Book-It '10! Book #68
The Fifty Books Challenge, year two! This was a library request.
Title: Famous Players, the Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor by Rick Geary
Details: Copyright 2009, Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "It's the early days of Hollywood, movies are just starting to come of their own and gain in popularity. New Stars are made. The movies are still silent but their stars certainly are not, in the scandal sheets. Amidst this new boiling cauldron, William Desmond Taylor, a successful director at the 'upscale' Famous Players Studio is found shot in his homes. Could it have been the star Mary Miles Minter or a former butler? But then, what about that strange past Taylor had? Another delectable mystery as only Geary can tell 'em!"
Why I Wanted to Read It: Geary's work had gotten positive notice from The Onion AV Club.
How I Liked It: Having now read four books by Geary, two of his Victorian Murder and two of his XXth Century Murder, he appears far more at home writing in the former.
This is by far the case I know the most about out of the four books of Geary's I've read. Despite that prior knowledge, his retelling is still confusing and jumbled. Geary weaves in and out of Taylor's personal story and the history of film-making unevenly, making the narratives "jump" and hard to follow. It's obvious Geary is using the story of Taylor to make a statement about the history of moving pictures as a whole: an admirable attempt, but one he does not succeed. Similarly, the cast of characters seems like it's a sort of half-hearted attempt at a whodunit and it's made even more unsatisfying as Geary never really presents them in a way relevant to the plot as a whole. We get a somewhat plausible motive for murder/complicity in murder from each, but it's brief and Geary spends more time on listing more characters that really have nothing to do with the story (each section opens with a picture of a star of the era, none of which are involved in the case; more of the attempted "story of Hollywood" theme).
It could be said that the book is simply too short (which wouldn't be untrue) were it not for the fact Geary has displayed a great sense of economy before. Trying to tell the story of the murder of William Desmond Taylor combined with a side telling of the history of Hollywood is just too much given the breadth Geary attempts and the length of the book itself.
The saving grace (if small) of the book is the artwork. Geary is more firmly John Held Jr rather than R. Crumb and for the most part, he animates famous faces not only authentically, but realistically. Sadly, it still isn't enough to save the book.
Notable: While Geary does a wonderful job with some famous faces, there are others at which he clearly proves inept. On one of the final pages (wherein he attempts to draw the greater Hollywood theme together) exists one of the most famous faces in Western civilization made almost unrecognizable:
Were it not for the (slightly misplaced) mole and the coif that vaguely resembles her most signature hair style, you'd never know that was Marilyn Monroe. It looks almost like Bette Davis as Marilyn Monroe at a costume party.
Geary also appears to have River Phoenix confused with Glenn Close (or maybe a very young Leonardo DiCaprio?).
Title: Famous Players, the Mysterious Death of William Desmond Taylor by Rick Geary
Details: Copyright 2009, Nantier Beall Minoustchine Publishing Inc
Synopsis (By Way of Back Cover): "It's the early days of Hollywood, movies are just starting to come of their own and gain in popularity. New Stars are made. The movies are still silent but their stars certainly are not, in the scandal sheets. Amidst this new boiling cauldron, William Desmond Taylor, a successful director at the 'upscale' Famous Players Studio is found shot in his homes. Could it have been the star Mary Miles Minter or a former butler? But then, what about that strange past Taylor had? Another delectable mystery as only Geary can tell 'em!"
Why I Wanted to Read It: Geary's work had gotten positive notice from The Onion AV Club.
How I Liked It: Having now read four books by Geary, two of his Victorian Murder and two of his XXth Century Murder, he appears far more at home writing in the former.
This is by far the case I know the most about out of the four books of Geary's I've read. Despite that prior knowledge, his retelling is still confusing and jumbled. Geary weaves in and out of Taylor's personal story and the history of film-making unevenly, making the narratives "jump" and hard to follow. It's obvious Geary is using the story of Taylor to make a statement about the history of moving pictures as a whole: an admirable attempt, but one he does not succeed. Similarly, the cast of characters seems like it's a sort of half-hearted attempt at a whodunit and it's made even more unsatisfying as Geary never really presents them in a way relevant to the plot as a whole. We get a somewhat plausible motive for murder/complicity in murder from each, but it's brief and Geary spends more time on listing more characters that really have nothing to do with the story (each section opens with a picture of a star of the era, none of which are involved in the case; more of the attempted "story of Hollywood" theme).
It could be said that the book is simply too short (which wouldn't be untrue) were it not for the fact Geary has displayed a great sense of economy before. Trying to tell the story of the murder of William Desmond Taylor combined with a side telling of the history of Hollywood is just too much given the breadth Geary attempts and the length of the book itself.
The saving grace (if small) of the book is the artwork. Geary is more firmly John Held Jr rather than R. Crumb and for the most part, he animates famous faces not only authentically, but realistically. Sadly, it still isn't enough to save the book.
Notable: While Geary does a wonderful job with some famous faces, there are others at which he clearly proves inept. On one of the final pages (wherein he attempts to draw the greater Hollywood theme together) exists one of the most famous faces in Western civilization made almost unrecognizable:
Were it not for the (slightly misplaced) mole and the coif that vaguely resembles her most signature hair style, you'd never know that was Marilyn Monroe. It looks almost like Bette Davis as Marilyn Monroe at a costume party.
Geary also appears to have River Phoenix confused with Glenn Close (or maybe a very young Leonardo DiCaprio?).