Book Reviewed: Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves by James Nestor
In this book, the author describes his experiences with the sport of free diving and the great dangers sportsmen and sportswomen face in this highly risky sport. He travels around the world meeting free diving enthusiasts and competitors who involve themselves in this fascinating adventure.
The human body can withstand the pressures of three hundred feet underwater ascent only in its natural state. An experienced free diver can’t go below 150 feet comfortably. But it is exhilarating to know that this sport is attracting more dare devils and media attention
The author briefly touches upon the behavior of many deep sea animals and wonders how their biological design helps them live and feed at various depths. There is very little biology or evolutionary ecology discussed in this book, but it is purely from the point of a journalist. I recommend this to anyone interested in free diving.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Very focused book
Book Reviewed: Radiation Biology of Medical Imaging by Charles A. Kelsey
This book is written mainly for students studying for board certifications to establish their competence to practice their professions like medical technologists, engineers or scientists. The first part deals with physics and biology of radiation and then discusses DNA damage, genetic effects and cancer. The second half focuses on the radiation effects from medical and natural sources of radiation, and the federal regulations designed to protect the general public.
The effects of radiation depend on the dose and the parts of the body irradiated but do not depend on how it is delivered. Radiation therapy used in cancer treatment uses high doses of radiation to kill cancerous cells, but lower doses are used for the inserting of device into the body or to determine the body functions. It is an interesting read but I have to say it is very focused and written for a small group of professionals writing board examinations and this is not intended for a general reader interested in radiation biology.
This book is written mainly for students studying for board certifications to establish their competence to practice their professions like medical technologists, engineers or scientists. The first part deals with physics and biology of radiation and then discusses DNA damage, genetic effects and cancer. The second half focuses on the radiation effects from medical and natural sources of radiation, and the federal regulations designed to protect the general public.
The effects of radiation depend on the dose and the parts of the body irradiated but do not depend on how it is delivered. Radiation therapy used in cancer treatment uses high doses of radiation to kill cancerous cells, but lower doses are used for the inserting of device into the body or to determine the body functions. It is an interesting read but I have to say it is very focused and written for a small group of professionals writing board examinations and this is not intended for a general reader interested in radiation biology.
The tumultuous life of the “It” girl Clara Bow
Book Reviewed: Clara Bow by David Stenn
This is a fascinating story of one of the greatest stars of Hollywood. The story is beautifully narrated and the book reads effortlessly. It covers much of her career and her battles with demons, both personal and public.
During her lifetime, Bow was the subject of wild rumors regarding her sex life; most of them were untrue and the author describes the history wonderfully. The Coast Reporter, a tabloid published lurid allegations about her in 1931, accusing her of exhibitionism, incest, lesbianism, bestiality, drug addiction, alcoholism, and having contracted venereal disease. The publisher of the tabloid then tried to blackmail Bow, offering to cease printing the stories for $25,000, which led to his arrest by federal agents and later an eight-year prison sentence for the editor.
Unpretentious and unaffected as she was, Clara could not live obvious to her fame, nor did she want to. In five years she had made 37 movies and in her professional opinion, renown was simply a reward for hard work. Still Clara could not help viewing her stardom is too good to be true. The childhood fantasies that had relieved the reality of her family’s poverty, her father’s abuse and her mother’s seizers had been fulfilled beyond her wildest dreams. Though she was thrilled but she was also frightened. She was known to be a supremely confident “It” girl was in reality a slum girl devoid of self-esteem. She desperately tried to be a good mother for her children and devout wife of her husband despite the fact that her childhood was traumatic. She felt that life had played a cruel trick on her. She had pictured marriage and motherhood as an ideal, idyllic existence and in fact found it even more stressful than stardom. She was sure that she was a failure both as a Hollywood star and as a mother and that added to her depression score. Her insomnia was her greatest enemy which prevented her to relax and ease tensions and insecurities of life. Her father, cousin, and business manager were bleeding Clara dry and her house at Beverly Hills was way behind mortgage payments and the house looked shabby. The lawsuit against her secretary, Daisy DeVoe was very public scandal which broke her apart physically and mentally.
