Review
"In a world where film buffs can choose from among 15 biographies and critical studies of John Ford and an equal number devoted to George Cukor, a book about the life and work of Edmund Goulding, the underrated and multitalented director of, among others, "Grand Hotel," "The Dawn Patrol," and the Bette Davis weepies "The Old Maid," "The Great Lie," and "Dark Victory," is long overdue....Matthew Kennedy, who teaches anthropology at City College of San Francisco and film history at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, has balanced scholarship with spice, unveiling the dark (alcoholism, drug-taking, and orgies) as well as the victories in the bisexual filmmaker's life. Goulding's brief marriage to tubercular dancer Marjorie Moss (Louise Brooks said he 'filled the last three years of her life with beauty') is intriguing, in a De-Lovely way. His sordid side helps to explain his anomalous noir masterpiece "Nightmare Alley," starring Tyrone Power, whose sleek beauty was just beginning to crumple around the edges: Now we know just how a guy could sink so low."--"San Francisco Weekly"
Product Description
Edmund Goulding's Dark Victory is the first biography ever written on one of the great talents of early twentieth century filmmaking. He is most remembered today as the director of Grand Hotel, the great Event Movie of the Depression. He wrote the story for the first musical, the Academy Award-winning The Broadway Melody and collaborated memorably with Gloria Swanson and Joseph Kennedy for The Trespasser. He excelled at the anti-war drama (White Banners, The Dawn Patrol, We Are Not Alone), fantastic Bette Davis weepies (Dark Victory, The Old Maid, The Great Lie), lilting romantic drama (The Constant Nymph, Claudia), big-budget literary adaptations (The Razor's Edge), and even film noir (Nightmare Alley). His well-crafted plots and compelling characters set a new standard in American cinema and had a profound influence on the future of filmmaking.
