Just Tell Me When to Cry

Richard Fleischer is not the most well-known or renowned of Hollywood directors, but many of his films show an impressive competence and flair. He made some real losers, like The Don is Dead, but also has two excellent 1970s features to his credit, Soylent Green and The New Centurions. He also did some big-budget films like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Dr. Dolittle, and Tora! Tora! Tora!. Fleischer's memoir, Just Tell Me When to Cry, includes entertaining and sometimes hilarious accounts of his work with John Wayne, Howard Hughes, Rex Harrison, and Kirk Douglas, among others. Douglas could never get "comfortable" with a set-up unless the camera was pointing at him and the other actors had their backs to the shot. Harrison was imperious, unreasonable, and often drunk, but once the cameras were rolling was a complete pro. Fleischer, the son of animator Max Fleischer (Betty Boop), came into the business in the 1940s and worked into the 1980s, so he has insights into both the studio system and the era of the independent producer. His memoir is a blast.

Poisonville

The novel Poisonville by Massimo Carlotto and Marco Videtta, translated from the Italian by Antony Shugaar and published in Italy as Nordest, falls under the category World Noir. The story brings to mind Roberto Saviano's nonfictional Gomorrah, about the chemical poisoning of large parts of southern Italy by crime gangs. But Poisonville takes place in Italy's northeast, showing that cupidity is no respecter of geographical boundaries. The story is not quite hard-boiled — there is a murder mystery and some gunplay — but the window opened on Italy's changing society and corruption more than compensates.