BOOK 185: THE STRANGER BESIDE ME: ANN RULE

BOOK 185: THE STRANGER BESIDE ME: ANN RULE

The Stranger Beside Me is a 1980 autobiographical and biographical true crime book written by Ann Rule about the serial killer Ted Bundy, whom she knew personally before and after his arrest for a series of murders. Subsequent revisions of the book were published in 1986, 1989, 2000, and 2008.

MY VERDICT: This book is simply amazing. It’s well written and continuingly interesting but the most astounding thing about it is it’s very existence – all the things that had to come into place to make this book happen. The fact that Ann Rule, as a true crime author, was commissioned to write a book about a series of murders and then slowly discovered that the murderer was a man she knew as a friend is something that you wouldn’t believe in a film script. But truth is stranger than fiction. 

When I first heard about this book I had assumed that Ann Rule knew Ted Bundy in passing, that they’d worked in the same building taking calls from those in need, maybe they exchanged a few words. The truth is that they considered each other friends, they went to parties together, they had lunch together, they spoke about themselves and their personal problems. How shocked would you be if someone you knew this way turned out to be a brutal murderer? And for so long she believed that he couldn’t have done it. Ann Rule expresses all her emotions bare on the page and this is scattered among details of Ted’s life and Ted’s crimes. It’s fascinating from start to finish and although the order maybe could have been a little less disjointed, (it starts with his escape to Florida) which in my opinion should have been more chronological (especially with the notes at the start and finish of the book) it’s still easy to follow and you do feel like you’re taken on a journey through the life, crimes and relationships of a real serial murderer.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in true crime.

FILM 1667: CHRISTINE

TRIVIA: The film's warm 'yellow' tinge and muted coloration was a trend in the 1970's. Because Christine takes place in the early Seventies this effect was chosen on purpose to make the film appear more authentic. This effect used to be naturally caused by lighting and the type of film stock used (often Ektachrome, a popular Kodak 16mm stock), but in the digital age the effect is usually added in after filming by using computer filters and overlays to create a nostalgic "vintage" look.

The owner of the company that cut the film's trailer, Robert "Smitty" Smith at In Sync Advertising, was an actual intern at WXLT-TV who knew and was friends with Christine Chubbuck. He sought out the job when he found out about the film and saw it at Sundance; incidentally, the creators had tried to seek him out for interviews during the research phases, but were unable to locate him due to the ubiquity of his name.

Despite her standoffish demeanor portrayed in the film, the real Christine Chubbuck was known on television as a cheerful woman, particularly fond of children to the point where she volunteered outside of work to do puppet shows for mentally handicapped kids. Only her closest family members really knew the extent of her depression.

FILM 1625: MISS PEREGRINE'S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN

TRIVIA: Tim Burton aimed to use as few digital effects as possible; "It was nice to shoot on location, to be connected to a place, and geography, while having people actually floating, as opposed to doing it all digitally".

The house where the children live, is an actual house. It's called "Torenhof", and can be found near Antwerp, Belgium.

Ransom Riggs' novel was partly inspired by otherworldly vintage photographs, one of them being a cover-shot of a levitating girl. The author collected these at flea markets, included them in the book, and later showed them all to Tim Burton, before filming began.

DIRECTOR_TRADEMARK(Tim Burton): [stop motion]: The two dolls that Enoch created, are filmed with stop-motion, something used in almost all of Tim Burton's films.

DIRECTOR CAMEO: Tim Burton: Man on amusement park ride.

FILM 1596: KEY LARGO

TRIVIA: In a classic case of a director being emotionally manipulative, John Huston informed Claire Trevor that they were to film her song that very day. Trevor was not a trained singer, and had not even rehearsed the song yet. She also felt very intimidated by the A-list actors seated directly in front of her. The result was a hesitant, nervous, uncomfortable rendition, exactly the feeling Huston was hoping to get.

In the film, James Temple describes the 1935 hurricane that devastated Matacumbe Key. This was one of worst hurricanes in U.S. history and many of the victims of the storm were World War I veterans who were building the Florida Keys portion of U.S. Highway 1, also known as the Overseas Highway. A portion of the highway is seen in the film's opening. The storm also produced the lowest-ever recorded barometric pressure over land in the North American continent.

The character of Johnny Rocco was modeled on Al Capone, who retired to Florida and died there of complications due to advanced syphilis a year before this film was produced. Screenwriter Richard Brooks later revealed he had also incorporated biographical details about another famous gangster, Lucky Luciano, into Rocco's character as well.

Fourth and final film pairing of Humphrey Bogart and his wife Lauren Bacall. A fifth film was planned several years later, but Bogart died before it could be made.

The ramshackle hotel where most of the drama unfolds was constructed on the Warner Bros. lot along with the beach area. Exterior shots of the hurricane were actually taken from stock footage used in Night Unto Night (1949), a Ronald Reagan melodrama made the same year at Warner Bros.

Apart from the opening shots, the movie was filmed entirely at Warner Bros. Studio head Jack L. Warner - still reeling from the cost of shooting John Huston's previous film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), on location - refused to approve any more location filming for the director. The pier scenes were filmed using the studio tank with miniature boats in the background to give an illusion of depth. The shipboard shots at the end were also filmed using the studio tank, with fog used to mask the artifice.

Felipa Gómez, who played the Old Indian Woman, was born just five years after the U.S. Civil War ended.

When John Huston was scouting for locations on the Florida Keys, he asked a hotel owner where the storm cellar was. The man informed him that if you dug three feet down you would hit the ocean.

On This Day…

Apollo 13 was launched on this day in 1970.

Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the American Apollo space program and the third intended to land on the Moon. The craft was launched on April 11, 1970, at 13:13 CST from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, but the lunar landing was aborted after an oxygen tank exploded two days later, crippling the service module upon which the Command Module depended. Despite great hardship caused by limited power, loss of cabin heat, shortage of potable water, and the critical need to jury-rig the carbon dioxide removal system, the crew returned safely to Earth on April 17.