Romanticized Portait of the Last Days of a Great Star
586022
In ME & MY SHADOWS, Lorna Luft recalled that sister Liza Minnelli apologized for her inability to attend Garland's wedding to Mickey Deans by telling Garland that she would come the next time.  Garland's family, friends, and associates had seen them come and go, and they knew all too well that Deans was just one more flash in the pan in Garland's increasingly erratic life--and not a particularly attractive one at that.  But there would be no "next time."  Not long after their marriage, Garland died of an accidental drug overdose, leaving Mickey Deans as the widower of note.
Published in 1972, WEEP NO MORE MY LADY was the second book about Garland to follow her 1969 death, and in it Mickey Deans and co-author Ann Pinchot offer a general biography of Garland along with a portrait of the brief marriage.  The Garland children are on record as saying the book is extremely self-serving, painting a "happily-ever-after" vision of a small-time promoter who hitched his wagon to a fading but still powerful star--and it does seem likely that Deans, who vanished from the public eye as quickly as he appeared, ground out this book as a quick cash-in on Garland's then-recent death.  But all the same, it is not entirely fair to completely trash the book itself.
As general biography, WEEP NO MORE MY LADY offered nothing new even in 1972, and in light of several later, much more deeply researched works is at best extremely niave.  It is also true that Deans puts an extremely sentimental gloss on his marriage to Garland--a gloss so thick that it becomes as sticky as half-melted all-day sucker.  It is extremely important to read between the lines here--and to read in knowledge of later, more factual and well-substantiated accounts.  But unlike the similar OVER THE RAINBOW WITH JUDY GARLAND ON THE DAWN PATROL by Mel Torme, there is nothing mean-spirited about the book, and although Deans and Pinchot obviously romanticize and glamourize to the nth degree they do occasionally offer interesting sidelights into the last days of a truly great talent.  Final thoughts: worth reading, but read Christopher Finch's RAINBOW and Gerald Frank's JUDY first.
3521384
Katherine Hepburn was (at least for our generation and our parent's) one of the iconic actresses, one of the greats. She had her own style, popularlizing wearing pants, for example, had a scandalous (at that time) long-term relationship with the married Spencer Tracy and made some classic and great films. (My fave happens to be "Lion in Winter. But of course, there are so many better ones.)

This autobiography is episodic and a bit like listening to her abrupt and pointed style of talking. What's interesting especially is reading about her family. There were tragedies, a lot fun, too. She was athletic and strong, a trait that stood her in good stead for a long, productive life. She was always opinionated and headstrong, and for a long time, box-office poison due to a notable film failure. She covers this failure with a good, clear-eyed look at what went wrong.

