Customer Reviews

Shadowland

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the book that seems to have introduced most people to Frances Farmer. It is chilling, gut-wrenching and completely riveting--until you discover it is largely fiction. Arnold admitted as much in a lawsuit he brought against the producers of the feature film "Frances," which was based upon his book (though the producers denied it). The basis for his claim was that his book, and therefore the film, had "fictionalized" elements (including the alleged lobotomy) which were not based on public record, therefore the film's producers had violated his copyright. The Judge in that case, in ruling against Arnold, raked Arnold over the coals for representing and marketing his book as non-fiction, then admitting afterward that it really wasn't. "Shadowland" is so rife with factual errors and outright misrepresentations that it would be funny, if it didn't so seriously distort what actually happened to this brave and valiant woman. There is an in-depth web article which goes into great detail about all the misrepresentations in this book, which can be found by Googling "Shedding Light on Shadowland."

This is a spell-binding account of the life of Frances Farmer, a promising, gifted actress whose only "flaws" were a critical mind and a fierce sense of independence. An independent thinker and a rebel from her teenage years, ms. Farmer paid a high price for not acting submissive and "ladylike". The response to her challenges to legal, political and medical authorities was brutal, and can not be justified in any manner. But such was the political and medical climate in the 1940s and `50s that if you absolutely refused to conform, you were doomed to what some might call a fate worse than death. What was then considered medical treatment is now considered torture, and with the paranoia of the McCarthy era it was dangerous to have a social conscience. Ms. Farmer was critical and courageous, and thus deemed to be an outrageous deviant by the authorities. Perhaps worst of all, she was a fiercely independent woman in a time when women were not supposed to think for themselves. Thus, ms. Farmer suffered in the hands of just about anybody who had the power to abuse and degrade her, from film directors to medical personnell and legal authorities. Perhaps worst of all is the role her mother played in all this. Shadowland is more than just another Hollywood biography. It provides insights into a crucial, if not so proud part of American medical and political history. This book makes excellent reading for high school and college classes in the sociology of deviance/social control, as well as 20th century history, and women's history. This book may cause you to lose some sleep, but we should be thankful to mr. Arnold for showing us the dark side of our treatment of non-conformists.

The biography of film star Frances Farmer is truly one of the most heartwretching, depressing and indepth bios I've ever read. Great insight to Hollywood of the 30's and 40's and great insight into one of Hollywood's most beautiful and tragic stars.

Shadowland by William Arnold is one of the few books available about Frances Farmer. Farmer was an actress in the late 1930s and early 1940s that was institutionalized, and as some believe, this was due to her political beliefs rather than mental illness. Today, Shadowland is still sought after and is somewhat hard to get a hold of, but is a valuable book as it sheds light on a captivating actress and what happened to her.

Shadowland is an attention-grabbing book that is hard to put down and reads quickly. This book is basically an outline of William Arnold's progress as he attempts to solve the mystery of Frances Farmer. Arnold recounts the life of Farmer from various documents and personal interviews of people that claim to have known her. More than half of this book is about Farmer's life before she was institutionalized, and only after 150 pages does it get into her psychiatric involvement.

This book makes a great companion to Farmer's autobiography. Although Arnold does point out information that shows the autobiography may be inaccurate, for the most part, Shadowland does not entirely contradict the autobiography. Shadowland is an important book to read for anyone interested in knowing more about what happened to Frances Farmer.

The author is on the staff of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (the star was a native of Seattle, spending her childhood and much of her later life there) and here he weaves a spellbinding tale encompassing the golden era of Hollywood, primitive psychiatry and the depravities of insane asylums, her artistic triumphs onstage with the Group Theatre and their shameful exploitation of the Farmer name, industry parties in Malibu and the unconscionable 'star status' that she was accorded by the health care professionals to whom she had been entrusted following her revolt after colliding with the Los Angeles judicial system (on charges arising from a minor traffic violation). There is an undeniable undercurrent throughout the first half of this book to the effect of "there, but for the grace of God, go I...". Because there is no official record of a lobotomy having been performed in 1949, we are left to decide for ourselves if the actress and University of Washington alum was, in fact, subjected to this ultimate indignity: after the first 75 pages, it is easy to understand why Kenneth Anger (Hollywood Babylon) was moved to identify her as that town's foremost victim. Arnold's thorough treatment of the forces that led to the powerfully tragic and errant commitment of this enormously talented, left-wing Paramount and Broadway star is devastating to read and impossible to put down. That someone could ascend to the pinnacle of success and tumble so quickly and easily into the abysmal squalor of the ancient Fort Steilacoom Hospital, with it's dirt floors, rats and ice baths that were representative of mental health care in Washington State in the 1940's, is hair-raising and remains deeply troubling today. This was reverse-serendipity, times ten. Frances Farmer was an unusually gifted actress, touted loudly throughout Hollywood after her stunning performance in Samuel Goldwyn's 1936 classic, Come And Get It, as " ...the next Garbo". She possessed natural beauty, with a sleek jawline and cheekbones that photographed with luminescence. More important, she was a strong and independant woman, dedicated to the craft of stage acting and woefully out of place in the old studio system of Hollywood in the late 30's. Frances Farmer's meteoric rise continued despite her own efforts; to want to turn one's back on all that stardom in the world's movie capital represented at the time was adjudged as insanity by one too many - her Mother, (who was, herself, mislead at a critical juncture early in the committal process). This is also a case study in what can happen when one worse-case scenario unbelievably collides with another and yet another... it is impossible not to be touched by the plight of this dedicated woman who I refuse to label as 'tragic' - that in itself is tragic, and her lasting achievements and legacy far surpass such an unkind label. She was a devoted and talented artist who stood her ground for laudable principles, and lost. Arnold chronicles her odyssey meticulously. It flirts with a fairy tale ending when she is settled in her final home of Indianapolis but her efforts at a comeback ultimately blow up with all the force of a Pontiac hurled into the reader's face. This book excels in depicting the actress' life as it hurtled through the miasma of her later years, which rival her earlier crises as a story that very nearly stands on it's own for sheer unbelievablity. This is a spellbinding portrayal, rooted more accurately in the prospect of there, but for the grace of God, go I... if I choose to rebel...

