When I was in high school I ran across something called “The Video Movie Guide” which was put out yearly by Mick Martin and Marsha Porter, and was in effect the IMDB of its time. There were tons of movie guides out, but this one, to me, was the best, primarily because it put films into sections by genre, in alphabetical order (of course), and listed a brief synopsis, and sometimes review, of the film, gave it a rating (4 stars down to a turkey), and also, when appropriate, gave the rating and a brief reason for said rating. This last bit was most interesting for a male teen at the time, that’s all I’m saying about that…
It also had an amazing cross-referenced index for Actors and Directors, which allowed me to dive down what was probably my first rabbit holes, something that is common today with Google, IMDB and Wikipedia, but back then would usual require sitting in a well stocked library, or building one yourself.
I just found a copy of the 1990 version on the FleaBays and it came this week. I know I had this installment for sure (no idea where my original is though…), and I also had a few on either side of it, although I don’t exactly remember which years. These now are not cheap in the FleaBays, or not in good shape if they are, so I’m glad I found one to add to the Archives (until I find the original of course).
