Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) Review

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Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) ReviewI did enjoy this book, a biography of Claude Rains, featuring recollections of his daughter, interviews with actors with whom he worked, notable Bette Davis, and a description of his early years of poverty. Also, Mr. Rains own recollections were drawn upon for much of this book. The successful stage career is analyzed and the years in Hollywood where Rains appeared in such classic films as The Invisible Man, Now Voyager, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Casablanca, Juarez, Anthony Adverse, Deception, and Lawrence of Arabia. The author details his turbulent private life and six marriages, the longest lasting was his fourth marriage to Frances Propper. I agree with another reviewer that not much information is given re: his wives, particularly to Frances Propper--she disappears for a time in the narrative. It would have been helpful had their daughter Jessica discussed more about her mother and what happened to her after the divorce. Also, it would have been interesting to learn more about Jessica and what she is doing today.
Overall, a good biography but I was hoping for more.Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice (Screen Classics) OverviewLate in Claude Rains's distinguished career, a reverent film journalist wrote that Rains "was as much a cinematic institution as the medium itself." Given his childhood speech impediments and his origins in a destitute London neighborhood, the ascent of Claude Rains (1889--1967) to the stage and screen is remarkable. Rains's difficulties in his formative years provided reserves of gravitas and sensitivity, from which he drew inspiration for acclaimed performances in The Invisible Man (1933), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Casablanca (1942), Notorious (1946), Lawrence of Arabia (1962), and other classic films. In Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, noted Hollywood historian David J. Skal draws on more than thirty hours of newly released Rains interviews to create the first full-length biography of the actor who was nominated multiple times for an Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor. Skal's portrait of the gifted actor also benefits from the insights of Jessica Rains, who provides firsthand accounts of the enigmatic man behind her father's refined screen presence and genteel public persona. As Skal shows, numerous contradictions informed the life and career of Claude Rains. He possessed an air of nobility and became an emblem of sophistication, but he never shed the insecurities that traced back to his upbringing in an abusive and poverty-stricken family. Though deeply self-conscious about his short stature, Rains drew notorious ardor from female fans and was married six times. His public displays of dry wit and good humor masked inner demons that drove Rains to alcoholism and its devastating consequences. Skal's layered depiction of Claude Rains reveals a complex, almost inscrutable man whose nuanced characterizations were, in no small way, based on the more shadowy parts of his psyche. With unprecedented access to episodes from Rains's private life, Skal tells the full story of the consummate character actor of his generation. Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice, gives voice to the struggles and innermost concerns that influenced Rains's performances and helped him become a universally respected Hollywood legend.

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Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema) Review

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Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema) ReviewI had high hopes for this book. The volumes in this series on the origins of cinema, the Twenties and the Forties are very good. This book, however, proved a chore to get through.
The big problem for me was that Balio seemed more interested in the movie companies as organizations and less interested in the films themselves. Compounding this was the fact that he sees the Thirties as a unit, and believes that the division of the decade's films into pre-Code and post-Code, with 1934 as the turning point, is a myth. Thus, to him, the "fallen women" films, Mae West comedies, classic gangster films, and horror films all died out because the public was tired, not because of censorship problems.
Balio sees filmmaking in the Thirties as dominated by the studios and with directors being hired guns. Hence there is no real discussion of any directors. Ernst Lubitsch, Frank Capra and Josef von Sternberg are barely mentioned, except when Balio complains that their films didn't make enough money.
Indeed, he seems to have no view of his own about the films. Instead, he views FILM DAILY and VARIETY as the voice of God. If they put the film on their 10 best list, it is good, and if they didn't, it isn't worth talking about. The idea that some films popular in the Thirties are no longer highly regarded or that some films despised at the time have become viewed as classics seems not to interest him at all.
If someone who had no idea about the history of American film read this book, he would come away thinking that the "Golden Age of Hollywood" was a myth and these films were artifacts not worth seeing.Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema) OverviewThe advent of color, big musicals, the studio system, and the beginning of institutionalized censorship made the thirties the defining decade for Hollywood. The year 1939, celebrated as "Hollywood's greatest year," saw the release of such memorable films as Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Stagecoach. It was a time when the studios exercised nearly absolute control over their product as well as over such stars as Bette Davis, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart. In this fifth volume of the award-winning series History of the American Cinema, Tino Balio examines every aspect of the filmmaking and film exhibition system as it matured during the Depression era.

