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Title: Beyond Paradise: The Life of Ramon Novarro by Andre Soares ISBN: 0-312-28231-1 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 01 December, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (15 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Well researched and written
Comment: It can't have been easy for Soares to write this book, since Novarro and most of his contemporaries were deceased when he started his research. However he accomplishes his task with finesse and style, telling the facts in a manner that both interests the reader and leaves you wanting the next chapter. I have to say this is one of the best film star biographies I've ever read, because it's not a fawning fan piece, overly critical, or full of rumors that have been presented for years as "truth" (Soares rightfully clears up the stories about Novarro's death, which unfortunately have eclipsed the actor's life work for the past 25 years). As a Novarro fan, the book satisfies me so much that I'd give it a sixth star if I could. If you wish to introduce a friend to Ramon Novarro, please buy this book for them.
Rating: 5
Summary: BEYOND PARADISE is beyond brilliant
Comment: This book is that rarity among movie-star bios--a staggeringly comprehensive chronicle that is also highly readable and insightful. The subtitle "The Life of Ramon Novarro" is especially apt, for this is no mere behind-the-scenes glimpse, nor simply a recounting of a one-time cinema celebrity's film career, nor an attention-grabbing exercise in playing up the more lurid details of a complex and troubled individual's volatile life and tragic death. Instead, readers of BEYOND PARADISE are offered a thorough, accurate, and remarkably objective account of a truly fascinating life story.
Ramon Novarro is certainly a worthy subject for such a careful and detailed analysis. As a young man from Durango, Mexico, Novarro came to America seeking fame and fortune in the burgeoning movie business of the late 1910s. The handsome and talented hopeful eventually became a Hollywood superstar playing the title role in the silent epic "Ben-Hur," and by the early sound era was MGM's most important male star. However, poor career choices and Novarro's neverending struggles with his personal demons (among them alcoholism and especially an inability to reconcile his homosexuality with his deeply ingrained Catholic faith) prevented him from realizing his potential either professionally or personally. The final tragedy was that the private life he so carefully hid from the world became public domain when the events surrounding his murder at the hands of two young male "hustlers" made headlines in the late 1960s.
Andre Soares proves himself an exceptionally intelligent and inspired biographer. Novarro's story is replete with opportunities for a lesser writer to sensationalize, criticize, and sermonize, but Soares presents the fruits of his obviously painstaking research with detachment, clarity, and a minimum of editorializing, thereby respecting the reader's intelligence to draw his or her own conclusions. It is everywhere apparent that Soares' intent was to provide as truthful and verifiable account of Novarro's life as possible with the resources still available, as well as to scrupulously avoid the half-truths and apocryphal lore that are so often passed on as facts in works of this kind. Refreshingly, BEYOND PARADISE is not the product of a gushing fan or of a social activist with an agenda, but rather it's an honest assessment of an actor's life told from a respectful but objective point of view.
BEYOND PARADISE is essential reading for anyone interested in Ramon Novarro, movie stars, or movies in general--indeed, BEYOND PARADISE itself would be ideal movie material. The book will also please any reader in search of a good biography or one who simply enjoys nonfiction accurately and compellingly told.
Rating: 5
Summary: Evenhanded Yet Kind
Comment: I came to this biography with no real knowledge of Sr. Novarro other than knowing that he was in Ben-Hur and having a vague awareness of the brutal way in which his life ended. When I turned the last page, I was far better informed and could not wait to tell my friends (and anyone else who would listen) about the masterful story that Andre Soares had written. In his hands, Ramon Novarro is neither hero nor pitiful footnote to Hollywood history. He was a man, talented, full of demons and foibles, and who lived an extraordinary, fascinating life. There was a great deal more to Novarro then I ever expected to find, and this was an excellent primer to the life of a gifted and troubled man.
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Title: Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino by Emily W. Leider ISBN: 0374282390 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 06 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star by William J. Mann ISBN: 0140275681 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: March, 1999 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969 by William J. Mann ISBN: 0142001147 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: November, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Ramon Novarro: A Biography of the Silent Film Idol, 1899-1968; With a Filmography by Allan R. Ellenberger, Kevin Brownlow ISBN: 0786400994 Publisher: McFarland & Company Pub. Date: April, 1999 List Price(USD): $42.50 |
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Title:Maurice - Special Edition ASIN: B00014NE62 Publisher: Public Media Inc Pub. Date: 24 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $29.95 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $22.46 |
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