imaginations is a wonderful thing and can help us in our day-to-day decisions.  For additional information on films with fantasy elements, please see the subject pages for Adventure, Horror, Science Fiction, Children’s and Juvenile.

Silent films with crude special effects were enhanced by the written word and audiences delighted in the notion of “Read the book and see the Photoplay”.  Early instances are The Blue Bird (1918 remade in 1940), The Thief of Bagdad (1924, remade in 1940 & 1961), Peter Pan (1924), The Wizard of Oz (1925 remade in 1939) and Faust (1926).  The advent of the “talkie” allowed the reader to experience amplified dialog in the book format and the audience member to put their imagination up on the screen and not be so busy reading it.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was first filmed in 1915 and Grosset and Dunlap was busy promoting this film.  They were already dominant in the photoplay edition publishing business.  They issued an oversize edition with a colored still frontispiece protected by a tissue guard, that also came in a gift box with a photo scene from the wraparound photo dust jacket.  Also available was a regular-sized edition with a pasted-on movie still on the book’s front board, a photo dust jacket, and available in blue or brown bindings.  The talkie remake in 1934 with Charlotte Henry has several film editions as well.  Please refer to the Disney subject page for the 1951 animated version and their special brand of fantasy.

She an 1897 fantasy novel by H. Rider Haggard involving an African encounter with “She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed”, has been filmed at least four times with related film editions.  The Railroad Series digest paperback film edition published by J. S. Ogilvie for the 1917 lost silent film with Valeska Suratt is out there somewhere.  More silent film editions in 1925 with Betty Blythe, a “talkie” in 1935 with Helen Gahagan by Grosset and Dunlap, and in 1965 with Ursula Andress paperbacks.

The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published in 1912 and filmed in 1925 allowed special effects pioneer Willis O’Brien to breathe life into extinct dinosaurs.  The actor Wallace Beery played Professor Challenger as team leader and Bessie Love as the pretty face, in their exploration of a lost world.  British and American film books for this title are actively sought.  The 1960 remake and the Jules Verne novels The Mysterious Island (1929 remade in 1961) and Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) are further film examples with prehistoric creatures and book tie-ins.

King Kong (1933) is one of those fantasy films with a crossover into several film subject areas but also a First Edition book that had spent some time on the New York Times Bestseller List.  The book appeared in bookstores on December 27, 1932 prior to the April 7, 1933 film premiere.  The novelization was also serialized in Mystery magazine in the issues for February and March in 1933.  It is not clear if the February issue may have preceded the hardcover.  One can speculate that the stills and text created quite some anticipation for the film release.  The Grosset and Dunlap edition is noteworthy for the wraparound movie poster artwork by Glenn Cravath and the 12 endpaper stills.  King Kong is not a hard book to find but first edition prices tend to be high.  This comes down to its status as ‘title most desired by collectors’ in this collecting genre.  Many volumes have been written on the merits of this film.   The title was out of print for many years until paperback editions appeared in 1966.  Sady there is no hardcover British equivalent until their paperback edition.

The Wizard of Oz film in 1939 gave the London publisher Hutchinson an ample opportunity to tie into the film with the original novel and novelizations.  There are two oversized hardcover books with color stills and wraparound photo dust jackets. One deluxe edition has a DJ non movie photo also on the book covers.  Three oversized softcover editions were cheaply published for the children’s market by Hutchinson also.  The American Bobbs Merrill film edition for the remake film pales in comparison.  Certainly, Judy Garland is imagined whenever the topic of Oz is brought up, for most of us.

Superman never appeared in a movie tie-in until the 1978 film with Christopher Reeve.  The Marvel and D.C. comic superheroes are blockbuster events these days with film tie-ins galore.  We can look at the paperback tie-ins for the 1966 film Batman The Movie with Adam West as an early precursor.

Webmaster: webadm@photoplay-edition.com (Bay State Systems)

Last Revision:  May 14, 2021 7:58 AM