Curtain

Rating:
Summary: If You Liked "Queenie"...
Review: If you liked "Queenie", you would hope to like "Curtain", but you'll be disappointed. It's a less-entertaining companion piece. This time, the central characters are based (at first) on still more people from Uncle Alex's wartime L.A. and London: Olivier and Leigh; their stage colleagues; Danny Kaye; a Billy Rose type. The structure is too close to "Queenie", the plot is too contrived, and the stars are quite tiresome over too many pages. There's a lot about the Magic of the Theatre, but the only memorable laughs and tears are in the scenes with the two Bad Guys; you'll wish it were their book instead. As in his memoirs, Korda may be too calm and too nice to be a great writer, though the talent is there; he's a butter knife when you want a dagger.

Rating:
Summary: Continue with the cycle
Review: Michael Korda seems to be on a roman a clef cycle with a series of fictional books based directly on real, larger than life people. In "Queenie" it was Merle Oberon, "The Fortune" had Nelson Rockefeller and his galpal, "The Immortals" of course was Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy Brothers (he didn't bother to use pseudonyms there). In "Curtain" it is Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. Although it is a bit overblown and turgid at times and in my opinion not as good as Queenie, I admire Korda's ability to mix the fascinating aspects of these legendary people's lives with his artistic talent and freedom that a biography simply would not (or should not) be able to do. After all, it is often said that the truth is stranger than fiction, so why go wasting your time trying to think things up when you have the fascinating bare bones of a story line in a treasure trove of real life people and events. "Curtain" is an interesting read, especially if you are a fan of the Oliviers in its attempt to get into their mindsets, passions, and motivations, and I do hope that Mr. Korda does continue with his roman a clef cycle, the most interesting I find to be the luminaries of Hollywood's Golden Age.

Rating:
Summary: Continue with the cycle
Review: Michael Korda seems to be on a roman a clef cycle with a series of fictional books based directly on real, larger than life people. In "Queenie" it was Merle Oberon, "The Fortune" had Nelson Rockefeller and his galpal, "The Immortals" of course was Marilyn Monroe and the Kennedy Brothers (he didn't bother to use pseudonyms there). In "Curtain" it is Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier. Although it is a bit overblown and turgid at times and in my opinion not as good as Queenie, I admire Korda's ability to mix the fascinating aspects of these legendary people's lives with his artistic talent and freedom that a biography simply would not (or should not) be able to do. After all, it is often said that the truth is stranger than fiction, so why go wasting your time trying to think things up when you have the fascinating bare bones of a story line in a treasure trove of real life people and events. "Curtain" is an interesting read, especially if you are a fan of the Oliviers in its attempt to get into their mindsets, passions, and motivations, and I do hope that Mr. Korda does continue with his roman a clef cycle, the most interesting I find to be the luminaries of Hollywood's Golden Age.