The magic of the movies is even better when you're making them yourself.
✶ PRE-READING ✶
Alan Nolan writes funny middle-grade adventures, and I've enjoyed his Molly and Bram books, so I was very happy to return to his particular brand of chaos with Lights, Camera, Mayhem!
This is part of the Grand Central Cinema series, set in Dublin in 1937 and loosely connected to the earlier books. A group of movie-mad children forming their own film club sounded like exactly the sort of premise I wanted from it.
✶ POST-READING ✶
As I thought... this is a hugely enjoyable adventure.
The danger feels exactly right for the intended audience: enough peril to make the story exciting without ever losing its sense of fun. The characters are funny, the friendships are lovely, and the whole thing has an infectious enthusiasm for movies.
The villains might be my favourites from Alan Nolan yet.
Among them are a pair of Chicago mobsters who are, despite being fully grown adults and genuine threats, wonderfully reminiscent of the villains in Bugsy Malone. There's something almost theatrical about them, and I absolutely loved it.
There are also lots of little jokes tucked into the story. One of my favourites is the prisoner listed as 1701D, which is exactly the kind of tiny detail that made me smile when I noticed it.
It surprised me by... how effortlessly the historical setting works.
Alan Nolan's books are clearly carefully researched, but the research never overwhelms the story. Dublin in 1937 feels like a real place rather than a history lesson dressed up as a novel, and the period details are there to support the adventure rather than interrupt it.
I particularly enjoyed the way the book captures the magic of cinema itself. There's something wonderful about children being so fascinated by movies that they don't just want to watch them—they want to make their own.
And then, naturally, everything becomes considerably more complicated.
The result is funny, exciting and full of that particular MG adventure feeling where the characters are in genuine danger but you're also having far too much fun to be properly frightened.
I really hope there's another Grand Central Cinema adventure coming. I'd be very happy to go back to 1937 Dublin for another one.
✦ RECOMMENDATIONS ✦
Book Recommendation: The Highland Falcon Thief by M. G. Leonard and Sam Sedgman, for another wonderfully entertaining historical MG mystery where the period setting enhances rather than overwhelms the adventure.
TV or Movie Recommendation: Bugsy Malone, naturally. For the wonderfully theatrical villains, mischievous children and the sheer joy of adults and children playing with the conventions of gangster stories.
✧ VIBE CHECK ✧
A colour palette: red velvet, old gold, cream film stock and the soft grey of Dublin's buildings.
A soundtrack: a cinema reel clicking into motion, an old-fashioned orchestral score and the chatter of children excitedly planning their next scene.
A season: autumn, when the evenings are getting darker and a cinema suddenly looks particularly inviting.
A mood: mischievous, adventurous, theatrical and joyful.
A scent: popcorn, dusty velvet, old film and rain on Dublin pavement.
A texture: worn cinema seats beneath your fingertips, with the faintly scratchy feel of old film running through a projector.
Final Thoughts
Lights, Camera, Mayhem! publishes on the 7th of September. I received a free copy and am giving an honest review.
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