I first read this book when I was 14 years old. I had no idea who Frances Farmer was, except that she was the subject of a Nirvana song. The music may have brought me to Shadowland, but Farmer's life and Arnold's prose kept me captivated. I read it again at age 15, then 17, and then just recently at 20. Six years later, this book still hits me hard. Shadowland will stick with you.

As controversial as this book is, it only makes the poignancy that Arnold established through his words that much more appealing to me. Shadowland is written unflinchingly, albiet it most likely has some exageration and William Arnold may have took it upon himself to liberally fill-in some unknown details. At any rate I give Arnolds book a steady 5 star rating because it captures the essence of Frances Farmer in a way that no other book or movie has been able to accomplish or even come close to. I have researched Farmer in other books, films, documentaries, interviews, etc... and I have to honestly say that no other piece of information captured Farmer and made her so exasperating true, fiesty, and unbelievalby human, yet surreal embroidered within a menagerie of multiple context. I highly recommend this book to any and all who want to incorporate in their own minds just who Frances Farmer was and wanted to give and not give to the world.

This brief account of the life of Frances Farmer of Seattle is disturbing in many ways: the local reaction to her high school essay on God's death; the local treatment of her as a communist when she visited Russia; her abuse at the hands of Santa Monica police and the criminal justice system following a mere traffic stop; and her ultimate wrongful committals by her mother and the authorities to an insane asylum.

The doctors and public officials responsible for the asylum Farmer was housed in should all have been criminally charged and convicted and sentenced to the same treatment she received!!!!!!!!

I'm a die-hard Frances Farmer fan. In my opinion, she was the most beautiful actress in the history of Hollywood. I know much about her life, so when I read this "biography" by William Arnold, a "journalist", I was surprised by the errors he had made. He has her date of birth wrong, for instance. And further into the book he writes falsehoods or half-truths to support his claim that Frances had had a lobotomy. I saw the "This Is Your Life" episode honoring Frances and clips of her hosting her talk show in Indianapolis, and it's clear she did not have the procedure. Readers should be aware that Arnold is a Scientologist and he employed an anti-psychiatry approach to this "biography". One could read between the lines that he's using Frances to discredit the psychiatric establishment. To mask his hidden agenda, he makes FF into a martyr for the individual spirit, victimized by a narrow-minded society.

In truth, Frances was never a victim. She made her decisions and paid for it. It's a mystery (which Arnold never mentions) how she became a star and remained in the film business for so long, after alienating her co-workers (no one from the film industry came to honor her in TIYL) and badmouthing the industry that made her rich and famous. Farmer may not not have deserved the treatment she received in the asylums, but, according to those who knew her, she was mentally ill and those treatments were the standard of her time. Arnold delves into possible government conspiracies against FF, and some of his theories border on the ludicrous--it seems everybody was plotting to destroy Frances. He also claims Frances was raped in the asylum by hundreds of soldiers from a nearby army base, without naming a single source to verify this claim. From reading Shadowland, one leaves with a feeling that perhaps Arnold is mentally ill himself. So read this book for entertainment, not to know Frances Farmer.

I do have some sympathy for Frances Farmer and her being committed to asylums for being insane when she was probably just an "in your face" rebellious young woman or manic depressive or something else that can be treated with medication now. I don't have sympathy for her communism. I find it very interesting that Frances studied drama at the University of Washington, went to Hollywood to become an actress/star, but oh, she hated all that glamour movie star business. She wanted to be a communist, share and share alike. Yeah right. If she hated Hollywood and all it stood for, why did she go there to begin with? Please don't make me laugh and tell me she didn't know how Hollywood was. Hollywood was the dream factory in the 1930s. Stars were worshipped. That was the "golden era" of Hollywood.

Frances had a real rebellious streak. She was born too early. She should have been young in the 1960s. She wouldn't have been committed to an asylum. She would have been going around with Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, Jane Fonda, you get my drift. Anti-establishment was hip in the 60s, not in the 30s and 40s.