A curious piece, this is a true coffee table book in that it’s filled with gloriously reproduced photographs (some film stills, some behind the scenes shots, some of the real Queen in action over the years) but it’s not the story of the film as the back cover promises. Owen Williams (who must have worked for all of two days writing it) takes us “from page to screen”, “Freddie Mercury”, “the cast”, “costumes, hair and make-up”, “the sets” and “the music” (they’re the chapters) but never really delves into things. We get that the sets were accurate but not why, we get that Wembley had a CGI crowd (and are then told twice how it’s done) and the cast pieces read like the programme notes for a theatre show (Actor 1 made his first appearance as third donkey from the left at infant school, studied acting at this university and first appeared on TV in that soap). Small interviews with most of the cast and some of the crew appear (though, interestingly, Rami Malek, both directors and the scriptwriter are all obvious in their absence) but there’s no real weight to any of it and as for the forewords (as promoted on the cover), Brian May produces a lovely, articulate piece and Roger Taylor contributes two words (I hope they weren’t paid the same rate). If you loved the film and don’t really care how it was made, this’ll be right up your street but as for me (and I did love the film), I thought it fell between two stools.