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johnnygamble's review against another edition
3.0
Wasn't crazy about how it was written, (shows how hard it is to write like Erik Larson) but the subjects were very interesting, and his solution well argued
jlmb's review against another edition
3.0
I read Mann's biography of William Haines and so was looking forward to reading his take on the unsolved William Desmond Taylor murder. Hmmm. This book starts out saying the unsolved murder is the focus, but it really isn't.
Instead, the book is about Zukor and his attempts to remain in control of the movie industry. It's about the vertical integration of the industry by a few players. It's about their fight with the FTC who claimed anti-trust laws were being violated. It's about the movie industry's attempts to head off government censorship by hiring William Hayes and creating their own censorship board. It's about several scandals of the early twenties that precipitated calls for censorship by the same groups that had just successfully passed the prohibition of alcohol.
Mann "solves" the crime in literally the last few pages of the 400+ page book. The solution reads like an afterthought. "Oh right, the main objective of the book is supposed to be solving the murder of Taylor! I better throw this explanation in, here in the final chapter of the book." It was very unsatisfying. A vastly superior book about Taylor's murder is Sidney Kirkpatrick's novel A Cast of Killers. I suggest go reading that if you are at all interested in the mystery of Taylor's death.
This book was still interesting to me because I learned a lot about how the Hayes office came into being. I don't know why the development of censorship in the movie industry wasn't marketed as being the main theme of the book.
Instead, the book is about Zukor and his attempts to remain in control of the movie industry. It's about the vertical integration of the industry by a few players. It's about their fight with the FTC who claimed anti-trust laws were being violated. It's about the movie industry's attempts to head off government censorship by hiring William Hayes and creating their own censorship board. It's about several scandals of the early twenties that precipitated calls for censorship by the same groups that had just successfully passed the prohibition of alcohol.
Mann "solves" the crime in literally the last few pages of the 400+ page book. The solution reads like an afterthought. "Oh right, the main objective of the book is supposed to be solving the murder of Taylor! I better throw this explanation in, here in the final chapter of the book." It was very unsatisfying. A vastly superior book about Taylor's murder is Sidney Kirkpatrick's novel A Cast of Killers. I suggest go reading that if you are at all interested in the mystery of Taylor's death.
This book was still interesting to me because I learned a lot about how the Hayes office came into being. I don't know why the development of censorship in the movie industry wasn't marketed as being the main theme of the book.
jhenke6229's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
5.0
claudiaswisher's review against another edition
4.0
The author was obviously inspired by Erik Larson's amazing work with Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts...this misses the mark of scrupulous nonfiction narrative with all the suppositions Mann is forced to make. After all, he is writing about an unsolved murder from the 1920's -- lots of guesses and 'what ifs' and 'suppose'. There were times I felt like I was in a 'Could there be aliens' television show.
BUT his organization and his storytelling kept me going. I see, at the end, why all the suppositions were necessary.
Hollywood in the 20's was wild...booze, drugs, wild parties. Oh, and some good movies, too. Mann concentrates his story on one of the movers-and-shakers of the industry, Aldof Zukor, and on his murder victim, Willam Desmond Taylor...as well as three beauties of the time: Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter, and Margaret "Gibby" Gibson. All with ties to Taylor.
This is also the story of censorship in American films...I kept thinking that my mother would have loved this book...she would have had inside information on the characters and the situations. She told me all about Fatty Arbuckle, whose exploits certainly helped the censors' cause.
I also wondered if she knew her beloved Federated Women's Clubs were instrumental in the moral outrage that causes changes in the storytelling in Hollywood. She had to explain to me why the ending of the film REBECCA was changed...Hollywood censors.
I find Mann's 'solution' interesting, if not far-fetched. I appreciated his research, his dedication to this story, and his attempts to solve the murder of a leader in Hollywood.
BUT his organization and his storytelling kept me going. I see, at the end, why all the suppositions were necessary.
Hollywood in the 20's was wild...booze, drugs, wild parties. Oh, and some good movies, too. Mann concentrates his story on one of the movers-and-shakers of the industry, Aldof Zukor, and on his murder victim, Willam Desmond Taylor...as well as three beauties of the time: Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter, and Margaret "Gibby" Gibson. All with ties to Taylor.
This is also the story of censorship in American films...I kept thinking that my mother would have loved this book...she would have had inside information on the characters and the situations. She told me all about Fatty Arbuckle, whose exploits certainly helped the censors' cause.
I also wondered if she knew her beloved Federated Women's Clubs were instrumental in the moral outrage that causes changes in the storytelling in Hollywood. She had to explain to me why the ending of the film REBECCA was changed...Hollywood censors.
I find Mann's 'solution' interesting, if not far-fetched. I appreciated his research, his dedication to this story, and his attempts to solve the murder of a leader in Hollywood.
jemmamorris's review against another edition
2.0
2.75 stars?? Fantastic research but the actual storytelling was too long winded with unnecessary side plots. Really interesting topic I just think the execution of this book from all that research really could’ve been narrowed down.
booksuperpower's review against another edition
3.0
Tinseltown: Murder, Madness and Morphine at the Dawn of Hollywood by William J. Mann is a 2014 Harper publication.
An unsolved murder will always pique my interest. Toss in an old Hollywood setting with lots of famous names, history, and scandal and I’m sold.