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Bette Davis: Larger than Life Review

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Bette Davis: Larger than Life ReviewThis newest book about Bette Davis is recommended for the many superior photos included, and for the good layout of her films, presented, generally in sequence. There are several factual errors, and the text of the two authors more than occasionally contradicts what the other has written. The errors include actor David Keith being called Brian Keith,by co-author Richard Schickel, and the surprisingly naive statement by the main author, George Perry, that Davis successfully imitated Joan Crawford in telephone scenes in 'Baby Jane' when Crawford had in fact agreed to dub in her own voice while Davis 'lip-synched' her imitation (this information is covered in the 2 disc 'Baby Jane' dvds, and also, in my opinion, is fairly obvious).
Running Press, the publisher, also gave the public the very enjoyable oversized books about Lucille Ball ('Lucy At The Movies') and the excellent (and best of the three) Lana Turner book, 'Lana' The Memories, The Myths, The Movies' which greatly benefitted from having Cheryl Crane's insight and her dedication to having her mother's memory being preserved. The 3 very attractive-looking Running Press books all are worth buying, and are great conversation pieces for those interested in classic films and/or classic stars of an era long-gone.
Of the 2 authors of "Bette Davis: Larger Than Life", George Perry does the better job; Richard Schickel editorializes all over the place and some of his highly subjective observations just don't ring true, to this reader. As I read on, Schickel's opinions became irrelevant and tiresome. He writes from the perspective of his experience of enjoying the work of Davis as being of more import than the films or performances Davis gave in them.
The photos in the book are incredible, and the quality of paper used and photo resolution may make some fans want to buy two copies, one for the coffee-table, and the other for high-quality frameable rare photographs of the greatest film star of the 1940s.Bette Davis: Larger than Life Overview

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Warren William: Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood Review

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Warren William: Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood ReviewThis is an actor I've done quite a bit of research about myself--I've had to, I started a website in his honor in 2007. As I've said in my review of this title over there, Stangeland has taken a story that I'd figured out the outline for and he colored in that outline better than I believed ever possible. While he talks about all of the films to some degree this title is biography and through surviving nieces of the actor the author has discovered information about William's early days that I never thought would be found: his childhood in Minnesota, his days in New York at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, his World War I service, etc. William's stage career is covered as is, of course, his film career. Stangeland also arrives at the likely solution of why William left Warner Brothers and why his career didn't recover to pre-code heights once he did. I am certainly biased due to my appreciation of the subject material, but I read a lot of film biographies covering stars from this period and I haven't enjoyed one like this in awhile. As much as I might be easy to please on this subject I think I probably would also be one of the most difficult to please, but I absolutely loved this book!Warren William: Magnificent Scoundrel of Pre-Code Hollywood OverviewOn the motion picture screen, Hollywood star Warren William (1894-1948) was a magnificent rogue, often deliciously immoral and utterly callous, yet remarkably likable in his wickedness. Off-screen, the actor was as humble and retiring as his film characters were mean and heartless. This biography examines William's life and career in detail, from his rural Minnesota roots through his service in World War I, his Broadway stage success, and his meteoric rise and gradual fall from Hollywood fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Also analyzed are his film persona and the curious mechanisms by which our culture "selects" certain film personalities to remember and others to forget. Featured is a wealth of biographical material never before available, including rare candid photos of William's early years. Interviews with his surviving nieces provide intimate family details and personal remembrances.

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