If you love classic film, and the great actresses like Bette Davis, Vanessa Redgrave and Hepburn, you'll enjoy reading this bio.
3537987
This is an interesting book about the making of "Gone With The Wind." There is a nice description of the peculiarities of David O Selznick, his genius and his incredible eccentricities. He was the son of a movie pioneer who lost control of his studio. He was raised as a "Hollywood Prince," in the fashion of Budd Schulberg who wrote&nbsp;<a data-hook="product-link-linked" class="a-link-normal" href="/Moving-Pictures-Memories-of-a-Hollywood-Prince/dp/1566635268/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_rvw_txt?ie=UTF8">Moving Pictures: Memories of a Hollywood Prince</a>. There is some background on Selznick but there could have been more. He went through multiple writers and directors and there could have been more about them. The book is filled with prints of watercolor illustrations from the art director and costume designer to the point that it begins to feel like padding. I have read a number of other books about the making of classic movies and this one was a bit disappointing. It's worth reading but could have been much better. There was, for another example, very little about Clark Gable although he was a huge star and the public virtually demanded he play Rhett Butler. I would have liked more about the book and the author, Margaret Mitchell. Maybe there are other books that do a better job. If you are particularly interested in set design and costume design, this is your book.
3708543
Levels of life works on at least two of those levels. It is informative about ballooning and Sarah Bernhardt and prevailing attitudes of those days but mostly it works as a homage to his wife who Julian Barnes misses with supreme tenderness. Short and bittersweet.
3894277
Dame Gwen Ffrangcon Davies may not be the first name if you think about Shakespearean stage actresses from the last century. Of course, there was Ellen Terry, Peggy Ashcroft, and Judi Dench, Dame Gwen didn't become a Dame until she turned 100 years old and the day was saddened by the loss of her friend and colleague, Dame Peggy Ashcroft who died afterwards. Dame Gwen Davies had a long illustrious career as predominantly stage actress with a special affinity for the role of William Shakespeare's Juliet Capulet. Her Romeo was none other the legendary actor, John Gielgud, who was also a dear friend of hers. Dame Gwen lived to be a 100 years old which is a remarkable achievement that many of us will not make. Her private life according to the letters was involved with another woman, South African actress, Manna Varde. While they had a long-term relationship and friendship, the book is kind of vague about their sexual orientation. Not that it matters, they are both long gone and society has become more acceptable. The two women acted, produced, and directed plays in South Africa as well as in America. There a lovely black and white pictures of them and with other well-known thespians of their generation. They were not without their problems that caused them to live apart from each other but maintained a close relationship with each other. As close, they never really divulge the details to the readers. Dame Gwen spent the last 20 years not on stage but at her lovely cottage known as Tagley where she called it home with her partner too. They had guests, parties, and friends in the business. Of course, there was a lot of letter-writing. Dame Gwen spent most of her time in contact with people through their letters and she did the same for them. The letters in this book can be disappointing. Not so much gossip, rather quite tame for the reader. I think the book could have divulged some more information. Since it's the only book about her in print, it's a treasure to get in the first place.
54110
First of all, let me say that as "celebrity biographies" go,  this is one of the better ones. Rather than produce a mere catalogue of  people, places, and events, Faye Dunaway gives her readers impressionistic  peeks into her life; her words are used like water-colored pastels to  create a pleasing but not too controversial work. Although she  overemphasizes pop-psychology explanations, Faye Dunaway still manages to  bring her readers closer to Faye Dunaway the Woman and the Actress while  chipping away at Faye Dunaway the Icon. It's a nice compliment to her work  on film.
2311426
I received an advanced copy from NetGalley to read and review Katherine Sermak wrote a lovely tribute to her former employer Bette Davis. You can tell that she loved and respected her very much, even more so than Miss Davis's own daughter. Katherine appeared to be very patient with the revered movie star, even allowing her to persuade her in changing the spelling of her own name. Miss. Davis was like Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady transforming Eliza Doolittle into a proper lady as she did with Katherine. If you are seeking juicy Hollywood tidbits to be revealed, this book isn't for you. However, if you enjoy reading a nice memoir than this book is exactly what you are seeking.
1364131
Peoples 100 Best Celebrity Photos is a light and entertaining book I enjoyed on a lazy Sunday morning as I procrastinated doing my chores. The book has a list of the included celebrity photos, but I avoided it as one thing that kept me wanting to turn the pages was the surprise of not knowing who would be featured next. This book includes a lot of black and white photos, but there are color photos too. The photos capture an eclectic mix of celebrities from different eras and genres such as Marlon Brando, James Dean, Faye Dunaway, Sophia Loren, Jane Mansfield, Rock Hudson, Madonna, Prince, Michael and Janet Jackson, Jennifer Aniston, Blake Lively, Beyonc&eacute;, the Kardashians and many more. Next to each photo is a short written piece that gives some insight about the photograph. The print quality of the photos seems just average at best to me, so one should not expect a book filled with beautiful glossy photos.

While I was tempted to question why some celebrities were featured over others, this is a book of the top 100 celebrity photos- not the top 100 celebrities. So Im not bothered to find James Dean on one page and the Kardashians on another, so long as its a worthy photo. And that is, of course, where the book falls short at times; its a mixed bag as to how artistic or interesting the photos are in this book. Im a huge Lucille Ball fan, but didn't find a set photo from I Love Lucy that interesting, just like a picture of Kim Bassinger in an outfit that was a flop is a bore to me. But the Red Carpet photo of Blake Lively is gorgeous as she embraces her pregnancy rather than tries to hide it. And I love the more personal looking old photos of Jack Nicholson at home with Angelica Huston, and Gilda Radner with her friend John Belushi. While not a picture perfect book, it provided a morning of relaxing entertainment. 3.5 stars.
3604106
Fields, the author, takes us into some rarefies show bix realms in his lavishly illustrated volume.  I appreciate his industry in compiling this record, but he seems totally uncritical of Tucker, and paradoxically this makes me distrust his judgment.  Was she always perfect, always on?  The interesting part comes towards the end of the book when she sinks her money into an ill-fated 1963 Broadway musical version of her life (with music by talk show host and prolific composer Steve Allen), starring someone else as herself, and when the show flops, Fields reports, she is devastated, apparently seeing this as a rejection of herself by the show business she had served with such devotion for so many years.

