Book Reviews

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Book Reviews
American Titan: Searching for John Wayne by Marc Eliot
Ann Dvorak: Hollywood's Forgotten Rebel by Christina Rice
Ava Gardner: The Secret Conversations by by Peter Evans and Ava Gardner
Bluffton: My Summers with Buster Keaton by Matt Phelan (Interview)
Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan
Cagney by Cagney by James Cagney
Cecil B. DeMille: The Art of the Hollywood Epic by Cecilia de Mille Presley and Mark A. Vieira
Charles Walters: The Director Who Could Make Hollywood Dance by Brent Phillips
Charlie Chaplin: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd
Classic Hollywood Style by Caroline Young
Conversations with Classic Film Stars: Interviews from Hollywood's Golden Era by by James Bawden and Ron Miller
Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter by Richard Barrios (Interview)
The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935 by James Layton and David Pierce
The Disenchanted by Budd Schulberg
Dolce Vita Confidential: Fellini, Loren, Pucci, Paparazzi, and the Swinging High Life of 1950s Rome by Shawn Levy
Elizabeth Taylor: A Passion for Life by Joseph Papa (interview)
The Entertainer: Movies, Magic, and My Father's Twentieth Century by Margaret Talbot (Interview)
Ernie: The Autobiography by Ernest Borgnine
Errol & Olivia: Ego and Obsession in Golden Era Hollywood by Robert Matzen
Every Frenchman Has One by Olivia de Havilland
Film Noir: Light and Shadow edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini 
The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks by Tracey Goessel
Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris
Frank: The Voice by James Kaplan (about Frank Sinatra)
The Genius of the System by Thomas Schatz
George Sanders, Zsa Zsa and Me by David R. Slavitt
The Good, the Bad and Me: In My Anecdotage by Eli Wallach
Groucho Marx and Other Short Stories and Tall Tales edited by Robert S. Bader (Interview)
Hail, Hail, Euphoria!: Presenting the Marx Brother sin Duck Soup, The Greatest War Movie Ever Made by Roy Blount Jr.
Hank and Jim: The Fifty-Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman
Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes
Hitchcock by Francois Truffaut
Hollywood Digs: An Archaeology of Shadows by Ken LaZebnik
Hollywood Divided: The 1950 Screen Directors Guild Meeting and the Impact of the Blacklist by Kevin Brianton 
Hollywood in Kodachrome: 1940-1949
Hope: Entertainer of the Century by Richard Zoglin
The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of  Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd by Michelle Morgan (Interview)
I Do and I Don't: A History of Marriage in the Movies by Jeanine Basinger
I Loved Her In the Movies: Working with Legendary Actresses of Hollywood by Robert J. Wagner Into the Dark: The Hidden World of Film Noir, 1941-1950 by Mark A. Vieira
James Bond FAQ by Tom DeMichael (Interview)
John Huston: Courage and Art by Jeffrey Meyers
Keep Moving by Dick Van Dyke
King of Jazz: Paul Whiteman's Technicolor Revue by James Layton and David Pierce
Kirk and Anne: Letters of Love, Laughter, and a Lifetime in Hollywood by Kirk and Anne Douglas
Leading Couples: The Most Unforgettable Screen Romances of the Studio Era
by Frank Miller
Learning to Live Out Loud by Piper Laurie
Life Beyond Measures: Letters to My Great Grandaughter by Sidney Poitier
A Life of Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940 by Victoria Wilson
M: A Graphic Novel based on the film by Fritz Lang illustrated by Jon J Muth
The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Life and Loves of Greg Bautzer, Tinseltown's Most Powerful Lawyer by B. James Gladstone (interview)
The Many Faces of Josephine Baker by Peggy Caravantes
Mary Astor's Purple Diary by Edward Sorel 
Maureen O'Hara: The Biography by Aubrey Malone
Memoirs of a Professional Cad by George Sanders
Michael Douglas: A Biography by Marc Eliot (guest blogger review)
Missing Reels by Farran Smith Nehme
My Judy Garland Life by Susie Boyt
A Mysterious Something in the Light: The Life of Raymond Chandler by Tom Williams
Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director by Patrick McGilligan
The Night of the Hunter - A Biography of a Film by Jeffrey Couchman
Photo by Sammy Davis Jr. by Burt Boyar
The Pride of the Yankees: Lou Gehrig, Gary Cooper, and the Making of a Classic by Richard Sandomir
The Real James Dean edited by Peter L. Winkler
Rex Ingram: Visionary Director of the Silent Screen by Ruth Barton
Room 1219: The Life of Fatty Arbuckle, the Mysterious Death of Virginia Rappe, and the Scandal That Changed Hollywood by Greg Merritt (Interview)
Saul Bass: A Life in Film and Design by Jennifer Bass and Pat Kirkham
Seduced by Mrs. Robinson: How The Graduate Became the Touchstone of a Generation by Beverly Gray
Showman of the Screen: Joseph E. Levine and His Revolutions in Film Promotion by A.T. McKenna
The Silent Screen and My Talking Heart by Nell Shipman
A Song in the Dark: The Birth of Musical Film by Richard Barrios
Son of Harpo Speaks by Bill Marx (Interview)
Spencer Tracy by James Curtis
Stella!: Mother of Modern Acting by Sheana Ochoa (Interview)
Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry by Mel Watkins
Steve McQueen: A Biography by Marc Eliot
Steve McQueen: A Passion for Speed by Frederic Brun
Tony and Me: A Story of Friendship by Jack Klugman
Tough Without a Gun: The Life and Extraordinary Afterlife of Humphrey Bogart by Stefan Kanfer
Trumbo by Bruce Cook
The Unconscious Actor: Out of Control, In Full Command by Darryl Hickman
Unsinkable: A Memoir by Debbie Reynolds
Warner Bros: The Making of an American Movie Studio by David Thomson
Warren William: Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood by John Stangeland (Interview)
Weddings and Movie Stars

William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come by James Curtis
Young Man with a Horn by Dorothy Baker

Currently reading:
Anne Bancroft: A Life by Douglass K. Daniel

Reviews coming soon:

We'll Always Have Casablanca by Noah Isenberg
Fritz Lang: The Nature of the Beast by Patrick McGilligan


Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge
Hosted 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017

Page updated March 2018