Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer [Hardcover]

Emanuel Levy (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2009

Vincente Minnelli, Hollywood's Dark Dreamer is the first full-length biography of Vincente Minnelli, one of the most legendary and influential directors in the twentieth century, encompassing his life, his art, and his artistry.  Minnelli started out as a set and costume designer in New York, where he first notably applied his aesthetic principles to the Broadway stage design of Scheherazade. He became the first director of New York's Radio City Music Hall, as well as some of the most lavish Broadway musicals, including Ziegfeld Follies, and brought Josephine Baker back from Paris to star in his shows. As a film director, he discovered Lena Horne in a Harlem nightclub and cast her in his first movie, the legendary musical Cabin in the Sky.  The winner of the Director Oscar for Gigi, the first film to win in all nine of its Oscar nominations, Minnelli directed such classics as the Oscar-winning An American in Paris, Meet Me in St. Louis, Father of the Bride, The Bad and the Beautiful, and Some Came Running.  He was married to Judy Garland, who he met on the set of Meet Me in St. Louis and directed in such landmark films as The Clock; their daughter is actress-singer Liza Minnelli.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Former Variety critic Levy has written nine books on film, including All About Oscar and John Wayne. In the first full-length comprehensive biography of film director Minnelli (1903–1986), Levy unveils a compelling portrait. A lonely, awkward, painfully shy boy, Minnelli was born into show business because his father and uncle operated a touring theater company. In New York, during the 1930s, Minnelli graduated from costume and set designs to directing. After a decade on Broadway, he was sent by producer Arthur Freed to MGM, where Minnellis stylish and exuberant élan captivated audiences for the next 25 years. Meet Me in St. Louis became a huge WWII home-front hit, establishing Minnelli as a major Tinseltown talent. Levy delivers an outstanding chapter on the making of that film and how it brought Minnelli and Judy Garland together: Judy could never separate professional from emotional relationships, and that kind of blend—or confusion, if you will—was at the very foundation of her marriage to Minnelli. Levys exhaustive research taps into three key sources: the Special Minnelli Collection at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; letters and documents kept by Minnellis widow, Lee Anderson Minnelli; and various drafts of Minnellis 1974 memoir, I Remember It Well. Along with coverage of memorable musical and nonmusical films, the work tells Minnellis personal life with illuminating insight. Levy captures the color, verve and panache of the directors life and legacy in high-gloss Hollywood. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

Vincente Minnelli is best known for directing some of Hollywood’s greatest musicals, such as An American in Paris and Meet Me in St. Louis, but cinephiles also laud him for such melodramatic masterworks as The Bad and the Beautiful and Some Came Running. A number of books have discussed his work, but he hasn’t previously been the subject of a biography. Relying mostly on secondary sources, Levy traces his career from early days as a stage designer in New York to arrival at MGM and his most fruitful period, the 1950s, when his films were box office and critical successes, to his frustrating final decades after the collapse of the studio system. Levy is perhaps more successful at limning Minnelli’s career than at accounting for his problematic personal life: a semicloseted homosexual, Minnelli essayed four marriages, including a famously fractious union with Judy Garland. Despite pallid readings of the films, Levy provides some valuable insight into the life of a genuine artist who struggled—frequently successfully—to inject a higher aesthetic into popular entertainment. --Gordon Flagg

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; First Edition edition (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312329253
• ISBN-13: 978-0312329259
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,149,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Did all the editors at St. Martin's Press suddenly up and die?, June 1, 2009

By 

Jeffrey Woodman (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer (Hardcover)

Fascinating subject -- dreadful execution.

I was really looking forward to reading this book, and began by glancing through the photos. When I noticed all the aforementioned mis-captioned pictures I thought, "Uh-oh, this does not bode well."

I won't repeat here the examples of factual errors that are apparent even to a casual scholar of Hollywood's Golden Age. What I find staggering is the combination of inaccuracies, repetitions, omissions, and completely fatuous observations. ("Another brother, Willie, curiously bearing the same name as the dying son in 'East Lynne,' a play in which Minnelli would later perform, died when he was an infant.")

As Dana Stevens observed in a New York Times book review, "...details pop up throughout the book in sudden, impenetrable clumps. Yet elsewhere, information that would be crucial for comprehending the significance of a story is mysteriously absent." That, combined with some truly bad writing, make this a non-starter.

Given the subject matter, I'll probably slog through some more of it (perhaps using the index in the back to jump to the areas of greatest interest to me) before I give it to the local library and take a $37.95 tax deduction.

I Remember It Well

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware!, May 26, 2009

By 

Thomas Early "Tom" (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer (Hardcover)

Have never done a review for Amazon-- but this time felt strongly I should!! This book is reprehensible...

So many factual errs-- Ones I picked up on had to do with first wife the great Judy Garland. Picture insert -- clearly a shot from "Boy Next Door" number from "Meet Me In St Louis" states that she is in position for her christmas song.... Says a sequence from, "Babes on Broadway' (1941) is from, "Strike Up The Band" (1940)--

informs the reader that her third husbands name was, "Mickey" and that Liza stayed with them in London for a time circa... 1964-- Must mean 5th husband Mickey Deans whom she married in 1969-- plus tawdry details of their sex life (Garland and Minnelli...) Book jacket says they met on the set of MMISL-- and on and on.... This talented artist deserves better!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Life In Films, April 6, 2010

By 

Joseph Albanese "The Joe Show" (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer (Hardcover)

In HOLLYWOOD'S DARK DREAMER, author Emanuel Levy captures the true genius of film director Vincente Minnelli. Whether it is visionary powers or dedication to the arts, one must marvel at the wide and varied spectrum of films that Mr. Minnelli directed. Best known for the Freed musicals, the book accurately details them - both the hits (GiGi, An American In Paris) as well as the misses (Kismet, Brigadoon). Mr. Levy also details the comedies (The Long, Long Trailer, Designing Woman) and dramas (Some Came Running, Madame Bovary) that Minnelli gave the world.

HOLLYWOOD'S DARK DREAMER details all of Minnelli's life: his marriages, daughter LIza, troubled relationship with Judy Garland. As others have noted, the book should have been proofed better but what is a puzzlement is how Mr. Levy (obviously fascinated with Vinente Minnelli as a director and a person) seems to be reluctant to explore the man himself. Were his marriages a sham? What motivated him to be so dedicated to his profession? Continually, Levy touches on points (as an example: Minnelli's vast collection of art books which could be seen in the vivid tapestry his camera paints on screen) but, almost as if afraid of offending the man, he steps back or just drops the topic.

Still, he has written an extensive book that details Minnelli's work and life and for that he should be proud.