Fields has otherwise dug up a lot of rare material.  Among the most enjoyable items was reading the lyric of Irving Berlin's 1950s salute to her called "Song For Sophie."  I don't believe I have ever heard this song and i wonder if it is recorded anywhere.  The lyric is one of Berlin's best and captures his bewildered fascination with the show business behemoth who, like himself, was never afraid to show off his Jewish heritage and to building considerable comedy out of the contrast between their humble roots and their exalted present circumstances.

Tucker's movies are good ones, but I've only seen a few, and maybe others have her in larger parts, though I imagine she was hard to cast in the glamorous MGM of the 1930s.  Wish someone would release tthe British 1934 vaudeville backstager they had the foresight to call GAY LOVE--that sounds like a pip.  Until then, we can catch some of her act on DVD and in the US films THOROUGHBREDS DON'T CRY and BROADWAY MELODY OF 1938.
4342007
As an eighteen-year-old, Del Corwyn had the pleasure of meeting and working with Marilyn Monroe. Now, sixty years later, Del is a seventy-eight-year-old bachelor looking for a comeback role that will earn him the Oscar he missed out on forty years earlier. Circumstances conspire to bring him together with three other "misfits": Nora Jumelle, an up-and-coming actress; Felicia, a female minister; and Tristan, who masquerades online as a wellness coach. Their tales intertwine around a script Marilyn Monroe wrote and entrusted to Del in 1962. Del must decide whether to make the script public; it's just what he needs to resurrect his career, but why does the thought of it make him feel so guilty?

This is the story of unlikely friendships and romances. The book is cleverly divided into three parts, which are named after some of Marilyn's movies and hint at what is to come. The short chapters move the pace along and encourage you to keep reading just one more chapter. Told from the points-of-view of Del, Nora, and Tristan, it feels like Felicia misses out here. The author tells us how old everyone is when they are introduced, giving a sense of how important the concept of age is in Hollywood. He also draws clever parallels between the lives of Nora Jumelle and Marilyn Monroe - their names, childhood experiences, rise to stardom, and mental states. Peppered with cameos from real Hollywood actors, this reads more like dramatized nonfiction than a novel. I felt like I was saying goodbye to old friends when I turned the last page.

Warnings: coarse language, sexual references, mental illness.

Also included at the end of the book: Reading Group Guide, an interview with the author, and insight into the author's writing process.

