Customer Reviews

Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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

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!

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.

I have been a fan of Liza Minnelli ever since I saw her amazing show on Broadway in the late 70's when I was living in Manhattan. I of course knew that Vincente Minnelli was Liza's father, but I knew relatively little about his life or his work until I read Emanuel Levy's superb biography. When you think of Liza, Judy Garland comes to mind, and being such an icon, her tragic life is part of the cultural zeitgeist, but beyond being a film director, Vincente Minnelli was, for me, largely an enigma. I had no idea his work was so broad, or that he was such a unique artist in his own right. Levy's insights into his distinct personal aesthetic, his life, his sexuality, his marriage to Judy, and his relationship with Liza all make for a pleasurable and extremely informative read. Concentrating on Minnelli's many years in Hollywood, Levy draws a very coherent and wonderfully detailed portrait of the man, the husband, the father and the artist through his in depth discussions of Minnelli's films and in the process paints a very clear and vivid picture of an Hollywood era that has all but disappeared.

A much needed book that explores in a cohesive way the ups and downs of the studio system and how they came to bear on the career of an under=appreciated auteur.

First, the shortcomings. They begin during the acknowledgments, during which we read that Levy spent years and years on this book, aided by the kindness of Minnelli's widow, Lee Anderson. I'm assuming that he also spent some time with "Tina Nina," the wretchedly named "other daughter" of Minnelli. In all those years of work, though, did he ever stir himself to interview any living person outside of the fourth wife and second daughter? It's hard to tell; there are no notes and the critical apparatus makes it impossible to tell where Levy or his research assistants uncovered any particular bit of information. The story reads smoothly but at crucial junctures one wonders how many opportunities were squandered to interview X or Y who have since passed on. I would estimate there must be literally dozens of key personnel alive today who workd with Minnelli, and it would have been nice to hear their input.

If he had actually interviewed Zsa Zsa Gabor, for example, she might have saved him from his Gigi blooper by telling him, "No, dahlink, that was Eva in Gigi, not me."

Also, why does Denise Hale come off so badly? I can only think that the wife who succeeded her didn't care for her. Denise Hale just sounds like an ignorant, greedy user, and that's hardly a well-rounded picture.

That said, I admired the parallels Levy found in Minnelli's movies, the links between them, the way, for example, that Madame Bovary recapitulates the plot of The Pirate (though I would give higher marks to Jennifer Jones' performance than he does). His discussions of the movies he likes are often very fine; it's when he wants to dismiss a movie that his writing goes wacky, like he's just another queen in the bar at last call. I didn't know that Liz Taylor wanted Sammy Davis Jr to play her lover (the Charles Bronson part) in The Sandpiper! It sounds ludicrous when you hear about it first, but the more I think about it, the more I wish it had happened. A friend of mine and I were talking about Levy's book the other day and we agreed that, for a man who wants to put his subject into the Parnassus of the great Hollywood directors, he certainly hates a lot of Minnelli's films--and even some of the best ones!

Several months ago, I attended a ceremony of the National Book Award for biographies and autobiographies of gay, lesbian and bisexual figures. Emanuel Levy's book on Vincente Minnelli, was deservedly one of the five finalists. After the event, I picked up the book and found it totally amazing. What Levy has done is take Minnelli's troubled sexual orientation vis-à-vis Hollywood's dominant sexual politics, and subjected all of the director's work to scrutiny along these lines. Though he worked in many different genre's (musicals, comedies, melodramas) as most studio directors did, the recurrent theme that runs through most of Minnelli's movies is sexual politics, or masculinity, as it is defined by mainstream culture. How consciously Minnelli inserted these themes in his movies we'll never know, but Levy does a great job of illuminating them in both on the surface and subtext of his work. I don't know of any other book that has done such analysis so thoroughly and yet in a light and entertaining way.

I have to admit I have never posted a review before, but I enjoyed your book so much that I decided to do it. I would like to thank you for your wonderful book about one of Hollywood's most brilliant and still underestimated directors. I savored every page of it.

