"Stardust Memory": The Brooklyn Rail on Andrew Steinmetz

"Ever since I first saw Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17 (1953) and became addicted to re-runs of Hogan’s Heroes (1965 – 71) during my early youth in Los Angeles," writes movie historian Noah Isenberg in the latest issue of The Brooklyn Rail, "I’ve been intrigued by prisoner-of-war stories, comic and heroic alike."

What better bookish match for a POW-junkie than This Great Escape? Isenberg goes on: "As it turns out, my obsession nowhere near matches what Canadian writer Andrew Steinmetz experienced when he learned, at some point in his adolescence, that his second cousin Michael Paryla had played a bit part in one of the most famous, big-budget P.O.W. films Hollywood ever produced."

So commences a smart, insightful take an Andrew's book from (and I think this is the first time this has happened—?) a critic with a strong background in 50s and 60s film. You should check it out, along with the latest issue of the Rail, which (and I'll say it freely!) is quickly becoming one of my favourite rags.