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Title: Otto Friedrich by way of Kenneth Anger
Review: This terrifically readable cultural history of Hollywood in the Fifties was inspired by James Ellroy's wish to the authors that there were a book about the era as fine as Otto Friedrich's CITY OF NETS; the authors admit they could not quite match the comprehensiveness of Friedrich's achievement, nor are they quite as erudite or analytically sophisticated. But, in their best chapters (on the culture of Hollywood expatriates, and in fine narratives of the making of REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE and NIGHT OF THE HUNTER), they come close to matching the engaging tone of and gossipy frisson engendered by Friedrich's famous book. The initial chapters on the scandals covered by and created by "Confidential" magazine read more like Kenneth Anger's HOLLYWOOD BABYLON than Friedrich, but as the study continues it just gets better and better. I didn't want it to end.
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