Hammer Glamour, a coffee table book from 2009 by Marcus Hearn, is ostensibly a collection of promotional photographs of Hammer Horror starlets. Every major female star is profiled in alphabetical order by Hearn and illustrated with a full page spread. It is like retro cheesecake passing as film scholarship.
But Hearn’s a good writer and he’s done a tremendous amount of research. At no point does Hearn shy away from the fact that Hammer Studios commodified its leading ladies to boost ticket sales and pre-sell rentals. He also isn’t afraid to critique the systemic exploitation of women by the entertainment industry. So there’s a sort of uncanny juxtaposition to Hammer Glamour as Hearn’s text appears beside a photograph of a scantily clad actress. This is what makes this book more unique than one would initially anticipate. It isn’t a case study though, and neither is it an intellectual act of political progressiveness.
Even though Hammer Glamour looks unflinchingly at how Hammer Studios incorporated sex as part of their art and salesmanship it’s still a coffee table book of pinups. Photographs dominate this tome. And even when Hearn is critical of Hammer and the industry as a whole he’s mostly interested in celebrating a chapter of cinema’s past. Sometimes Hearn even makes naive assertions that sex was “cleaner” and “more innocent” in the fifties and sixties. The nostalgic gaze of the author informs and askews his retelling of history and his political connection to that history.
Besides what is superficially offered, what is of the most value in Hammer Glamour is the amount of detail Hearn gives us. Not just about the lives and careers of these stars, but of the daily goings on at one of the most famous studios of all time. Unfortunately there are better books dedicated to these subjects. The fusion of erotic photography and essay is only going to be palettable to those die hard fans of Hammer or those who share in Hearns nostalgia.