I received this book in return for an honest review.
3121660
Unfortunately the story of "Starry Starry Night" Van Gogh has grown into one of the biggest cultural cliches this side of Walt Disney and Hummel collectibles.  Who hasn't walked into someone's grandmother's retirement flat and found a "sunflower" reproduction hung somewhere?  (Last "sunflower" sighting I recall was in a bathroom in Cleveland above a catbox.)  It's one of the givens of our time that "Lust for Life" Van Gogh was a tormented yadda yadda, misunderstood yadda yadda, visionary yadda yadda and we should all be glad he once walked upon the face of the earth.  Yet those same people who use "sunflower" notecards to invite each other to Starbucks would probably have run screaming from the bad-smelling, bad-mannered, brothel-hopping, drunk, chain-smoking, loudly opinionated, mood-swinging, and just plain weird, dirt-under the nails-artist. (Reminds me a bit of what's currently happening with the even more extreme case of the apotheosis of Henry Darger and his armies of little girls.  Has some enterprising museum administrator begun to market Henry Darger "thank you" notes yet?)  So given all of this cultural baggage, anything that helps me to dig through the gunk and actually catch a glimpse of the reality lurking behind the production of such extraordinary paintings, and to see the pictures anew, is welcome indeed.  Martin Gayford succeeds in doing this by going back to one of the most creche-like moments in the life of Saint Vincent (the slicing off of the Great Misunderstood Genius' ear), and infusing it with the reality of daily weather reports, of letters, of the memories of one of the oldest persons ever to have lived.  He attempts to tease out hints from the pictures themselves.  We learn the name of the prostitute to whom the grisly gift was offered up.  We learn that the authorities kept the ear in a vial of alcohol, and that perhaps the newspaper reports of the surgical antics of Jack the Ripper as well as "La Horla" by Guy de Maupassant (himself well on the way to madness) might have colored this bit of desperate performance art that Van Gogh's mental illness led him to carry out.  Still, all of Gayford's digging around and speculating cannot really explain the worm in this artist's brain and how the twists and turns of mental illness undermined his incredible talent.  The author succeeds somewhat better with Gauguin, whose real gift seems to have been a massive ego and a rat-like ability to survive anywhere and to use anyone. He comes across as totally understandable in his coolly calculating attempts to create a career for himself in the art world. Gayford also shows us that Gauguin harbored a real fondness for Van Gogh, though it's hard to believe that such an affection would have been deep or lasting.  Both of these gentlemen were kept under the scrutiny of the local police in their unusual comings and goings to and from the Yellow House, and most of you good people reading this review would have agreed with the authorities, even perhaps requested their surveillance, had you been living in that town at that time.  The final detail that impressed me was that the architecture of the Yellow House placed Van Gogh and Gauguin's studio antics on street level, clearly observable by passers-by, who often stopped, stared--and in the case of Van Gogh and the local children--jeered.  What worlds of pain existed for these two strange beings!  Van Gogh--whose one attempt at "normal" life with a "fallen" woman and her child was condemned by his mother, father and siblings, so that he felt forced to give it up, and Gauguin, who turned his back on a good job and a loving wife and children to paint.  The reality of their lifestyles must have been grim indeed.  No wonder we construct "safe" and sugary versions of their story and hang their pictures in our bathrooms.
2207582
Just days after her death, a New York Times editorial in April 1983 proclaimed Swanson "The Greatest Star of Them All". She was. He equals in the early days of Hollywood were Douglas Fairbanks, Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and later Rudolph Valentino. Today few remember Fairbanks and America's Sweetheart, Pickford. Chaplin is a household name as are many of his classic images - and Swanson is too thanks to a middle-age Hollywood comeback bigger than anything before or since in Sunset Blvd. This brought her back in front of an audience who had never really forgotten her and it made her truly immortal. But she was much more than a single film role.

She literally grew up with the movies. She started in earnest in her late teens when short films were an oddity and being a "movie star" did not exist. She was at the forefront of defining what it meant to be a star: how to live, what to wear, where to go and be seen. And as the movies matured so did she. After an amazing run at the pinicle of Hollywood her career slowed down. She did some movies but concentrated on creating a new and different life away from California. But then there was a turning point where she became a living legend; she had one foot in black and white cinema and the other in the modern, fast-paced world. She was an anomaly and fascinated all who she encounted and many millions who never met her. Hopefully this book will help return her to her rightful place in the Pantheon of Film.

At first glance two things stick out about this book: the chapter headings and the images. The chapter titles are funny and ironic as they are often film titles or plays-on-word of film titles to reflect what was going on in Swanson's life at the time. The photographs which are reproduced in the book are also quite interesting. Though many of the images were used in "Swanson on Swanson" in 1981 and are from her personal collection, there is a treasure trove of new images that have rarely been seen. The author obviously has a good eye for such things and the reader is rewarded.
4257062
I received this book free from the publisher, in exchange for writing an honest review.

I've always been intrigued by the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, with its elegant stars and well written movies.  I often compare today's stars with their sloppy sweat pants, public meltdowns and drunken photos in the gossip columns to the always-well-turned-out stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Clark Gable.  What I didn't fully realize is that movie stars have always been normal humans; their personal lives and reputations just had the protection of the police, paparazzi and publicists.  There was a lot of bed hopping, back stabbing and drug use from the earliest days of Hollywood.  I was especially intrigued by the way the Mafia was connected to so many of the actors.

Dina Di Mambro's True Hollywood Noir gives an in-depth look at the lives and deaths of a dozen stars from the 20s to the 80s - William Desmond Taylor, Thomas Ince, Jean Harlow, Thelma Todd, Joan Bennett, Lana Turner, George Reeves, Gig Young, Bob Crane, Natalie Wood, Robert Blake, and Mickey Cohen.  There are many great photos included in the book, some of them never released before.

