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Cinema 57 La Fantastique - First Monster Magazine?

Author	Comment
Dr Acula	Cinema 57 La Fantastique - First Monster Magazine?	Lead	[-]
Feb 10 08 9:47 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	On Stephen Bissette's MYRANT for Feb. 9th of this year, he says that even Forry says that the Cinema 57 magazine is the first horror magazine... is this indeed the case? My God, what's Bond doing?... I think he's attempting re-entry, sir. http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/ Cole's Comics: All About Jack Cole http://colescomics.blogspot.com/
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FAMOUSMONSTERS62		#1	[-]
Feb 10 08 2:38 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	That is what I have always been told . I have a copy in my collection ,It's in French so I don't know what it says inside.
Tim Lucas VW		#2	[-]
Feb 10 08 4:06 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	It was a single issue of the magazine CINEMA 57 devoted to horror; it was not the first horror film magazine in any continuous sense, but for a single issue, it did focus on the genre. I've never seen the interior of the issue myself, so I can't confirm what it did or how well it did it. By the same token, Curtis Harrington wrote some important essays about the horror film that first appeared in Sight & Sound and other periodicals as early as the late 1940s -- so serious criticism about the genre written for film magazines by horror fans pre-dated the birth of the so-called "monster magazine." Read Video WatchBlog at www.videowatchdog.com!
Dr Acula		#3	[-]
Feb 10 08 10:01 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	You'd thinbk if just having a single issue of a periodical devoted to horror qualifies it to be a horror magazine, there there's be some earlier version out there... thanks for the info! My God, what's Bond doing?... I think he's attempting re-entry, sir. http://www.eccentric-cinema.com/ Cole's Comics: All About Jack Cole http://colescomics.blogspot.com/
Wich2		#4	[-]
Feb 10 08 10:45 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Dr.- As General Readers and General Publishers thought Horror was kinda seedy, doesn't surprise me there was none earlier. There WERE earlier Horror COMICS, of course! Best, -Craig W.
Tim Lucas VW		#5	[-]
Feb 10 08 11:07 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	One thing that Steve's blog points out, of which I was previously unaware, is that this "magazine" is 145 pages in length... which is twice the length of the average issue of MIDI-MINUIT FANTASTIQUE, which was already a paperback-sized publication in its own right. Taking this into consideration, I think this qualifies as a book rather than a magazine. Read Video WatchBlog at www.videowatchdog.com!
Mirek Henry		#6	[-]
Feb 10 08 11:53 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tim Lucas VW wrote: It was a single issue of the magazine CINEMA 57 devoted to horror; it was not the first horror film magazine in any continuous sense, but for a single issue, it did focus on the genre. Precisely. So it was not the first horror film magazine, but rather a magazine that devoted an issue to horror films. Unless someone comes up with a magazine specifically crafted to cover horror films, from the first issue onward (if it lived beyond #1), then FM is the first horror film magazine.
doctor kiss		#7	[-]
Feb 11 08 12:08 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Tim Lucas VW wrote: I think this qualifies as a book rather than a magazine. The term which probably fits Cinéma 57 best is 'journal.' The publication ran for over 600 issues between 1954 and 1999 (with the title changing to reflect the year, from Cinéma 54 through to Cinéma 99), so it's certainly something distinct from a book. As befits most scholarly journals, the list of contributing authors is effectively a checklist of prominent (in this case, Francophone) film historians of the era: Lotte Eisner, Ado Kyrou, Raymond Borde, Étienne Chaumenton, etc. Gérard Lenne's description of the issue as 'the first summary study' of the genre might more readily be understood to mean 'the first scholarly overview' of the genre, representing the moment at which 'le fantastique' gains credibility as a subject for discussion within French post-war film-historical circles.
ghoulseye		#8	[-]
Feb 11 08 5:02 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Mirek Henry wrote: Tim Lucas VW wrote: It was a single issue of the magazine CINEMA 57 devoted to horror; it was not the first horror film magazine in any continuous sense, but for a single issue, it did focus on the genre. Precisely. So it was not the first horror film magazine, but rather a magazine that devoted an issue to horror films. Unless someone comes up with a magazine specifically crafted to cover horror films, from the first issue onward (if it lived beyond #1), then FM is the first horror film magazine. Yep, exactly. There are tons of American and foreign REGULAR movie mags that have devoted articles to monster horror movies/horror actor profiles--some even having a movie monster on the cover. I suppose the first of these would be the elusive Edison Kinetogram magazine , a 1910 issue of which has a shot of the Edison Frankenstein monster on the cover. I have the first issue (1920) of the French movie mag 'Film Complet'- featuring Barrymore as Mr. Hyde on its cover; a 1933 Italian movie mag w/ King Kong on the cover; and (though I don't have it) there is a 1927 issue of Film Complet with a great shot of Nosferatu on the cover. There are lots more examples of GENERAL mags having movie monster covers/articles thru the years--years before there was the First movie monster magazine, Famous Monsters.
