PositiveThe Washington Post... the book’s real strength is not its crime-solving (Fischer concludes with a plausible if not provable suspect); it’s the way Fischer, who is also a film producer, helps us see how revelatory motion pictures were at the time.
Robert Gottlieb
PositiveThe Boston GlobeGottlieb seems for this project to have consumed everything written in English about Garbo and her circle ... Garbo’s Hollywood films are the heart of the book, and Gottlieb pithily describes all the star vehicles she was paid handsomely to push uphill ... Gottlieb’s critiques of the finished films hold them to today’s standards of watchability while appreciating their old-school charms ... Gottlieb evinces sympathy and fondness for Garbo.
Glenn Frankel
PositiveThe Boston Globe... illuminating ... the new book employs a wide lens ... In creating his definitive account, Frankel has gathered memorable details about tight budgets, perseverance, and resourcefulness ... it’s the films’ fascinating backstories as much as their lonesome cowboys that animate Frankel’s trilogy. There are no tidy endings for anyone involved, least of all the guy riding off into the sunrise on a Greyhound bus, alone again.