She was publicly engaged to Victor Fleming and privately promised to Gilbert Roland, nothing happened until after few months she started having an affair with Gary Cooper which became the talk of the town. Women were crazy about Cooper, and Paramount star Evelyn Brent cherished her affair with him for the rest of her life. Tallulah Bankhead was literally chasing into his dressing room. Clara increased her list of male lovers that included actors John Gilbert, Norman Kerry and Warren Burke. Her reputation started slipping and gossips whispered that Clara has more ID than “It.” In 1927, rumor linked not to one lover but the entire lineup of USC football team including John Wayne. She attended every home game in Los Angeles followed by regular entertainment at 512 Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills. Food and entertainment were provided. Her friends like Lina Basquette and Joan Crawford were always in attendance at these parties.
Clara Bow had a very tender and caring side for others. Once a young boy from Long Beach wrote to her about his parents, both ill and he was selling candied popcorn to pay their medical bills He wanted her to visit his store. She accepted his invitation immediately and replied that she was ion her way. She stood next to him and sold popcorn to her fans to help the boy raise money for the treatment of his parents’ illness.
When Clara left Paramount for the last time, discarded and disgraced, she was only 25. She said that Rex Bell was her man and she worships him. She was devoted to her husband and children and tried desperately to be an ideal mother. Her insomnia and constant ailments recurred with vengeance when her husband declared candidacy for the congressional seat from NV.
This book is a great read and watching her movies on TCM cable channel is rewarding. I recommend this book to all the fans of Clara Bow and also anyone interested the history of Hollywood.
This is a fascinating story of one of the greatest stars of Hollywood. The story is beautifully narrated and the book reads effortlessly. It covers much of her career and her battles with demons, both personal and public.
During her lifetime, Bow was the subject of wild rumors regarding her sex life; most of them were untrue and the author describes the history wonderfully. The Coast Reporter, a tabloid published lurid allegations about her in 1931, accusing her of exhibitionism, incest, lesbianism, bestiality, drug addiction, alcoholism, and having contracted venereal disease. The publisher of the tabloid then tried to blackmail Bow, offering to cease printing the stories for $25,000, which led to his arrest by federal agents and later an eight-year prison sentence for the editor.
Unpretentious and unaffected as she was, Clara could not live obvious to her fame, nor did she want to. In five years she had made 37 movies and in her professional opinion, renown was simply a reward for hard work. Still Clara could not help viewing her stardom is too good to be true. The childhood fantasies that had relieved the reality of her family’s poverty, her father’s abuse and her mother’s seizers had been fulfilled beyond her wildest dreams. Though she was thrilled but she was also frightened. She was known to be a supremely confident “It” girl was in reality a slum girl devoid of self-esteem. She desperately tried to be a good mother for her children and devout wife of her husband despite the fact that her childhood was traumatic. She felt that life had played a cruel trick on her. She had pictured marriage and motherhood as an ideal, idyllic existence and in fact found it even more stressful than stardom. She was sure that she was a failure both as a Hollywood star and as a mother and that added to her depression score. Her insomnia was her greatest enemy which prevented her to relax and ease tensions and insecurities of life. Her father, cousin, and business manager were bleeding Clara dry and her house at Beverly Hills was way behind mortgage payments and the house looked shabby. The lawsuit against her secretary, Daisy DeVoe was very public scandal which broke her apart physically and mentally.
She was publicly engaged to Victor Fleming and privately promised to Gilbert Roland, nothing happened until after few months she started having an affair with Gary Cooper which became the talk of the town. Women were crazy about Cooper, and Paramount star Evelyn Brent cherished her affair with him for the rest of her life. Tallulah Bankhead was literally chasing into his dressing room. Clara increased her list of male lovers that included actors John Gilbert, Norman Kerry and Warren Burke. Her reputation started slipping and gossips whispered that Clara has more ID than “It.” In 1927, rumor linked not to one lover but the entire lineup of USC football team including John Wayne. She attended every home game in Los Angeles followed by regular entertainment at 512 Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills. Food and entertainment were provided. Her friends like Lina Basquette and Joan Crawford were always in attendance at these parties.
Clara Bow had a very tender and caring side for others. Once a young boy from Long Beach wrote to her about his parents, both ill and he was selling candied popcorn to pay their medical bills He wanted her to visit his store. She accepted his invitation immediately and replied that she was ion her way. She stood next to him and sold popcorn to her fans to help the boy raise money for the treatment of his parents’ illness.
When Clara left Paramount for the last time, discarded and disgraced, she was only 25. She said that Rex Bell was her man and she worships him. She was devoted to her husband and children and tried desperately to be an ideal mother. Her insomnia and constant ailments recurred with vengeance when her husband declared candidacy for the congressional seat from NV.
