A New Yorkbased film critic debuts with this balanced, only occasionally lurid biography of the controversial underground filmmaker and author. Born Kenneth Anglemyer on February 3, 1927, Anger is a compulsive mythologizer who has rewritten his life story numerous times. The author clearly had his hands full uncovering the truth behind the legends, but his digging has paid off to the extent that this is probably the most accurate biography one can hope for while its subject is alive. Landis traces Anger's early exposure to Hollywood (a brief career as a child actor), which sparked the lifelong fascination that led to the book Hollywood Babylon and its sequels; his unhappy relations with his very conventional family; the influence of occultist Aleister Crowley on his work and life; his drug use and homosexuality. The author describes each of Anger's films and its production in great detail, arguing strenuously that he is the premier figure in American underground movies and that works like Scorpio Rising and Invocation of My Demon Brother (for which thorough plot synopses are offered) have influenced many other directors. As for Anger's life, anyone whose circle of friends and colleagues includes Alfred Kinsey, Tennessee Williams, Anaãs Nin, Mick Jagger, and Manson family member Bobby Beausoleil isn't likely to be dull. Landis tells Anger's story in prose that ranges from fractured-lyrical to drop-dead hip, an often uneasy mixture that reflects the tone of Anger's films. He sidesteps a few awkward questions: Is Anger, two of whose films are studded with Nazi imagery and who delivers an anti-Semitic tirade in one anecdote, a Jew-hater? Who was really responsible for the repeated beatings he sustained in New York in the '80s? Moreover, although Landis is relentlessly candid about Anger's personality, he views the films with relatively uncritical adulation. Not the definitive biography, but it fills the bill adequately for now. (40 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: July 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-016700-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1995
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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