All of these stars (or their victims) died in questionable circumstances, although they were often passed off as suicides or accidents.  In the decades before DNA forensics, there often wasn't a way to prove the cause of death, and with police being paid off and publicists scrubbing crime scenes before the officials arrived, some of these deaths will never be explained.

This book could have used a good editor, to tighten up some of the repetition and poorly constructed sentences.  But the subject of mysterious celebrity deaths and the inside scoop on how intertwined the stars' lives were overcomes the editing shortcomings.
2237116
This film is more of a tribute to Thompson than a revealing documentary about his life and work. Hunter's famous friends (Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Bill Murray, Harry Dean Stanton, Eugene McCarthy, Gary Hart, Ed Bradley, William Buckley, etc.) take turns honoring him with reminiscences and personal anecdotes that mostly reinforce the well known image of the frequently-inebriated-but-brilliant maverick that is Thompson's public persona. If you're a fan of Thompson's looking for soothing closure on his life and career, then this is the movie for you. If, on the other hand, you are looking for in-depth analysis of Thompson's writing and its impact on journalism and politics, look elsewhere.
4943636
In my quest for more information about ACTRESS SHIRLEY BOOTH, I came across this book. If the reader is interested in an in depth look at "SHIRLEY'S LIFE," the reader may as well read "LOVE IS THE REASON FOR IT ALL", first. It was written by "JIM MANAGO", the same Author of this book. This book focuses a bit more on "SHIRLEY'S" life with her Husband, "BILL BAKER" though it was tragically shortlived. It also talks about her career too, which SHIRLEY'S HUSBAND FULLY SUPPORTED. It seems like he was a really sweet man. Her career is discussed, but not in full detail the way it is in "LOVE IS THE REASON FOR IT ALL". The description for this book says that there are 96 Pages. If that's true then the pages must be counted from the "Title Page" to the "Back Cover". The Actual Text starts on Page 5. Then there is text which leads into pages and pages of photos, which some has little or no text at all. The "Contents" in this book are the : "Foreword: My Aunt Shirley", "Preface", "Acknowledgements", "List Of Illustrations", "A Story Of Love", "Postscript", "The Photographs And Paintings", and "Credits". And the "Appendix": "The Farmhouse Today", "By The Beautiful Sea", and "The Merv Griffin Interview". I saw the Front Cover Photo in an Article which talked about "JEAN FORD COE", SHIRLEY BOOTH'S SISTER, who had passed away, and the Article was a reprint. On the Cover of this book, next to "SHIRLEY'S PHOTO", it says "Picture Taken For Bill His Pin Up Girl". This is actually written on the back of the Photo, which is/was a Wallet Sized Photo given to SHIRLEY'S HUSBAND, BILL, in 1944. It took me about 3 Hours to read this book, but I think that I'm being a bit generous. I think it was more like 2 Hours. Between Cooking, Eating Dinner, Watching An Old TV Program and Sleeping, I'm sure that it was more like 2 Hours. In all good conscience, I could only give this book 3 Stars for: "The Cover", "The Cost", and "The Contents". I don't know when the Front Cover Photo, which is very beautiful, was taken. However, SHIRLEY may have been somewhere between 44-46 Years Old. The Contents, though interesting, just doesn't seem to have complete details. I'm sure that some details weren't included because they were either unknown or still to private to reveal. I think it was rather silly and wasteful to put only one photo on a page when there was little or no text. I guess it would have shranked the book down to alot less than the supposed 96 Pages. I believe this book may be out of print, which accounts for some sellers asking for absurd Prices, like over $400.00. When I discovered this book, I immediately saw that I had to buy a copy from a Seller. Of course Sellers were asking for more than what I was willing or even could afford to pay. Prices like $40.00 and up was just to steep for my pocket. Whenever I would see it for what I considered to be a reasonable price I would put it in my cart or into my saved items to buy later. Then somebody would buy it right out from under me. Finally my mind was made up. I saw that a copy was being offered for less than $8.00 and bought it. My total cost came to less than $12.00. And I got a really good copy too. One of my fears when buying used books is winding up with a copy that really stinks, like it's been sitting in someone's Attic or Basement. Or it'll stink of Cigarette Smoke. I got fortunate. Though I bought my copy used it looks new and it doesn't stink. On the Back Cover of the Book, the asking Price is/was $18.95. I think I paid a Good Price for what I got. I think this book could have been integrated into "JIM MANAGO" BOOK: "LOVE IS THE REASON FOR IT ALL". Maybe he didn't think about this book until after that book was published. Though I bought that book new, I wouldn't have wanted to buy this book at the asking full price.
1509687
As a Hollywood biopic this is only average. Too much of the film is devoted to Gershwin's supposed romantic involvement with two women, who are both entirely fictional. Far more important in reality was his friendship with Oscar Levant, who was not only the composer's best friend but also after his death was widely recognized as the most authoritative interpreter of his major works for piano, Rhapsody in Blue and Concerto in F. Levant's presence in the film lends it some historical authenticity. Also present are Al Jolson, a legendary figure in the history of American popular entertainment and the interpreter of Gershwin's single most popular song, "Swanee", and Paul Whiteman, the bandleader who collaborated with Gershwin in the premiere of Rhapsody in Blue. (Fred Astaire is sorely missed.) There is also a superb--I do not use the word lightly--extended three song set by singer/pianist Hazel Scott (who later married the controversial minister/politician Adam Clayton Powell Jr.) about halfway through the film. It has absolutely nothing to do with the plot but is magnificent nonetheless. Robert Alda deserves to be remembered perhaps not for his work in this film but for his origination of the role of gambler Sky Masterson in the great musical Guys and Dolls.
4797346
John M. Stahl (1886-1950), Azerbaijan-born but Hollywood's seminal melodrama director in the sound era, made (besides the major weepies successfully remade by Ross Hunter) at Universal the neglected ONLY YESTERDAY and WHEN TOMORROW COMES, then matriculated to Fox for his operatic masterpiece LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN and then this similarly neglected addendum WALLS OF JERICHO, his final large-scale melodrama. It's just four minutes shorter than the Technicolor masterpiece, filmed in subdued monochrome by Arthur C. Miller, and a rather scathing (pre-Douglas Sirk) look at smalltown virtues and vices in our complacent Midwest, 1910-12.

