My thanks to NetGalley and Booksgosocial for a copy of “ They Make Movies” for an honest review.

I appreciate from the write up for this book that the stories are fictional but based on fact.
I love anything to do with film stars and film making , and have read many books about both over the years, but unfortunately I didn’t really gain much from this book.
I didn’t enjoy the style of writing, and the book failed to keep my attention., also sadly, I didn’t really get the humour
It may be ideal for others , but just not for me..

What a fantastic look back at all the great women who were in motion pictures. I loved the information on the lesser known actresses and directors and actors. This book told us not only of their careers, but of their downfalls as well in areas. How can we be certain it’s all true? It’s up to you the reader to ascertain with the research and tidbits the author has given.

I enjoyed the book because it’s written about those that we put on pedestals and to get glimpses into snippets of their characters instead of slammed on national magazines is sometimes nice.

I received an advanced copy from NetGalley and these are my willingly given thoughts and opinions.

This one just didn't click with me. I didn't like the voice that it was written in. I really feel like this one was my fault as I was looking for something more biography and history and there is seems to be more fiction in the book than I was looking for. I'm always excited for more Anna May Wong and Louise Brooks, but it just didn't ring true for me. Again, I really blame myself for not reading more about the book beforehand.

It was a great book and I enjoyed reading it. Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book. It had a great storyline and characters.

George Thomas Clark, They Make Movies BooksGoSocial 2021

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this uncorrected proof for review.

They Make Movies is a combination of fiction, real events, and interpretations of the protagonists’ attitude towards the films in which they appeared or directed. Some of the events are seemingly told by the subject of the chapter, others appear to be based on reality or the author’s interpretation, described as if they are addressed directly by the subject. The stories are told with humour and, at times, sharp impact. The process is clever, providing researched topics and events, with the aid of fictional devices. Authenticity is supported by the list of film sources, although there are no footnotes to disturb the flow of the account – or to clarify what material is accurate and what might be fictional. As exciting as this presentation could be, I found that I could not warm to the execution of this style in They Make Movies, although some of the observations are well made.

The book is divided two major sections: covering both those in front of the camera, and those behind. Chapters cover a topic, such as actors, and are then divided into sections. These are then allocated descriptive titles such as ‘Lovely Ladies’, numbering twenty, including women such as Anna May Wong from the 1930s, Marlene Dietrich, Louise Brookes, Bette Davis (who warrants and gets, several chapters), Olivia De Havilland, Marilyn Munroe, and Kim Novak, amongst those well in the past, to contemporary actors such as Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchette and Halle Berry. The male actors feature in a section, ‘Smooth Operators’ and include Errol Flynn, Clarke Gable, John Wayne, Paul Newman, Mel Gibson, and George Reeves, amongst the seventeen (including two ‘Douglas Boys’). ‘Characters’ are all male, beginning with Robert DeNiro, and include Claude Rains, Edward G. Robinson and Sacha Baron Cohen, ending with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Blake. Behind the Camera are Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock, the Jewish Film Festival and Quentin Tarantino amongst the eleven men.

Some of the inclusions are obviously controversial, but the short characterisation of Harvey Weinstein is sharply drawn and sensitive to the Me Too Movement. Not so, is the ‘conversation’ with Woody Allen. In contrast, Anna May Wong’s story highlights another discriminatory area, racism in the movies, both in selecting actors, and interpretations. I would have liked the sharp observations in this discussion to play a stronger role in the following understandings of the films, their scripts, choice of actor and direction. The witticisms that have a role in interpreting the work covered in this book, in my view, would not have suffered.

I was disappointed with this book because my expectations were not met. For me, the comic interpretations did not outweigh my need for authenticity and more profound analysis of the films and their protagonists. However, readers who enjoy a romp through well known, and not so familiar films with their actors, directors and fictional interviewers/ co-stars/hotel staff / contemporaries will find much to amuse, and an interesting collection of films to reinterpret.