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Hollywood Babylon: The Legendary Underground Classic of Hollywood’s Darkest and Best Kept Secrets
£8.70
Originally published in Paris, this is a collection of Hollywood’s darkest and best kept secrets from the pen of Kenneth Anger, a former child movie actor who grew up to become one of America’s leading underground film-makers.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Reissue edition (1 Aug. 1998) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Mass Market Paperback | 448 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 0440153255 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0440153252 |
| Dimensions | 10.74 x 2.34 x 17.4 cm |
by Tony Warcus
A classic “dig the dirt and tell all” compilation delighting in the moral hypocrisies and excesses – drink, drugs and amoral behaviour – of Hollywood stars in its classic era (broadly the 1920s Prohibition through to the 1950s). Anger, a pioneering Underground filmmaker is a fascinated yet detached observer of the industry and deploys his encyclopaedic knowledge with caustic wit.
Anger relays salacious insider gossip along with the outpourings of moral indignation (laced with titillation) from the scandal sheets of times past. Images of court room dramas, crime scenes or paparazzi shots of stars not at their best debunk the impeccable glossy image stars were once meant to project.
While it is great this has been re-published, it is disappointing the publishers decided on a small paper back size for this edition, when a magazine size format would have had greater impact.
by Mothsareuseless
Kenneth Anger’s seminal dumpster dive into Old Hollywood depravity has the gaudy look and feel of a vintage scandal rag but the author’s acid-tongued wit have nudged it into legendary status. Anger is a salacious raconteur of the “print the legend” school, so if you’re looking for journalistic fact-checking, you will want to look elsewhere. If you’re looking for a racy whirlwind tour of the dark corners of Golden Age Tinsel Town, look no further.
I dropped a point for poor binding, my first copy fell apart after the second read-through and had to buy another copy.
by Colin Allan
This is a paperback sized version of the 1986 larger format edition. It is a faithful rendition of the original but it is difficult to view the illustrations and photographs which span sometimes a whole page and sometimes across both pages due to the restraints of the binding. In the original you could fold them almost flat but with this edition you are stuck at 45 degrees. The original is available second hand which I recommend. The companion volume is Hollywood Babylon 11 also available second hand in the larger size.
by Geoff Saunders
Anger’s famous book about the hedonsitic early years of Hollywood. The all-powerful studios wanted the cinema going public to think their stars were pure whiter than white and often covered up their goings on. This book was something of a sensation when it came out in the 1970’s
A knowledge of some of the early film stars would help. The author throws names around like confetti, you might not be familiar with some of the actors/actresses who populate the pages. There are some gorgeous publicity photographs, and some not so gorgeous death scenes.
This book is best read in small portions, as I’d imagine ploughing through chapter after chapter of film stars variously shagging, drinking, injecting substances, becoming bankrupt, fighting court cases and OD’ing (even sometimes all of these things) would only get boringly repetetive. A good scandalous read if you like this sort of thing.
by Lawrence Carney
Written by underground avant-garde filmmaker Anger, Hollywood Babylon rocked the film world to its core. The slim and badly-written counter-store paperback, first released in France in 1959, divulged secrets from behind the silver screen with its gruesome and gory details of silent and speaking film stars: their suicides, sex scandals, and prescription pill and booze problems.
The classic Hollywood expose. Hollywood Babylon has become the definite tabloid style dissection of Tinseltown. Anger breathlessly relays snippets of salacious gossip, innuendo, conspiracy and fact. It’s one of those books that makes you feel like taking a hot shower after reading.
Anger was an Hollywood kid and it shows. He immersed himself in the culture as an outsider and his fascination and revulsion are worn on his sleeve. At times it feels like you are reading James Ellroy, only these crimes actually took place. Anger’s style is pure tabloid and those expecting any of his mystical discourse will be let down.
It’s badly written and poorly edited but nonetheless riveting and essential reading for anyone who ever felt that something just isn’t right in La La Land.
by Heysoos
Good read, but had read most of it in other books.
by Jilly
Kenneth Angers has done a great job, interesting read and some shocking reveals …….see the other side of Hollywood
by Gary Campbell
Get the dirt on hollywood, more of the same scandals you would expect from the first book.