This book is a great read and watching her movies on TCM cable channel is rewarding. I recommend this book to all the fans of Clara Bow and also anyone interested the history of Hollywood.
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
The American dream of Clint Eastwood
Book Reviewed: Clint Eastwood's America by Sam B. Girgus
This is one of the many books written about the life and works of Clint Eastwood. What make this book different from others is that it analyzes his vision thorough his work. Eastwood Emerged in film industry as a typical "cowboy" and a "tough cop" but turned himself into to a great director. After decades of acting and directing and attaining success and fame, his first major creative power is illustrated in his 1992 movie, "Unforgiven," in which he plays an aging cowboy who is spurned by the society for his past, searches for his soul, destiny and the meaning of existence. The book largely delves on the moral and ethical issues tackled in Eastwood's movies. Eastwood looks at each character and the movie he made with great sensibility and responsibility.
In the movie, "Million Dollar Baby," Frankie Dunn becomes the Eastwood's fullest expression in an individual character. In this story, we observe an infinite ethical possibility and the inherent experimental limitations of the human condition. Eastwood comes closer, than any of his other movies, to imagining the possibility of transcendence in the ethical and human responsibility to other fellow beings
The characters in "Mystic River," operate in a world of inevitable ethical encounter. It continues the quest for redemption and renewal in a world of moral confusion. His search for the human dimension and meaning of relationships goes beyond the admiration of the self, and seek to appreciate the love for others. The movie makes many references to the spiritual side that reinforces in a belief that Eastwood has great interest in demonstrating the moral and ethical dilemma of life. The aerial shot of the Mystic River at the beginning and the end, and also repetitively during the story suggest the vision of nature.
Eastwood's work also represents a generational bridge that clearly looks to the future as in "Flags of our Fathers," and "Letters from Iwo Jima." He visits his perennial theme of parental responsibility and family relationships as the basis of a healthy society. This book is interesting to anyone interested in the career of Clint Eastwood especially the movies he directed. The book tries to measure the moral dimension of his work.
This is one of the many books written about the life and works of Clint Eastwood. What make this book different from others is that it analyzes his vision thorough his work. Eastwood Emerged in film industry as a typical "cowboy" and a "tough cop" but turned himself into to a great director. After decades of acting and directing and attaining success and fame, his first major creative power is illustrated in his 1992 movie, "Unforgiven," in which he plays an aging cowboy who is spurned by the society for his past, searches for his soul, destiny and the meaning of existence. The book largely delves on the moral and ethical issues tackled in Eastwood's movies. Eastwood looks at each character and the movie he made with great sensibility and responsibility.
In the movie, "Million Dollar Baby," Frankie Dunn becomes the Eastwood's fullest expression in an individual character. In this story, we observe an infinite ethical possibility and the inherent experimental limitations of the human condition. Eastwood comes closer, than any of his other movies, to imagining the possibility of transcendence in the ethical and human responsibility to other fellow beings
The characters in "Mystic River," operate in a world of inevitable ethical encounter. It continues the quest for redemption and renewal in a world of moral confusion. His search for the human dimension and meaning of relationships goes beyond the admiration of the self, and seek to appreciate the love for others. The movie makes many references to the spiritual side that reinforces in a belief that Eastwood has great interest in demonstrating the moral and ethical dilemma of life. The aerial shot of the Mystic River at the beginning and the end, and also repetitively during the story suggest the vision of nature.
Eastwood's work also represents a generational bridge that clearly looks to the future as in "Flags of our Fathers," and "Letters from Iwo Jima." He visits his perennial theme of parental responsibility and family relationships as the basis of a healthy society. This book is interesting to anyone interested in the career of Clint Eastwood especially the movies he directed. The book tries to measure the moral dimension of his work.