The murder of William Desmond Taylor has fascinated true crime aficionados for ages. Taylor, a film director, was murdered in 1922 with a small caliber pistol. His death caused a media frenzy at the time, but to this day, the case remains officially unsolved.
The author takes readers through the various battles Hollywood fought with the moralists who waged war against the movies and the actors who starred in them, highlighting scandals- such as the Fatty Arbuckle trials, which does give readers an idea of the climate in Hollywood in and around the time of Taylor’s death.
It takes a good long while to really get to the meat of the tale, for the book to finally narrow the scope to focus on Taylor’s murder, which is, I think, what readers are most interesting in.
To set the stage, the author examines all the suspects and theories that have been investigated or reported on, as well as what the police were thinking at the time.
While I realize the author was attempting to widen the net and create a book, not only about the titillating murder of Taylor, a man with many secrets, but to examine the entire movie industry, the key players in the tale, and to expose the drug use, power plays, and various scandals in this era in Hollywood.
Unfortunately, this proves to be too ambitious of an undertaking, in my opinion. The organization, despite the obvious research, is extremely poor. While I do enjoy history, especially about old Hollywood, I struggled to remain interested in this book. It is very dry reading, and the portions I was most interested in didn’t take shape until the last quarter of the book. The book is in desperate need of some significant trimming.
That said, the conclusion is quite riveting- and surprising- as it seemed nearly every suspect named had a motive, but there was never enough evidence to arrest any of them. Some of the theories tossed about were quite absurd, which often happens in a high- profile case, and one in which the press wished to steer the investigation a certain way, speculating outside the realm of hard facts in order to sensationalize the case. Despite their best efforts, though, the evidence didn’t back up their conjectures.
Although the author uncovered a stunning story that could solve the case, after all this time, there was really no way to prove the validity of the information. The author’s case, based on the information he gathered, is as plausible as any other presented in this book and I am inclined to agree it makes sense- but, it couldn't be proved after all this time, and that is why the case is still listed as unsolved.
While this case is interesting, this book was bogged down with too much boring information, seriously slowing down the momentum, tempting this reader to skim over large sections to get to the good parts. Once the murder of Taylor became the primary topic, the writing tightened up and things certainly did become quite interesting. I am glad I learned who the probable murderer was, so it wasn’t a total loss.
3 stars
An unsolved murder will always pique my interest. Toss in an old Hollywood setting with lots of famous names, history, and scandal and I’m sold.
The murder of William Desmond Taylor has fascinated true crime aficionados for ages. Taylor, a film director, was murdered in 1922 with a small caliber pistol. His death caused a media frenzy at the time, but to this day, the case remains officially unsolved.
The author takes readers through the various battles Hollywood fought with the moralists who waged war against the movies and the actors who starred in them, highlighting scandals- such as the Fatty Arbuckle trials, which does give readers an idea of the climate in Hollywood in and around the time of Taylor’s death.
It takes a good long while to really get to the meat of the tale, for the book to finally narrow the scope to focus on Taylor’s murder, which is, I think, what readers are most interesting in.
To set the stage, the author examines all the suspects and theories that have been investigated or reported on, as well as what the police were thinking at the time.
While I realize the author was attempting to widen the net and create a book, not only about the titillating murder of Taylor, a man with many secrets, but to examine the entire movie industry, the key players in the tale, and to expose the drug use, power plays, and various scandals in this era in Hollywood.
Unfortunately, this proves to be too ambitious of an undertaking, in my opinion. The organization, despite the obvious research, is extremely poor. While I do enjoy history, especially about old Hollywood, I struggled to remain interested in this book. It is very dry reading, and the portions I was most interested in didn’t take shape until the last quarter of the book. The book is in desperate need of some significant trimming.
That said, the conclusion is quite riveting- and surprising- as it seemed nearly every suspect named had a motive, but there was never enough evidence to arrest any of them. Some of the theories tossed about were quite absurd, which often happens in a high- profile case, and one in which the press wished to steer the investigation a certain way, speculating outside the realm of hard facts in order to sensationalize the case. Despite their best efforts, though, the evidence didn’t back up their conjectures.
Although the author uncovered a stunning story that could solve the case, after all this time, there was really no way to prove the validity of the information. The author’s case, based on the information he gathered, is as plausible as any other presented in this book and I am inclined to agree it makes sense- but, it couldn't be proved after all this time, and that is why the case is still listed as unsolved.
While this case is interesting, this book was bogged down with too much boring information, seriously slowing down the momentum, tempting this reader to skim over large sections to get to the good parts. Once the murder of Taylor became the primary topic, the writing tightened up and things certainly did become quite interesting. I am glad I learned who the probable murderer was, so it wasn’t a total loss.
3 stars
alienconspirest's review against another edition
4.0
This was definitely written to were it cold feel like I’m reading a fiction novel. I enjoy being taking through the under belly of hollow in the 1920s something I’d never be able to do even in my own timeline a hundred years later and see just how corrupt Hollywood is for anyone who gets theirs claws into it. Drug use secrets and murder the perfect combo for tragedy by gossip and death, controversy galore you can’t help but find the hidden past of the some of the now biggest industry’s in the country and world and snicker and it’s dirty laundry. Highly recommended for history or movies buff alike I think this a great explain of non fiction for the fiction reader!