The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film Goble, Alan

Goble continually releases quality film resources (e.g., International Film Index: Titles and Directors, 1895-1990), and this is no exception. This massive volume cites 30,572 literary sources of films released from 1895 to 1999 in 83 countries, with credits for 12,122 authors, all culled from The Complete Index to World Film Since 1895 (Bowker Saur, 1998. 2d ed.), his CD-ROM database of 300,000-plus films. The volume, which is subdivided into author, film, and literary source indexes, covers most literary forms, including stories, novels/novellas, verse, and plays, as well as nonfiction works. The user will easily learn, for example, that Heidi was written by Johanna Spyri in 1880 and that at least four film versions derive from this novel (and still more from other Heidi novels). It's a bit unclear why Goble lists some films and not others (in Goble, Frankenstein is the source of 15 films, although at least 75 are indirectly related to the novel). Nonetheless, the breadth and depth of his work is commendable. This will nicely complement Tom Costello's International Guide to Literature on Film (K.G. Saur, 1994), which features sound films and omits "popular" films such as Westerns. An essential resource for any film collection; even libraries with access to Goble's CD-ROM will want this because it conveniently culls from the whole.-Anthony J. Adam, Prairie View A&M Univ. Lib., Houston Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.