todmichel		#9	[-]
Feb 11 08 5:37 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Mirek Henry wrote: Tim Lucas VW wrote: It was a single issue of the magazine CINEMA 57 devoted to horror; it was not the first horror film magazine in any continuous sense, but for a single issue, it did focus on the genre. Precisely. So it was not the first horror film magazine, but rather a magazine that devoted an issue to horror films. Unless someone comes up with a magazine specifically crafted to cover horror films, from the first issue onward (if it lived beyond #1), then FM is the first horror film magazine. If you discount the special issue of CINEMA 57, then the first monster magazine was the British SCREEN CHILLS that pre-dated FMoF. Even if only one issue was published. If I remember well the cover depicted the Teenage Werewolf. Magazines depicting only one movie (like the issue of "Le Film Complet" mentioned earlier) can be discounted. This mag, like many similar others in France, only published a little novelization of a movie, illustrated with stills of this movie. So, many horror / fantasy titles were treated, like "Nosferatu", "The Beast with Five Fingers", "Phantom of the Rue Morgue", "The Crime of Dr. Crespi", "The Curse of Frankenstein", etc. This has nothing in common with what we call a "monstermagazine". The issue of "Cinema 57" was also an one-shot in a long series of issues (1954-1999, as says Doctor Kiss), but it was more or less the concept of a monstermagazine, being composed of different articles, ALL of them related to a movie, a series of movies, including a gallery of movie monsters, etc. The SAME year, Michel Laclos published his book "Le Fantastique au Cinéma" (Jean-Jacques Pauvert, publisher) which was certainly the first book entirely devoted to the genre. Last Edited By: todmichel Feb 11 08 5:48 AM. Edited 1 times.
Mirek Henry		#10	[-]
Feb 11 08 8:49 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	todmichel wrote: Mirek Henry wrote: Tim Lucas VW wrote: It was a single issue of the magazine CINEMA 57 devoted to horror; it was not the first horror film magazine in any continuous sense, but for a single issue, it did focus on the genre. Precisely. So it was not the first horror film magazine, but rather a magazine that devoted an issue to horror films. Unless someone comes up with a magazine specifically crafted to cover horror films, from the first issue onward (if it lived beyond #1), then FM is the first horror film magazine. If you discount the special issue of CINEMA 57, then the first monster magazine was the British SCREEN CHILLS that pre-dated FMoF. Even if only one issue was published. If I remember well the cover depicted the Teenage Werewolf. Isn't there still a question of exactly when SCREEN CHILLS came out--and if it indeed did predate FM? Mirek
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Bill Warren		#11	[-]
Feb 11 08 5:19 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Screen Chills appeared after Famous Monsters. One way Forry had of persuading Jim Warren to try a monster movie magazine was to show him the fantastique issue of Cinema 57.
ghoulseye		#12	[-]
Feb 11 08 6:09 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Bill Warren wrote: Screen Chills appeared after Famous Monsters. One way Forry had of persuading Jim Warren to try a monster movie magazine was to show him the fantastique issue of Cinema 57. Thanks, Bill. Why these people insist that Screen Chills came before FM# 1 is beyond me. Forry himself would have acknowledged this, if it were the case. Instead, he recalls that Screen Chills came out months and months later in England, and several of his Brit friends notified him of the appearance of the mag. This was later in '58, months after FM# 1 had appeared on the stands. But, people love to discredit FM's place in history as the 1st filmonster magazine. Conveniently, Screen Chills gives no date inside (or outside) the magazine. By the way, in July of 1966, I paid a Hollywood Blvd. bookstore $10 for Screen Chills. It was rare even back then. Rare--but NOT the first. Last Edited By: ghoulseye Feb 11 08 6:17 PM. Edited 1 times.
ghoulseye		#13	[-]
Feb 11 08 6:16 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Mirek Henry wrote: If you discount the special issue of CINEMA 57, then the first monster magazine was the British SCREEN CHILLS that pre-dated FMoF. Even if only one issue was published. If I remember well the cover depicted the Teenage Werewolf. Nope. Screen Chills came out AFTER FM # 1 did. Sorry. The cover of SC had Teenage Werewolf's CLAWS on the cover--around a girls neck.
