Rating: 
Summary: Hollywood Babble-On!!
Review: How great to know that our Gods and Goddesses of the Silver Screen were just as twisted, sordid, and corruptable as we mere mortals! I loved this legendary book when it first came out, and have owned it for 25 years. While criticized as vicious and un-true (and it does have those elements, to a degree) it is a fascinating take on the seemy side of Tinsletown. Rather than just mean-spirited gossip, which is deplorable, it tells of early, fact based scandals at the dawn of Hollywood, with names of then huge stars that even this movie freak had never heard of. And goes right up to present day (circa early 70's), where the names have changed, but the scandals remain the same. While author Kenneth Anger has been critized as being a frustrated, bitter, "never was", who was strictly on the fringes of La-La Land, his scathing writing style is not only fascinatingly informative, but belies, somewhat, his obvious love of Hollywood, and his mourning of Old Hollywoods passing. I don't agree with all his observations, but they're written with such black humor, wit, and honesty, you can't resist. And it's illustrated with many fascinating pictures of film folks, many of which they probably would have preferred to forget. This book was an underground classic upon its publication, and, for movie buffs, at least, it is, while not exactly the Bible of filmdom, a must-have, campy tome of Tinsletown. A sometimes venomous, always entertaining gossip fest of our beloved Hollywood..."we can imagine what drew the ambitious and wreckless men (and women) here, an age ago." End Of Reel.
Rating:
Summary: Dead Men Tell Many Tales!
Review: OK, first of all, anyone who has anything bad to say about this book should be taught a lesson in fair criticism. This is a GREAT read! I couldn't put it down the first time I read it back around 1996, and I couldn't put it down any of the other times, either! It is simply that good! Everything in it, I believe to be true (and if it isn't, at least I am open enough to accept it as partially true, or good fun even if I know it is false), and the reasons why are simple. First, many of it's juicy tales were published before, during, and are still being revived to this day; meaning it is a consistency that proves the book to be at least partially true. Second, this is from a man who wined and dined with some of these people. Why shouldn't he have some factual tales to tell about the trashes of Tinseltown?
The entries in this sordid and scandalous soiree into Hollywood's elite past are genuinely juicy and intriguing to read. Who doesn't love to read about Hollywood sin? Included are some facts about the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, which followed closely behind the Fatty Arbuckle scandal. Also, you can learn about some suicides of silent stars when sound entered the picture, those stars (female) who died as a result of their drug addictions, and an immense amount of sex scandals, from older men and younger gals, to homosexuality. And, if that isn't enough, it is packed with many eye-opening photographs. I am telling you this is a WONDERFUL and powerfully charged book that every film buff should own. I love it so much that I would be buried with it (just as Bela Lugosi was buried with his Dracula cape, which is true)when I die! So if you are interested in classic film, or even more, in film stars of yesteryear, then this is definitely a book that you MUST read at least once (although reading it more than once is also very rewarding!). Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Good For The Photos Only
Review: The photos are rare, and oftentimes very shocking, but the books overall are nothing but half-truths and outright fabrications. Even a photo of Marilyn Monroe leads the reader to think it was of her dead body. Anger just makes up things at times, and reduces legends like Buster Keaton to a "drunk who died obscure" which it completely untrue. He hints that the famous Gish sisters were lovers, then backs it up with...nothing. He also claims in a photo caption that Harold Lloyd fathered many illegitimate children, but again, no proof. Just a caption. What would you expect from a friend of Aleister Crowley? Plus the second book's Reagan-will-nuke-the-world paranoia only dates it to the 80s. The author has sympathy for a clap-ridden prostitute who died most likely from a botched abortion, but ignores the evidence and blames a comedian who had nothing to do with it. Writing about scandal is one thing but to make it up is nothing short of the Weekly World News. This is no way to learn about old Hollywood, kids.
Rating:
Summary: Delicious, malicious fun! (but don't believe a word of it)
Review: Kenneth Anger's trash classic is still worth a look after all these years. No, this is not the book for those tender and naive dears among us who still think "they wouldn't print it if it wasn't true." This is more along the lines of "they couldn't print it if they weren't dead!" Don't look here for an accurate history of Hollywood's Golden Age. What Anger serves up, in his own wasp-tongued way, is the true gossip of the day. True in the sense that it was actually circulated, not that it was accurate. That in itself gives the book its own kind of historical value: the tabloid trash a bygone era. If you've ever lingered over a particularly lurid headline in the supermarket check out line, this book may be for you. Go for it, nobody's looking!
Rating:
Summary: this book lies
Review: Some of this book is interesting about early Hollywood, however a lot of it simply isn't true. The part about Clara Bow is especially mean-spirited and cruel. It is a rather well known fact that the story about Clara Bow "entertaining" the USC football team isn't true, yet, here the story is in print. I also found it uncalled for to show a photo of Judy Garland at about age 15 and then show "old Judy" and describe her as a pill popping queen... it's well known she took pills because of the studio and was given them as "medication." These are screen ledgends being trashed by some yellow journalist who writes at the quality level of The National Enquirer. Also, I don't care to read about supposed sexual escapades of male stars as great conquests and rumors about the sexuality of female stars as actions of a cheap, street corner hooker. This rag essentially says that Errol Flynn could have banged (yes, slang) anyone he wanted to, but Lillian Gish has a incestous lesbian relationship with her sister. Umm, trash, lies, and male boasting.