Monday, March 31, 2014
The American culture in transition: The role of flappers in the early feminist movement
Book Reviewed: Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex, Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America Modern
There is an interesting story about the women in 1920s, before the great depression hit the nation, women were loudly making changes in their life styles and demanding equal rights. The very soul and image of the modern American woman was becoming apparent. The flapper was real, the product of compelling social and political forces that converged after WWI. By that time many women were gainfully employed, and the new financial freedom allowed them to live on their own, away from their family and community surveillance. She boldly asserted her rights to date, dance, wear revealing clothes and smoke, which their mothers only dreamed of trying. Several factors catalyzed this social revolution, feminist books, magazines, theater, movies and women's fashion. Women like Coco Chanel, the famous French fashion designer redefined feminine form and silhouette. Lois Long of New York City emerged as one of the most insightful observers of sex and style in Jazz age America. In Hollywood studios, actresses like Clara Bow, Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks were great triumvirate that fired the imagination of millions of film goers with their own distinct style. The performance of sexually oriented scenes and revealing clothes in movies and theater raised troubling questions. For example; the one-piece bathing suit popularized by Annette Kellerman, professional swimmer and vaudeville star was legally banned in many countries, and she was arrested for indecent exposure at Boston Revere Beach in 1908. For the "guardians of moral values" the less restrictive clothes went hand-in-hand with diminishing morals of women. Some sociologists suggested that sexual mores were changing.
This book focusses only on certain aspects of feminist movement and the work of few individuals. It omits the role played by numerous women in Hollywood, theater, Broadway, literature and sports that awakened the women to realize their own potential, demand equal rights and opportunities to enjoy life. In this regard, I very much like the book by Angela J. Latham, "Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s."
The author concludes that American 1920's represented a high-water mark in female autonomy using fashion and body display and changed the attitudes towards morality. Women presented their fashion and body as a site and not a symbol; feminity is sacred. This focus complicated our perception of what it meant to be a woman in 1920s; even now after almost 100 years, the attitude towards fairer sex has not significantly changed.
There is an interesting story about the women in 1920s, before the great depression hit the nation, women were loudly making changes in their life styles and demanding equal rights. The very soul and image of the modern American woman was becoming apparent. The flapper was real, the product of compelling social and political forces that converged after WWI. By that time many women were gainfully employed, and the new financial freedom allowed them to live on their own, away from their family and community surveillance. She boldly asserted her rights to date, dance, wear revealing clothes and smoke, which their mothers only dreamed of trying. Several factors catalyzed this social revolution, feminist books, magazines, theater, movies and women's fashion. Women like Coco Chanel, the famous French fashion designer redefined feminine form and silhouette. Lois Long of New York City emerged as one of the most insightful observers of sex and style in Jazz age America. In Hollywood studios, actresses like Clara Bow, Colleen Moore and Louise Brooks were great triumvirate that fired the imagination of millions of film goers with their own distinct style. The performance of sexually oriented scenes and revealing clothes in movies and theater raised troubling questions. For example; the one-piece bathing suit popularized by Annette Kellerman, professional swimmer and vaudeville star was legally banned in many countries, and she was arrested for indecent exposure at Boston Revere Beach in 1908. For the "guardians of moral values" the less restrictive clothes went hand-in-hand with diminishing morals of women. Some sociologists suggested that sexual mores were changing.
This book focusses only on certain aspects of feminist movement and the work of few individuals. It omits the role played by numerous women in Hollywood, theater, Broadway, literature and sports that awakened the women to realize their own potential, demand equal rights and opportunities to enjoy life. In this regard, I very much like the book by Angela J. Latham, "Posing a Threat: Flappers, Chorus Girls, and Other Brazen Performers of the American 1920s."
The author concludes that American 1920's represented a high-water mark in female autonomy using fashion and body display and changed the attitudes towards morality. Women presented their fashion and body as a site and not a symbol; feminity is sacred. This focus complicated our perception of what it meant to be a woman in 1920s; even now after almost 100 years, the attitude towards fairer sex has not significantly changed.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
The Sapphic liaison: Women who loved women during 20s/30s Hollywood
Book Reviewed: The Sewing Circle: Hollywood's Greatest Secret: Female Stars Who Loved Other Women by Axel Madsen
This is a highly readable book, and the author has way with words when she describes feminists of 1920s Hollywood who were redefining sexuality and relationships. This work is based on earlier publications about Hollywood lesbians, and many paragraphs and sentences look awfully similar to “The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood” by Diana McLellan, which was published in 2013. It appears that this book may have been a source for many stories described by Ms. McLellan. For a quick read, I would recommend this book over McLellan’s, because the latter runs to about 506 pages!
