Customer Reviews

The Life and Times of Claude Rains

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Having purchased this book under the impression that it was a legitimate biography of the great character actor, Claude Rains, I was disillusioned to discover that it is merely a collection of the author's files about the actor. Cohesive narrative, analysis of a magnificent career and humanity offered by the telling anecdote are all missing. Please save your money.

This book needed a proof reader. A few segments were repeated and sometimes in a slightly differennt form, indicating portions of the draft were included with the "finished" copy. I liked the subject enough to overlook these shortcomings but just barely. Please, take the time to proof-read this before you print it again.

the biography is slightly interesting. It is, however, spoiled by incredibly bad punctuation, on almost every page. If that wan't enough, it states on the back cover "I hope you will enjoy all the photos of his life and in his films." Unfortunately there is not a single photograph in the biography. The only photograph there is is on the front cover.

I bought this book after seeing an advertisement in a magazine, and it was a huge mistake. This has to be one of the most badly written books I've encountered in some time. Poor spelling, punctuation errors, a lack of photos (there are supposed to be some, according to the preface, but there are none), and too much fiction (making up dialog when referring to a situation where there was no one else present to witness it or no other record of the event) make this book a complete waste of time, and is a great disservice to one of the greatest actors on the screen.

I would recommend Claude Rains: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference by John T. Soister and JoAnna Wioskowski, with a Foreword by Claude Rains' daughter, Jessica Rains, which is the best book I've come across about Rains.

Claude Rains: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference to His Work in Film, Stage, Radio, Television and Recordings

This is a self-published book. I had read the other reviews of this book so I was prepared for its inadequacies. Obviously, an editor or beta-reader was needed. The punctuation is off many times, as is spelling and capitalization. There are many sentence fragments and sentences that confuse. It has the quality of a poorly written school theme and not a published book. If it was intended to be a tribute to Claude Rains, the author should have been more careful about the condition in which it was released.
The most glaring problem, however, is the way it is written. It is in the form of a novel and quotes whole portions of dialogue that are obviiously made-up. It doesn't seem at all genuine or authentic. Don't waste your money on this book, try instead "Claude Rains: An Actor's Voice" by David Skal and/or "Claude Rains: A Comprehensive, Illustrated Reference". They make excellent companion pieces for each other.