by Willie Morris ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1998
A certain modesty of scope, a specificity of observation, and an adherence to the ingrained understanding of a native are what make this ``the-making-of'' story a surprisingly successful book about the legacy of the civil rights movement. Morris (New York Days, 1993, etc.) gives a good-natured chronicle of the making of Ghosts of Mississippi, Rob Reiner's movie about the 1994 conviction of Byron De La Beckwith for the murder of Medgar Evers three decades before. It's a curious mixture of a serious civil rights history and a whimsical peek into the Hollywood fiction factory. But these elements are held together because the movie was based on such fresh facts that it became a small part of the history itself. The Hollywood and the history are also held together because they're both rooted in Morris's personal experience growing up near the movie's setting and as an originator of the project. Ghosts of Mississippi attracted criticism for its focus on the white hero-prosecutor, Bobby DeLaughter. But Morris's sympathetic account leaves little doubt of the enormous, and probably rare, amount of good faith behind the project while documenting the complex route, the combination of creative talents and real-life characters, that brought the story from a memo by Morris all the way to the screen. But while Morris notes that he ``had grown up with this diabolic hatred,'' he reveals almost nothing about his own experience in the Jim Crow South, sticking mainly to the landscape in his reveries. Still, he waxes eloquent on Mississippi's deep, distinctive past and uses his childhood recollections to otherwise great effect in observing the movie's dramatization of that past. If, in the words of film critic Jami Bernard, the movie made ``a convincing case for why history weighs so heavily'' on its hero, Morris equally convincingly shows history weighing heavily, for once, on Hollywood. (16 pages b&w photos, not seen) (Author tour)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-679-45956-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1997
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
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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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
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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