[.ca] James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters (ISBN 0816643865)

From Amazon.com:
You may not recognize James Whale, but you surely recognize his most prominent contribution to American popular culture: Frankenstein's monster, as portrayed by Boris Karloff. Whale, a British expatriate who made his way to Hollywood just as films were making the transition to the talkies, directed both the original Frankenstein (1931) and its sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein (1936), for Universal Pictures. Afraid of being pigeonholed as a horror director (he also made The Invisible Man and The Old Dark House), he eventually insisted on more mainstream projects, including the musical Show Boat and The Road Back, a sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front that flopped at the box office. Today, The Bride of Frankenstein is considered to be his best film, a work that combines moments of genuine suspense with a thoroughly macabre sense of humor. In 1982, film historian James Curtis wrote his first biography of Whale. James Whale: A New World of Gods and Monsters is not a revision of that book, however, but a substantial reworking involving much in the way of new research. Whale's life story is emblematic of an entire generation of European émigrés who made critical artistic contributions to American film only to find themselves in ultimate obscurity. Although recent fictional and truthful accounts of Whale's life have emphasized his homosexuality--even the jacket cover of this book cites it as the reason for Hollywood's eventual rejection of Whale--Curtis himself tells a more nuanced tale. Certainly, Whale made no attempts to hide his preference for men; at the same time, he made his sexual orientation neither a prominent feature of his personal life nor his movies. While it's possible that he was fired from Columbia Pictures in 1941 because of homophobia on the part of studio owner Harry Cohn, it should also be noted that it didn't take much to get on the bad side of Harry Cohn and that, perhaps more to the point, Whale hadn't had a significant commercial hit in five years. Curtis's biography is filled with fascinating anecdotes from David Lewis, Whale's longtime companion, and several of the actors who worked with Whale, including Peter Cushing and Gloria (Titanic) Stuart. It also has a rich appreciation of the artistic qualities of Whale's work. It is, in short, the sort of critical biography that any film director would hope to have. --Ron Hogan

Objective, Insightful Biography:
Written with detail, candor and insight, this seems to be the definitive biography of the interesting and eccentric film director. A highly readable account of the man and his movies.

Great Biography:
I bought and read this biography after seeing the film "Gods and Monsters" and reading the novel Father of Frankenstein. I've always been a fan of Hollywood stories--especially from the thirties and forties--and this book gave me tons of interesting information. Whale was quite a character, and I'm glad I got to know him better through this excellent biography.

Early Master of Horror Films-Great Biography!:
I grew up enjoying Whale's great films, "Frankenstein," "Invisible Man," & "Bride of Frankenstein." I didn't really know about him until the film "Gods and Monsters." James Curtis' book "Gods and Monsters" is a hard book to put down. It starts with Whale's rough childhood, interest in theater, and break into films. There is a chapter devoted to each of his major films with behind the scene insight. The book gives an honest account of Whale's triumphs and disappointments. It's a must read for any fan of classic films of Hollywood!

A Unique Director!:
I can't think of any other film director who approached James Whale's incredible sense of design, other than perhaps William Cameron Menzes. If Whale is remembered at all today it is for his two Universal Frankenstein films, and THE INVISIBLE MAN. I can still recall the first time I saw BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, with my brother, on the late-night SHOCK THEATRE program, in the late 1950s. Nothing had prepared us for the incredible, almost abstract stylization, the sly wit and the indelible performances that go to make this one of the greatest films ever made. We were blown out of our seats. This biography by James Curtis is probably the best look at Whale the person we are going to get; Curtis seems to have interviewed literally everyone who knew Whale and would talk to him about Whale. We learn very little about Whale as a child, perhaps because there was no one alive to remember when Curtis came by interviewing, but otherwise we get a detailed look at Whale's show biz career before and after BRIDE. Whale had difficulty finding worthy projects after the collapse of the Lammele-era Universal, and his final years exhibit increasing severe depression and strange "post-menopausal" behavior. A recent film, GODS AND MONSTERS, loosely based on events of Whale's later years, I haven't seen but perhaps it will awaken some additional interest in Whale and his films among the younger generation. It is a sad fact that, apart from his Universal horror work, virtually nothing directed by Whale is available on video tape, not even (as far as I know) his famous film version of the musical SHOWBOAT. If you're curious about Whale, this book is the place to start.

A Definitive Biography:
After seeing the film "Gods and Monsters" I was anxious to read a biography of James Whale. This book by James Curtis certainly fits the bill of a complete biography of its subject. Mr. Curtis was a close friend of David Lewis, who lived with James Whale for several years and saw to it after the director's death that his memory lived on. Mr. Curtis gives us a lot of detail about James Whale's life and I sometimes found myself skimming a bit, particularly in the beginning of his career as an actor. We get a lot of information about the films Mr. Whale directed, including the story behind the fascinating effects in The Invisible Man. The book is illustrated with numerous photographs spread through the book and is well written, particularly when Mr. Curtis speaks of James Whale in his years of retirement. The book is a must for fans of the Frankenstein movies and people interested in Universal Pictures but for the person who knows James Whale only thought his horror films, this book with bring a much needed perspective on his life. I found myself wanting to see the James Whale films as I was reading, including Show Boat and his lesser known films. In sum, this is an interesting portrait of who James Whale was and what Hollywood was like in the 1930s.