Some of the most interesting stories is probably about the ravishing ladies of golden era; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. They were all bisexuals but had strong leanings towards women. The greatest "conqueror" of sewing circle was probably poet and playwright Mercedes De Acosta who had numerous gorgeous ladies in her count, from Europe to California. Her affairs with some of the well-known ladies like; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Ona Munson, Natacha Rambova, Lilyan Tashman and many more “good-time Charlene(s).” Sexuality was another role for many women, and for vanity and fear of discovery some of them had lavender marriages with gay men so that they could form secret alliances. Women like Tallulah Bankhead and Patsy Kelly made no secrets of their Sapphic tendencies; in fact Bankhead was very vocal about her gender orientation. Isadora Duncan is another bisexual and a longtime lover of Mercedes de Acosta who openly expressed her joy in lesbian relationship. She wrote sensual lesbian poems about Mercedes before her untimely death in Paris in an auto accident at the age of 50. Once she waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, "This is red! So am I.” Alla Nazimova was famous for organizing gay orgies at the famous “Garden of Allah,” a high-priced apartment complex on Sunset strip in Los Angeles. She threw caution to the wind and spent her fortune lavishly to produce her movie, “Salome” that featured an all gay cast.
Diana Wynyard, one of the first English ladies to become a member of the sewing circle, enjoyed the warmth of ladies hugs in sunny California. There were rumors that Barbara Stanwyck tried to seduce her future rival, Bette Davis when they were filming Edna Ferber’s 1932 movie “So Big.” Tallulah Bankhead’s wild flossy beauty attracted some of the most interesting lesbians of 1920s that included Katharine Cornell, Laurette Taylor, Sybil Thorndike, Beatrice Lillie, and Harlem’s Gladys Bentley, a three pound black Mae West, to put it mildly, donned in tuxedo and known to have married a woman in New Jersey in a civil ceremony in 1920s!
Libby Holman is another lady who had passionate affairs with Du Pont heiress Louisa Carpenter and later married tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds. Holman was charged with murder when her husband was found shot, but later the charges were dropped. She established a foundation for civil rights movement to the memory of her deceased son. Dr. Martin Luther King was the first to receive the grants to travel to India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s path of non-violence and civil disobedience.
Paramount’s costume designer Edith Head and her gay husband Fox director Wiard “Bill” Ihnen pursued their homo sexuality for decades. Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck had failed marriages and gave them time to seek comfort in the tender arms of gorgeous females. Sexless Linda and Cole Porter apparently helped his career and the couple’s homosexuality. Jill Esmond struggled to accept her lesbian orientation, but remained married to actor Lawrence Olivier for years. Their marriage was newer consummated. Katherine Hepburn, Janet Gaynor, Lili Damita, and Agnes Moorhead were daisy chains of deceit. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester; Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland were also lavender couples. Alla Nazimova's marriage with actor Charles Bryant; Mercedes De Acosta with Abram Poole; Lilyan Tashman with Edmond Lowe, and Rudolph Valentino with Jean Acker and later with Natacha Rambova are well-known examples of lavender marriages. The book is filled with lot of interesting stories, and I recommend to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood and the movies (and theater) of golden era.
This is a highly readable book, and the author has way with words when she describes feminists of 1920s Hollywood who were redefining sexuality and relationships. This work is based on earlier publications about Hollywood lesbians, and many paragraphs and sentences look awfully similar to “The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood” by Diana McLellan, which was published in 2013. It appears that this book may have been a source for many stories described by Ms. McLellan. For a quick read, I would recommend this book over McLellan’s, because the latter runs to about 506 pages!
Some of the most interesting stories is probably about the ravishing ladies of golden era; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Tallulah Bankhead. They were all bisexuals but had strong leanings towards women. The greatest "conqueror" of sewing circle was probably poet and playwright Mercedes De Acosta who had numerous gorgeous ladies in her count, from Europe to California. Her affairs with some of the well-known ladies like; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Alla Nazimova, Eva Le Gallienne, Ona Munson, Natacha Rambova, Lilyan Tashman and many more “good-time Charlene(s).” Sexuality was another role for many women, and for vanity and fear of discovery some of them had lavender marriages with gay men so that they could form secret alliances. Women like Tallulah Bankhead and Patsy Kelly made no secrets of their Sapphic tendencies; in fact Bankhead was very vocal about her gender orientation. Isadora Duncan is another bisexual and a longtime lover of Mercedes de Acosta who openly expressed her joy in lesbian relationship. She wrote sensual lesbian poems about Mercedes before her untimely death in Paris in an auto accident at the age of 50. Once she waved a red scarf and bared her breast on stage in Boston, proclaiming, "This is red! So am I.” Alla Nazimova was famous for organizing gay orgies at the famous “Garden of Allah,” a high-priced apartment complex on Sunset strip in Los Angeles. She threw caution to the wind and spent her fortune lavishly to produce her movie, “Salome” that featured an all gay cast.