Pulpmonster		#14	[-]
Feb 11 08 7:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Hi Guys, I might as well kick in an opinion. I've had a copy of Screen Chills for awhile. It's not really a "monster" mag in the traditional sense. It specialized in story versions of current horror films of the day, and not so much movie review or critique. It was a British pub and lasted just the one issue, although it does advertise as an ongoing within. The issue is not dated, but it does advertise several 1957 films as upcoming releases. I think it's probably safe to say it was released in early '57. As for Cinema 57, I think the only reason it is remembered....is for being Forry's inspiration for FM. john
ghoulseye		#15	[-]
Feb 11 08 9:03 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Pulpmonster wrote: Hi Guys, I might as well kick in an opinion. I've had a copy of Screen Chills for awhile. It's not really a "monster" mag in the traditional sense. It specialized in story versions of current horror films of the day, and not so much movie review or critique. It was a British pub and lasted just the one issue, although it does advertise as an ongoing within. The issue is not dated, but it does advertise several 1957 films as upcoming releases. I think it's probably safe to say it was released in early '57. As for Cinema 57, I think the only reason it is remembered....is for being Forry's inspiration for FM. john Safe? No. The only 1958 movie mentioned in FM# 1 is Teenage frankenstein--and THAT's brecause Forry's friend, the movie's producer Jim Nichiolson, gave Forry an ADVANCE picture from the movie (included in the 'Frankenstein' history article in FM# 1). As I've said many times before, absent an authenticated manifest of Bristish publications (magazines) for 1957 listing Screen Chills as a publication issued sometime in that year, along with all the other 1957 Brit magazines for that year, then it can be concluded that FM #1 was THE FIRST. You cannot make assertions that SC was first based solely on its content of 1957 movies. Indeed maybe some such manifest or Brit. disrtibutor's list of 1957 publications exists. None has ever surfaced and forry would certainly have been notified by his many brit correspondents if a movie monster mag entitled Screen Chills appeared on the Brit stands in '57.
Mirek Henry		#16	[-]
Feb 11 08 9:39 PM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	I don't know. The evidence is inconclusive either way at this point. Ghoulseye, you seem to load all your evidence to the fact that Forry would have known (or at least would have admitted) if SCREEN CHILLS appeared in 1957. Perhaps, if it appeared in '57, he didn't know or would have liked to negate the magazine's "first" status, if indeed it was first.
ghoulseye		#17	[-]
Feb 12 08 1:49 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Mirek Henry wrote: I don't know. The evidence is inconclusive either way at this point. Ghoulseye, you seem to load all your evidence to the fact that Forry would have known (or at least would have admitted) if SCREEN CHILLS appeared in 1957. Perhaps, if it appeared in '57, he didn't know or would have liked to negate the magazine's "first" status, if indeed it was first. I'll go with that--that the the PROOF is inconclusive--OK> BUT I' d say that the WEIGHT of known eveidence thus far is with Famous Monsters being first . In FM # 22's editorial Forry states he proved to a questioning fan that all the monster titles, including Screen Chills, came out AFTER FM 1. HOW he proved this in the case of SC remains a mystery, because as we all know SC is undated. However, he has said that late in '58 he was apprised of a new mag called Screen Chills by several of his Brit counterparts. Forry was always totally honest in crediting Cinema 57's inspiration for FM. IF SC came out in 57, it would seem natural for him to acknowledge SC's inspiration likewise. For me, FM was first absent authenticated eveidence to the contrary--evidence--- NOT suppositon or inferrence. No Brit fan has ever produced or brought to light any material evidence that SC predated FM# 1. Until such evidence surfaces, and I don't think it will, then I go with FM being first--mostly because only in late '58 did forry's Brit friends make him aware of the existence of SC.
Cadaverino		#18	[-]
Feb 12 08 4:14 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	The date of a British copyright registration may be of help, although I don't know how British copyright registrations are researched.
ghoulseye		#19	[-]
Feb 12 08 5:06 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	Cadaverino wrote: The date of a British copyright registration may be of help, although I don't know how British copyright registrations are researched. Yep. How does one go about getting such a registry?? If such a registry could be located it would put to rest the matter once and for all. But I still say Forry would've been flagged by his many Brit correspondents about the advent of a movie monster mag in 1957 if Screen Chills had in fact come out then. But this did not happen until later in the year 1958--months after FM # 1 first appeared.
Wich2		#20	[-]
Feb 12 08 10:14 AM Reply Quote More My Recent Posts	...but magazines are (generally!) not put together, printed, and distributed in a matter of days. So it does seem that some overlap is likely? It almost seems it might be a "simultaneous," rather than, "me first," scenario? Best, -Craig W.
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Cinema 57 La Fantastique - First Monster Magazine?

Cinema 57 La Fantastique - First Monster Magazine?