Cornel Wilde repeats from LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, as does Anne Baxter from Stahl's EVE OF ST. MARK, and they carry the film as collegial barristers. The castlist widens with Kirk Douglas and really fine character turns by Ann Dvorak as Wilde's dipso spouse and Linda Darnell radiantly on form as "Algeria Wedge," Jericho's social arbiter, style maven--and vengeful woman scorned. Stahl knowingly juggles the usual smalltown tropes: gossip, illegitimacy, backstreet affairs, attempted rape, alcoholism, political cronyism, and this typical hamlet tributary to metropolitan Kansas City is intriguingly poised between urban and rural, Roosevelt and Taft eras, pastoral vs. upwardly suburban career opportunists. Jericho has its cowboy past, the saddlery still marketing handtooled chaps, boots and spurs, but the citizenry are fully modernized with telephones, player pianos and runabout motorcars. Darnell emblematically and overbearingly flaunts her big-city hats, a chic sheath skirt and her topflight pianola, and Baxter even more daringly challenges Jericho's professional norms as a fully skirted yet fully liberated lady barrister bucking the entrenched townie establishment. (Today she'd fight to restore and preserve the saddlery, and Darnell's pianola too.)

Wilde and Baxter monopolize their extended screentime, to the neglect of the more interesting Dvorak and Darnell characters, so too the diverse townsfolk Marjorie Rambeau, Henry Hull, Patricia Morison and Ann Doran. Still this is a deeper smalltown melodrama than Sam Wood's KINGS ROW, Baxter and Wilde have a tracking-shot walkabout (and canoodling scenes) that pay homage to Welles' Baxter in MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, and the insularity and steamy gossip of smalltown Kansas was elaborated just seven years later in Josh Logan's popular PICNIC. Stahl's vision--as compared with melodramatists influenced by or copying his style--is purer, more objective: these characters are (period costumes, pianolas and motorcars notwithstanding) what they are, and this great director intelligently trusts his mature audience to suspend any blanket abominations of this Jericho smart set, letting us delegate final judgments to heaven. As in LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN, Stahl's courtroom scenes are intensely dramatic and perfectly blocked (hostile witness Darnell exits in a huffy snit, staring down barrister Baxter), and it's worth noting that the film, despite the source novel's title, portrays a conspicuously unchurched community.