Columbia Pictures

The chapters on His Girl Friday and Taxi Driver trace how the studio's tone shifted across decades, and the archival stills are printed thick and sharp. I've been picking it up a few pages at a time just to linger over the Torch Lady material.

I went in expecting a coffee-table book and got something closer to a real film history — the chapters on His Girl Friday and Taxi Driver alone are worth the price. The paper stock feels substantial too, so it holds up to actual reading instead of just sitting on a shelf.

The behind-the-scenes photos of the Torch Lady through the decades are worth the price alone. I've flipped through the chapters on His Girl Friday and Taxi Driver twice now and keep finding small details I missed.