Stewart Granger: The Last of the Swashbucklers (Paperback)

~ Don Shiach (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'I can only praise his diligence and detail. It will be a valuable addition to anybody's soccer library.' John Motson '...a work of astonishing research...immensely readable' FourFourTwo 'Detailed and definitive' The Times" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

The first in-depth biography of a dashing Hollywood legend.

Stewart Granger was one of the few British actors who made it as a swashbuckling Hollywood screen idol during the golden age of movies. His most famous roles—in films like Scaramouche, The Prisoner of Zenda, and King Solomon’s Mines—established him as a prototypical man of action: undeniably masculine, chivalrous, and something of a buccaneer. Granger’s time at the top, however, was short: not only did Hollywood move on to more complex films, starring more youthful, enigmatic stars like James Dean and Marlon Brando, but Granger also gained a reputation for being difficult. The later years of his life were characterized by parts in TV Westerns, before a belated come-back in The Wild Geese. His private life was both complicated and spectacular: a torrid affair with Deborah Kerr and then marriage to Jean Simmons, the love of his life. In his new biography, film historian Don Shiach offers the first serious account of Stewart Granger’s life and career.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Aurum Press (August 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1845131673
• ISBN-13: 978-1845131678
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #923,327 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing book more sychoanalysis than biography, December 9, 2005

By	joseph - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stewart Granger (Hardcover)

Sadly this book disappointed me. I had hopped to read a biography of Mr. Granger. What I found instead of a biography was a sort of psychoanalysis of Mr. Granger's own autobiography. That analysis was very much a feminist critique. Mr. Granger's `manliness' was set up only to be knocked down and derided. I suppose that might appeal to some.

The author often quote newspaper articles of the time. A sort of resume of what the critics said at the time. I would question that this has more than superficial anecdotal significance. Newspaper critics are after all just journalist filling copy. I for one had no idea who these critics where so clearly their reputations have not endure greatly. In fact most if not all the source material seemed rather remote from the subject with the exception of Mr. Granger's own autobiography.

There are absences in the autobiography which the author could perhaps have done more to fill. For example the autobiography contains accounts of two funerals but not those of his still born children. An examination of contempory letter or diaries made might have given some insight into this. However, I get the impression that the author did not have access to such things.

The author has a tendency to talk down to the reader by telling them how things where in `those days'; writing as though this was prehistory and out of living memory. Actually we are taking very much in living memory and I don't think the author has it quite right.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The last of the Swashbucklers - Stewart Granger, October 3, 2008

By	Janice Swanson - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It is all too obvious that Don Shiach's book `The last of the Swashbucklers' on the life of Stewart Granger is nothing but a critical attack, He probably tried to accomplished his endeavor to write this critical attack on the autobiography, `Sparks Fly Upward', written by Stewart Granager which he quotes often. It is not a `vivid portrait'. It must stem from Shach's background that continues to haut him in making an effort to be condescending in order to blow his own horn on the lives of others in order to seek some acclaim to bolster his own ego as an author. The only true quality of the book is the insert of pictures leaving the written description set aside. What people don't do in order to make a buck!