Diana Wynyard, one of the first English ladies to become a member of the sewing circle, enjoyed the warmth of ladies hugs in sunny California. There were rumors that Barbara Stanwyck tried to seduce her future rival, Bette Davis when they were filming Edna Ferber’s 1932 movie “So Big.” Tallulah Bankhead’s wild flossy beauty attracted some of the most interesting lesbians of 1920s that included Katharine Cornell, Laurette Taylor, Sybil Thorndike, Beatrice Lillie, and Harlem’s Gladys Bentley, a three pound black Mae West, to put it mildly, donned in tuxedo and known to have married a woman in New Jersey in a civil ceremony in 1920s!
Libby Holman is another lady who had passionate affairs with Du Pont heiress Louisa Carpenter and later married tobacco heir Zachary Smith Reynolds. Holman was charged with murder when her husband was found shot, but later the charges were dropped. She established a foundation for civil rights movement to the memory of her deceased son. Dr. Martin Luther King was the first to receive the grants to travel to India to study Mahatma Gandhi’s path of non-violence and civil disobedience.
Paramount’s costume designer Edith Head and her gay husband Fox director Wiard “Bill” Ihnen pursued their homo sexuality for decades. Joan Crawford and Barbara Stanwyck had failed marriages and gave them time to seek comfort in the tender arms of gorgeous females. Sexless Linda and Cole Porter apparently helped his career and the couple’s homosexuality. Jill Esmond struggled to accept her lesbian orientation, but remained married to actor Lawrence Olivier for years. Their marriage was newer consummated. Katherine Hepburn, Janet Gaynor, Lili Damita, and Agnes Moorhead were daisy chains of deceit. Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester; Vincente Minnelli and Judy Garland were also lavender couples. Alla Nazimova's marriage with actor Charles Bryant; Mercedes De Acosta with Abram Poole; Lilyan Tashman with Edmond Lowe, and Rudolph Valentino with Jean Acker and later with Natacha Rambova are well-known examples of lavender marriages. The book is filled with lot of interesting stories, and I recommend to anyone interested in the history of Hollywood and the movies (and theater) of golden era.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Jessica Lange is stunning in the portrayal of troubled actress Frances Farmer
Movie reviewed: Frances starring Jessica Lange
The facts speak for themselves. Jessica Lange's stunning performance as the troubled actress, Frances Farmer got a nod from the Academy in the best actress category in 1982, the first of the five nominations she received during 1980s. The story is largely based on Frances Farmer's auto biography, "Will there be a Morning?" and "Hollywood Babylon" by historian and author Kenneth Anger. The movie is pretty long, about 140 minutes, but skips the key portion of her life. In her book, she describes her ordeal in the state facilities for insane in great detail; the brutality of the caregivers, orderlies, and nurses, both physical and sexual, and lobotomies performed during those days of her incarceration is highly vivid and brutal. The movie deals with this part very briefly. The circumstances of her arrest at the famous Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, California and her subsequent demise as a Hollywood performer is well handled in the movie. Actress Kim Stanley also offers an outstanding performance as Mama Farmer, a highly controlling mother in the life of young Frances. Stanley was also nominated for Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. This is a highly watchable movie and I recommend this to anyone interested the life of Frances Farmer.
The facts speak for themselves. Jessica Lange's stunning performance as the troubled actress, Frances Farmer got a nod from the Academy in the best actress category in 1982, the first of the five nominations she received during 1980s. The story is largely based on Frances Farmer's auto biography, "Will there be a Morning?" and "Hollywood Babylon" by historian and author Kenneth Anger. The movie is pretty long, about 140 minutes, but skips the key portion of her life. In her book, she describes her ordeal in the state facilities for insane in great detail; the brutality of the caregivers, orderlies, and nurses, both physical and sexual, and lobotomies performed during those days of her incarceration is highly vivid and brutal. The movie deals with this part very briefly. The circumstances of her arrest at the famous Knickerbocker Hotel in Hollywood, California and her subsequent demise as a Hollywood performer is well handled in the movie. Actress Kim Stanley also offers an outstanding performance as Mama Farmer, a highly controlling mother in the life of young Frances. Stanley was also nominated for Academy Award in the best supporting actress category. This is a highly watchable movie and I recommend this to anyone interested the life of Frances Farmer.
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