A smart study of star quality as an industrial process, written by an academic who still understands Hollywood’s cheap,...
A cinema archivist digs into the vaults of Golden Era Hollywood and comes up with a treasure trove of goodies.
In this epochal study on how the Hollywood studio system manufactures stars (sometimes out of little but a cute smile, and other times molding and channeling that indefinable stardust quality), Basinger (Film Studies/Wesleyan Univ.; Silent Stars, 1999, etc.) demonstrates a delightful ability to mix a formidable knowledge of film history, both as business and art form, with a fan’s appreciation of what film is all about. Despite the book’s title, only the first 100-odd pages really cover the factory process—both its winners, like tap sensation Eleanor Powell, and forgotten misfires like Anna Sten, whom Samuel Goldwyn tried to turn into the next Greta Garbo, only to find out that audiences didn’t want another Garbo (“If they had to accept some other exotic European, they’d take Marlene Dietrich”). In sections like “Problems for the System: The Human Factor” (subsections are titled “Disillusionment,” “Disobedience,” “Defection” and so on), Basinger does what she does best in turning out portrait after portrait of the great and not-so-great stars and workaday B-listers who churned out the product for the old bosses. Basinger understands that it’s not the star-machine process itself that is so fascinating, but rather the stars who are swallowed and spit out by the process. The author goes right to the heart of the matter in her examination of movie stars, those immortals walking the earth who define movie magic in all its baffling glory, like the ineffable, oft-ignored genius of somebody like Bing Crosby—“he’s got that meanness, plus a touch of larceny and the ability to con anyone out of anything.” Along the way, Basinger dissects the post–World War II collapse of the star system, which was replaced by the free-for-all age in which we currently live—no less interesting in its own regard, only more difficult to codify in all its slippery chaos. Basinger gives ample space to the qualities and typecasting of the likes of Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts, never indulging in sepia-tinged nostalgia for its own sake.
A smart study of star quality as an industrial process, written by an academic who still understands Hollywood’s cheap, sensuous appeal.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-4000-4130-5
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2007
Shimmering dispatches from the far, far reaches of the geographical imagination, from the captivating, highly polished hand of Thubron (Turning Back the Sun, 1992, etc.). To say that central Asia is a place rich in history and legend is to put it mildly: land of the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes, of Samarkand and Tashkent, of Alexander, Tamerlane, and the great Khans...Kafiristan! Thubron drops in to measure its doings since the Great Fall of '91. He discovers a moody and unsettled place. From the endless cotton fields of the central plateau to the shepherds of the high Pamirs, all is in flux. Some towns are raucous with a sense of freedom and possibility; others just can't get their wheels turning, stuck with the political hacks of yesteryear, and the feeling is very much down in the dumps. At every turn Thubron bumps into one religious movement or another: Baptists in Kirgizhia, German Mennonites in Uzbekistan, a synagogue here, a cathedral there, and—not surprisingly—so many mosques you couldn't throw a brick without hitting one. The weaving of Islam into the political life of the republics, though still nascent, is a foregone conclusion, and the people of the region voice the same fears expressed everywhere whenever church invades state: the possibilities of sexual discrimination, religious persecution, interference in education (not that the nation-state has necessarily done so well in these venues, locals add). Thubron laces the narrative with gobs of history. Each place he visits comes drenched in a mythic past, and not just the ancient variety typified by Mongol hordes and the silk road, but also some of the more recent vintages: gulags pepper the land, and it was in Kazakhstan that the Soviets tested their atomic weapons and built the vilest of their heavy industry. Life has always been eventful in Central Asia; no doubt it will remain so. And if Thubron can't predict the future, he does provide all manner of telling detail to bring the region out of fable and onto terra firma. (First serial to CondÇ Nast Traveler)
Pub Date: Oct. 26, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-018226-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1994
The audience for this long-winded but well-meaning memoir will consist of TV-biz nerds and Cagney & Lacey devotees.
A memoir for hardcore fans of Cagney & Lacey, penned by its former producer.
From 1982 to 1986, the acclaimed TV series was one of CBS’s prime-time anchors, garnering huge audiences, critical plaudits and numerous awards. Producer Rosenzweig was there from the beginning to the bitter end. The author adored the show; it was his baby, and he made certain that everything about it–the writing, acting, casting and costumes–met with his exacting standards. His love for the show was so enduring that more than 20 years after it was cancelled, he was compelled to share the entire experience in a lengthy memoir. Though the author’s heart is in the right place, the book is detailed to the point of tedium: Each battle with the network, financial negotiation, encounter with the actors and the writing staff is related in painful detail. The book is written in bite-size, episodic chapters, which makes the narrative uneven, and the prose is often clumsy–“Scoff and titter are not commonplace verbs in my vocabulary. They are the only terms I can conjure to portray the behavior to which I felt I was being exposed.” Readers won’t begrudge Rosenzweig for sharing his moment in the sun with the TV-watching public. His passion for the show and television in general is palpable, and this book might well inspire budding producers to follow their aspirations.
The audience for this long-winded but well-meaning memoir will consist of TV-biz nerds and Cagney & Lacey devotees.Pub Date: Dec. 26, 2006
ISBN: 978-0-595-41193-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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