The reel New York City

The book's title comes from John Lindsay, the city's mayor from 1966, who was referring to New York as a fun city even though, at the time, the subway and bus workers were on strike. As mayor, he probably did more than anyone to make the city responsive to film maker's needs by organising the bureaucracy in the five boroughs to make it easier for film companies to shoot in the streets. The result was an increase of millions of dollars to the city. 

Each chapter looks at a decade's of Big Apple filming with some standout titles which are covered in depth. The first decade is 1920 and the Jazz singer from 1927. The Thirties has King Kong (1933) and Naked City (1947) from the Forties. The Fifties with Burt Lancaster in the Sweet Smell of Success (1957).  The Sixties with Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969). Gene Hackman in The French Connection (1971) and De Niro in the Taxi Driver (1976) for the Seventies. Wall Street (1987) directed by Oliver Stone for the Eighties. I thought the films for 1990, 2001 and 2011 are perhaps too recent to really have thrown up classic New York titles. Will the work of Spike Lee, Larry Clark, Abel Ferrara and Steve McQueen create some?

Each decade also reveals individual films which get a spread with some text and production stills on the left and the title's poster on the right-hand page. Throughout the book, there are dozens of other films mentioned that were all shot in the city and well illustrated. For some reason, the book doesn't have an index of all the titles, a serious omission in my view.

Overall, a fascinating survey of how the streets and locations in New York City contributed to some of the greatest American films.

Some perfect homes

A lavishly produced book that considers, in detail, eleven houses designed by Saunders, nine in Norway and two in Canada (where he was born). The architect suggested there is a similarity between Canada and Norway, where he lives with his family. The climate (at least in the Canadian east and near the coast) vernacular architecture of fisherman's huts,  boathouses, farmsteads and especially the love of having a summer cabin near the sea or a lake. These are usually made of local materials like stone and timber. All of this has influenced Saunders approach to creating buildings that take into account the site and the wider environmental landscape, the views, local climate and not forgetting the requirements of his clients.

Saunders houses are really distinctive and they have some common themes. Huge windows, frequently floor to ceiling, to take advantage of some spectacular views. Roofs that overhang the house interiors and create angled weatherproof verandas. Maybe something that is unique to his work is the use of a wedge, where two walls meet at a point. The house I like the most is Villa AT in Sogne, Norway. The roof of the one-story home curves round in a sort of Z shape and in part has some curving windows plus two wedge shapes. Saunders own home is included, Villa S near Bergen, Norway. The weather influenced the design of this property because it can rain a lot in Bergen so the design includes a large open space underneath the first floor. A photo on page 201 shows his daughters enjoying the swings hanging from the ceiling. The living area of the home is on the first floor.

The book reveals the eleven houses with beautiful photos and the interior ones show proportions that look just right when looking down a corridor or a living room and bedrooms that combine the windows, walls and ceilings into a harmonious living space. There are the architect's captioned floor plans for each house. The center of the book has a sixteen-page, colored stock insert called 'Ways of working' that reveal how Saunders and his staff use site photos, shapes cut from foam, models of houses, room mock-ups and client conversations to help create, in each case, the perfect home.