Rating: 
Summary: An inside glimpse of Tinsel Town
Review: Kenneth Anger, once a child actor himself, unvales and points both barrels at Hollywood and its subculture of excess and outrageousness. Anger tells many stories of Hollywood's greats and not so great throughout the early history of films to the more recent personalities of the golden era of movies (1920s to 1950s). The book is writen in a gossipy National Enquire tone and is entertaining. However, after reading through the book, it seems that the author has a vendetta against Hollywood and is quick to shine the spotlight to uncover the weaknesses and shortcomings of the stars. One cannot help but feel that Anger, (an interesting last name for the author), may have had his own dreams broken by Hollywood and writes to salve his own bitterness about his encounters with Tinsel Town. If not for this edge to the writing, it would have gotten a higher rating. Just the same, if you are interested in Hollywood, in all its foibles, this may be a good read for you.
Rating:
Summary: A full-sized load of Hollywood's dirty laundry
Review: Reading this book probably wasn't the best way to learn of Hollywood's sordid trash, when I bought this ages ago, but I didn't have a movie encyclopedia at the time, which would have been useful, and I would've learned of the many tragedies that befell certain Hollywood stars in a more scholarly way. However, I didn't know that Peg Enwistle was the one who started a trend by diving off the LAND of the HOLLYWOODLAND sign, which now reads HOLLYWOOD.The key scandals of the 1920's through 1950's are played out. The Fatty Arbuckle scandal of 1921, involving his alleged part in the death of starlet Virginia Rappe, was the O.J. Simpson of the 1920's is given a separate chapter. It took three trials to acquit him, but his career was finished. As Anger snidily writes, "The Prince of Whales had been harpooned." The others include Errol Flynn being accused of having sex with two underage girls, Mary Astor's diary, and the stabbing death of Lana Turner's lover John Stompanato by Cheryl Crane. Frances Farmer's nervous breakdown and collapse has some of snidiness in there, although he makes it clear that he does sympathize with her plight years before Nirvana did a song on her on their In Utero album. Two mysterious and to this day still unsolved are probed, that of Thelma Todd, the Ice Cream Blonde, who may have been murdered by the mob instead of committing suicide, and the murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and those aren't as treated sensationally as other material. Suicides are written with some embellishment in this book, i.e. Paul Bern, Jean Harlow's second husband, Marie Prevost, whose starving dog ate parts of her body, Lupe Velez, a.k.a. the Mexican Spitfire, and Carole Landis. Separate sections are written for Velez and Landis. However, not all events and people get Angers' chops and slices. The Red Scare that ruined the lives of actors such as Gale Sondergaard and John Garfield, and the Hollywood Ten is presented as the travesty it was: "What it did do was ruin many lives and careers and tarnish the glamor of Tinsel Town." And the blackmailing practices of the snoopy, Confidential magazine, forcing performers to cough up to prevent them from revealing sordid things about performers. Thankfully, this terror was stopped when the founder of the magazine committed suicide after being named as a communist by Joe McCarthy. He's also contemptuous of the two gossip columnist Gorgons, Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons. Towards the end, the decline of Hollywood in the 1960's is portrayed as one sordid death after another, ranging from La Monroe, Judy Garland, Ramon Novarro, and George Sanders. Somehow, I did not need to know that Garland died sitting on the toilet in her London flat. Not a scholarly history of Hollywood's seamy side by any means. Rather, Kenneth Anger drags out Hollywood's dirty laundry and lays it out in a shamelessly sensationalistic and exploitational format, with catty sentences to boot, even including a few nude photos of starlets. Find a film encyclopedia instead. After reading this, I shudder to think what the movie was like.
Rating: 
Summary: The Worst Book I've Encountered In Some Time
Review: This book is questionable as far as accuracy. For example, I have read several recent books on Judy Garland. Anger states that she committed suicide and he seems to enjoy pointing out that she looked "old..old..." and he inserts a very bad picture of Ms. Garland, then almost makes fun of her "suicide attempt" and how she appeared when she was found. He is very insensitive and trashy in his approach. He seems to list his "facts" with the glee of someone who is bitter after his own failed efforts in Hollywood. I felt embarrassed for him. I also felt that he really does not cover many personalities.
I recommend reading "Too Much Too Soon" about Diana Barrymore, which was very beautifully written and was co-authored by Gerold Frank. I also recommend Gerold Frank's book on Judy Garland.
Rating:
Summary: Lies, lies and more lies
Review: Kenneth Anger obviously hates Hollywood. So he writes this book based on gossip magazines that has little facts in truth. Did you know that Tyrone Power had an obsession for young boys? Did you know that Cary Grant and Randolph Scott shared the same bed? Did you know that Janet Gaynor and Mary Martin went alone to Brazil? Did you know that Errol Flynn was not only heterosexual but bisexual? Why did I ask these questions? Because these are questions that Anger WANTS you to get angry about. No good biographist has been able to prove these facts, and instead of relying on sound biographists, Anger instead dives into the yellow world of Confidential, a magazine notorious for lying and destroying careers almost mercilessly.
So avoid this piece of trash at any cost!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A "Must Read" on Hollywood History
Review: Hollywood Babylon is a definate must read for anyone interested in Hollywood history. I doubt if everything in the book is accurate. It reads like a tabloid. But all the rumours and gossip that surround the history of Hollywood are there, and it makes for interesting reading. Alot of what is written in the book is sad and disturbing. It tells the story of the bad side of Hollywood. Worth reading if you want to know all sides of the story about Hollywood.
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