Strangers in Paradise: The Hollywood Emigres, 1933-1950

by John Russell Taylor

extremely rare,very good condition

Genres: Biography, Film

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

John Russell Taylor was an English critic, author, and historian whose work shaped modern writing on film, theatre, and visual art. Educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, and the Courtauld Institute of Art, he emerged in the early 1960s as one of Britain’s most influential cultural commentators. He wrote on cinema for Sight and Sound and Monthly Film Bulletin, and became film critic of The Times, later serving for decades as its art critic.
Taylor authored landmark studies of British drama and cinema, as well as acclaimed biographies of figures such as Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Ingrid Bergman, Vivien Leigh, and Alec Guinness. His book Strangers in Paradise: The Hollywood Emigres 1933–1950 remains a key work on European artists in American film. After developing a close friendship with Alfred Hitchcock, he became the director’s authorised biographer.
From the early 1970s he also taught film at the University of Southern California, while contributing to major British and American publications. In addition to film and theatre, Taylor wrote extensively on modern and contemporary art, producing numerous monographs and broader studies. He also served on juries at major international film festivals and edited Films and Filming magazine for several years.

Reviews

[Steffi]

Spannendes Thema, aus dem man viel machen könnte. Doch leider listet der Autor mehr oder weniger nur Namen und Filmtitel auf. Die sicher interessanten Informationen, die er dazu gibt, bleiben nicht haften, da er einfach nicht erzählen kann. Da seine Äußerungen zu Thomas Mann nicht ganz der Wahrheit entsprechen, war ich mir dann im folgenden auch nicht mehr sicher, ob er nicht John Russel Taylor nicht auch an anderen Stellen verfälscht.

[Louis]

Enjoyed learning about the Europeans who played such a critical role in classic Hollywood movies. This book did an excellent job of detailing the lives of these emigres in Southern California. The book is a bit short and I believe it would have benefited with more. Too many characters and incidents are passed along without enough detail or context. This book worked as an overview but left me wanting more.

[Tom Newth]

considered and fairly comprehensive (would have liked more on sirk and de toth), but russell taylor's always good value. if anything, more interesting on the non-film people (the manns and schoenberg in particular)

[Karen]

Interesting! I like to read about film history/Hollywood history. This went back a bit too far for me as I only recognized about 20% of the names, but interesting non the less.