The Giant: Orson Welles, the Artist and the Shadow

 The Giant: Orson Welles, the Artist and the Shadow by Youssef Daoudi (2025) 272 pages 

Yes, Orson Welles was a voice actor on "The Shadow" radio program, and that is touched on in this book, but it is more his looming figure with drifting smoke from an ever-present cigar that is the shadow of the title. A thread that carries through this biography is Welles working to finish the film The Other Side of the Wind, a film that was only completed posthumously in 2018. The author/artist hits all the major events of his life and career, but the visual invention allowed by the graphic medium is the real strength of this book. I loved the alien ships of The War of the Worlds, which Welles adapted for radio, being depicted as massive '30s radio microphones. Welles was evidently a fan of bullfighting, so another clever visual is having his shadow play matador to a charging bull with a movie camera head. Behind the scenes anecdotes and Welles' appetite and his wicked humor fill the pages to bursting. Welles appeared in many TV commercials and recognized he acted in many bad movies. "The only thing I want written on my tombstone: 'He never did Love Boat.'" "[His career has] been two percent moviemaking and ninety-eight percent HUSTLING." So much care has been put into the black and white art with yellow highlights.

Without Lying Down

Without Lying Down: Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood by Cari Beauchamp (1997) 475 pages

Years ago I read the historical fiction book The Girls in the Picture by Melanie Benjamin. Fans of that would like this non-fiction book about Frances Marion's full life and career. Also, back in 2017, I borrowed a Mary Pickford movie and the DVD had a documentary with this same title, Without Lying Down. Cari Beauchamp died late last year, so this cinema history book moved up in my list of priorities. The title comes from a quote that Frances, as a highly paid writer in the early days of filmmaking, said, "I've spent my life searching for a man to look up to without lying down." 

I loved the behind the scenes stories of the filmmaking process the most. Frances was mentored by Lois Weber. Befriended Marie Dressler and helped to bring her from the stages of New York to the sets of Hollywood. Her friendship and working relationship with Mary Pickford fills a large section of the book. The cover photo is of the two of them. She also was friends with fellow writers Hedda Hopper and Adela Roger St. Johns. She worked closely with managing producer Irving Thalberg at MGM. Frances often worked on films for W.R. Hearst's company to star Marion Davies. The great love of her life was Fred Thomson, a now forgotten Western star, who died too young. Her hobbies of playing piano and sculpting as well as being a founding member of the Academy and then the Writer's Guild was fascinating too.

Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday

Monty Python's Tunisian Holiday: My Life with Brian by Kim "Howard" Johnson  368 pp.

This is a day by day account of the filming of the movie "Monty Python's Life of Brian" written by dedicated Monty Python's Flying Circus fan and fanzine creator, Kim Johnson. Johnson had the good fortune to be invited by the Pythons to Tunisia for the location filming there. He also worked as an extra in the film playing various parts including villagers, Roman soldiers, and others. Many details about the actual filming, difficulties with props, scenery and the weather are included. There are also interviews with the Pythons, other actors in the production and George Harrison, who was a big Monty Python fan and fronted the money for the film. Johnson went on to be an assistant to John Cleese who, in his forward to the book, said he hadn't read it. If you are looking for a book jam packed with Python humor, this isn't the book for you. However, it does give some insight into their creative process.

Night Film by Marissa Pessl

Night Film by Marissa Pessl, 602 pages.
Pessl's second book, or at least her second big one, Night Film is a slick and polished book. It's well-paced and the surprises are just right. It didn't grab me like I had hoped it would, I put it down for a week or so when I got half-way through it, but I was satisfied with the end.
Scott McGrath, a reporter whose life was ruined years ago, when he was set up by the man he was investigating, horror-filmmaker Stanislas Cordova, finds himself drawn into Cordova's world again when the filmmaker's daughter commits suicide.

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