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From one of our leading film authorities comes The Star
Machine (Knopf), a rich, penetrating, amusing plum pudding of a
book about the golden age of movies, full of Hollywood lore, anecdotes,
and analysis.
Jeanine Basinger gives us an immensely entertaining look into the "star
machine," examining how, at the height of the studio system, from the
1930s to the 1950s, the studios worked to manufacture star actors and
actresses. With revelatory insights and delightful asides, she shows us
how the machine worked when it worked, how it failed when it didn't,
and how irrelevant it could sometimes be.
She gives us the "human factor," case studies focusing on big stars
groomed into the system: the "awesomely beautiful" (and disillusioned)
Tyrone Power; the seductive, disobedient Lana Turner; and a dazzling
cast of others-Loretta Young, Errol Flynn, Irene Dunne, Deanna Durbin.
She anatomizes their careers, showing how their fame happened, and
what happened to them as a result. (Both Lana Turner and Errol Flynn,
for instance, were involved in notorious court cases.) In her trenchantly
observed conclusion, she explains what has become of the star machine
and why the studios' practice of "making" stars is no longer relevant.
Deeply engrossing, full of energy, wit, and wisdom, The Star
Machine is destined to become an invaluable part of the film
canon.
About the Author
Jeanine Basinger is the chair of film studies at Wesleyan University and
the curator of the cinema archives there. She has written nine other
books on film, including A Woman's View: How Hollywood Spoke to
Women 1930–1960; Silent Stars, winner of the William K.
Everson Award for Film History; The World War II Combat Film:
Anatomy of a Genre; and American Cinema: 100 Years of
Filmmaking, the companion book for a ten-part PBS series. She
lives with her husband in Middletown, Connecticut.
The Star
Machine will be available from our major bookstores and online book distributors in October.
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