Levy (Film and Sociology/Arizona State Univ.) wrote 1987's overserious And the Winner Is: The History and Politics of the Oscar Award. His energized, studious Cukor biography differs from Patrick McGilligan's zestful George Cukor: A Double Life (1991) in several striking ways. While McGilligan stresses Cukor's double life as the only gay director of major rank in Hollywood and says that he spent his entire career fearful of a scandal that might cost him his high professional standing, Levy says Cukor's homosexuality was known by all and that people ``went out of their way not to damage him.'' When the vibrant Cukor arrived in Hollywood in the '30s, gay was okay but not great; then, in the uptight '40s and '50s, it became Bad News. Levy agrees with McGilligan that Cukor's emotional life was barren and that all his buoyancy was lavished on his films, his home decor, and his social gatherings. Nor did he like any open show of affection between men. His Hollywood labors began as dialogue director for Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, but he quickly built up steam, directing Bill of Divorcement, Dinner at Eight, Little Women, David Copperfield, Romeo and Juliet, and—most famously—Garbo's Camille. Cukor, who directed Jean Harlow, Ingrid Bergman, Anna Magnani, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth Taylor, plus Katharine Hepburn in ten films, Judy Garland in A Star Is Born, Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady, and Marilyn Monroe in two of her later but lesser works, acquired a reputation as a women's director, a label he dismissed. Levy also trashes the tale that Clark Gable got Cukor fired from Gone with the Wind for being a ``fairy'' and assigns the firing to a clash of vision between Cukor and producer David O. Selznick. Strong on actors, acting, and directing. Real film food.
Pub Date: May 25, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-11246-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1994
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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
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