I have known for years that only a couple of books have been written about Minnelli, including his own, understandably subjective and partial memoir. When he passed, his obituary was relegated to the inside of the L.A. Times instead of the front page, but, unlike the French, Hollywood often overlooks its brightest stars.

Your book is certainly the most scholarly I've read on Minnelli, and will be of lasting value as historical reference for his work. I wonder what Liza thinks of your book? She should be honored. For obvious reasons, I believe she does not like any mention of private issues, such as sexuality, when it comes to her parents, but you have put Minnelli's bisexuality in perspective, as a variable in understanding the essence of his work.

I don't agree with your assessments on every Minnelli film; I like some that you do not, and vica versa. But we both agree that he made so many beautiful and innovative movies on so many levels, and I congratulate you for having honored that.

Emanuel Levy brings a scholar's eye to the Minnelli proceedings without once loosing a sense of immediacy and drama. His real success, rare in a biographer, is his ability to relate the day-to-day episodes with the arc of the director's life and career. Both Minnelli's archetypal musicals and murky melodramas are thoroughly investigated; the topic of his homosexuality is not ignored but handled in straightforward narrative. As the studio system Minnelli so relied on diminished to nothing, his ability to achieve his big-screen vision likewise disappeared.

Vincent Minnelli is remembered as being a master of whatever medium he was working on at that time in his life. He would be very disappointed in this error ridden biography that is mostly a rehash of previous books and articles.
A previous review has already pointed out factual mistakes in the text, so I will mention two mistakes in the (one) photograph section. The second film still shown, from I DOOD IT identifies the woman shown as Eleanor Powell. Although I am uncertain as to who it really is (possibly Helen O'Connell), she is not Eleanor Powell. The very second page of pictures shown Judy Garland in a summer dress from MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, and the caption states she is shown singing "The Christmas Song." Anyone who has seen the film (or that clip, which is shown in every documentary about Old Hollywood) knows she is wearing a rich looking burgandy dress and wrap, and that Margaret O'Brien is with her.
Perhaps two mis identitied photographs sounds petty, but that is my point: if the author is not able to correctly identify photographs (or have a proof reader who is able), how can the reader expect anything from the writer?
As stated, another reviewer has brought up specfic errors in writing, and I will only mention that early in the book, the author states that Mr. Minnelli knew Lucille Ball before they were in Hollywood, and says, "He thought of her as a sophisticated Myrna Loy-type." This is redudant as anyone who knows of Myrna Loy equates her with being sophisticated.
Of course, this all seems to be a mute point, as according to the author, the reader should not know the difference. "Though I am trained as an academic, for this biography I have tried for a more popular style that keep scholary jargon to a minimum." ie, "I have had to tone down my high intelligence for the base reader." Meum namen est bardus.
This book will be in the bargain bin soon, so save your 37.50.
I have to note: no where in the book is Liza Minnelli credited as having helped or given her approval for this book, I think that says it all.

As a fan of Minnelli, I was eager to read Emanuel Levy's biography of this distinguished filmmaker. His book is fascinating; Levy does a brilliant job of analyzing Minnelli's work in the context of his life and in doing so putting him in his rightful place among Hollywood's great directors. The book thoroughly details how Minnelli worked, how he collaborated, how his particular cinematic style developed, and his ups and downs in the studio system. Levy does an excellent job in showing why Minnelli should belong to the pantheon of Hollywood directors, alongside Hitchcock and Welles among others, how consistent his cinematic vision is, and how events of his life molded that vision.

The lengthy analysis of each Minnelli film is illuminating and clearly illustrates Minnelli's stature as an innovative director both thematically and technically (his mise en scene, camera work, sense of color) especially in the musicals which I know the best. After reading the book I look forward to revisiting the films I know and love with fresh eyes, as well as exploring more of Minnelli's rich body of work in melodrama and comedy.