Bogart

Great easy to read book with details shown by tons of research that pulls from letters, memos etc

I have been a Humphrey Bogart fan since the 1980s when my English teacher made us watch Casablanca. What a movie.I have been looking for a good bio of HB and I am an experienced biography reader so I picked the longest book looking for depth and detail.This book was just too much.It was so detailed that pieces of it ran together. I had trouble understanding exactly what movie we were talking about at times and the truly great movies didn’t seem to get enough detail… except for African Queen.The writer does deep dives at times on other Hollywood types with no clear reason. Just because someone made a movie with HB I don’t need 2-3 pages on that person. If it’s a family member or a person who is going to be a recurring character then OK but the extra detail made no sense and confuses the reader.There was also an abrupt ending. 8-10 pages on his diagnosis and death? And only 12-15 pages on Casablanca?It does the job but this book needs about 150 pages of cutting and a little more meat in some key areas of his life.Surely there is a more entertaining HB bio out there somewhere.

Classic Bogart Bio well researched and written thus book deserves its stellar reputation Amish buy for all movie fans

I purchased this book to get a better understanding of the actors of the time. The writer does an incredible job of getting us to realize who Bogart really was. I now can empathize with this Hollywood Legend. Wonderful read.

All the juicy stuff well documented and related to the culture at the time

Any serious student of Bogart owes to himself/herself a reading of this unique biography of Humphrey Bogart by two collaborators who never met each other. A. M. Sperber (died 1994) and Eric Lax, who read her rich biographical materials in the Warner Bros. Archives at the University of Southern California and built on them with his own personal research, and out of this combination came one of the most exhaustive, splendidly written narratives of one of Hollywood's most iconic stars. This biography is based not only on details of his life, a careful synopsis of his films, and prolonged struggle to achieve stardom, but also on the history of Warner Bros. Studio and its fortunes during the Depression, World War II, and its aftermath, with descriptions of the HUAC investigations not in broad brushes but in great detail, elucidating and documenting the turbulence that rocked cinema in those turbulent times. Bogart emerges as a hero not only on the screen, but in life, who remains a serious contender as one of the four-five top stars of that era; Stewart, Wayne, Grant, Hepburn, Davis--figures that remain head over shoulders above the rest of that era. Readability is excellent, provocative and enlightening, even now, in 2014, twenty years after the book's genesis. I have the 1997 Edition, which chronicles all his movies/crew and actors, with bibliography and Index--all that a reader needs to know Bogie.

This is a very long and at times depressing biography of a hollywood icon. The subject matter while covered in precise detail is unfortunately a labor to get through due to the overwhelming sense of depression and lack of satisfaction in Bogart's life. It is no fault of a biographer that the subject is what it is, but it is an awfully long slog getting through this book. Bogart's early life with unloving parents, failed marriages, constant fights with Warner Bros, failed political connections, etc. just get to be a steady stream of bad news. Top that off with terminal illness and you get a rough read. If you love his films and hold Bogie in any sort of regard maybe steer clear of his personal reality. The book is very well written though.

Great book. A lot of insight into the goings on of a movie studio. I felt sorry for Bogart at times, seems like he worked harder than most to get what success and recognition he finally received. I still think he definitely should have won the academy award for Casablanca!

What I dislike about this book is the way it has been copied on to the thinnest of paper even the photos and then charged £13 you would have to be 120 years old to have heard of most of the people mention in this book there is so many directors writers and the rest of the other hundred people that go to make a film we don’t need to know who made his wigs or clothes dresser this book could have been a quarter of it’s size it’s mumbo jumbo

Of all the letterboxes in all the street in all the village -- you had to fall through mine.It's a brick too. Fascinating man, fascinating lady wife and well worth the cash. The cover is appropriately film noir-like. Its all very stylish and chic, like most rosy yesteryears but in monochrome.?

One of Bogie's best - a real film noir with suspense right to the end. It has been said it mirrored Bogie in reality. Would highly recommend. Well shoot, directed and acted. Certainly left you guessing right to the end

A must for anyone interested in one of the greatest stars from the golden years of Hollywood.

Great actor and great man on the screen.