Memo from David O. Selznick

David O. Selznick, Rudy Behlmer

The memos which David Selznick wrote over 36 years, filling 2000 file boxes, are actually the autobiography of Selznick's career and kingpindom in Hollywood -- he was an extraordinarily capable, overbearing man with a tenacious sense of detail and a considerable degree of taste. Mr. Belhmer has edited the recorded material (there was even a memo covering his funeral) re the years when he moved in and out of studios (MGM, Paramount, RKO, his own Selznick International); when he wrote forthrightly on the offensive or defensive to everyone -- almost nothing here is of a personal nature, only an occasional letter to Irene, his first wife; and particularly about his selection of vehicles and talent -- hire Hammett ""another Van Dine"" or Hepburn in spite of ""Ye gods, that horse face"" or Bergman or Capote. His major films included Anna Karenina and Tale of Two Cities and especially Gone With the Wind, and there are more than 100 pages devoted to what Belhmer (he does an introduction here) calls that ""manual of vicissitude and hazard."" Selznick rightly cavils over the script or Gable's accent or the costumes which must look more ""worn."" The other major film was Rebecca and Selznick is heard complaining that Hitchcock lumbered much too slowly through the production, in a costly fashion, although in his conversations with Truffaut Hitchcock reverses the charge. From 1948 on, and a short temporary period of retirement, Selznick did much less, less well, even with his second wife Jennifer Jones (or because of? that terrible Farewell to Arms remake?) by his side. This book's selection as the Literary Guild entry assumes an audience beyond that of the film buff although Selznick has none of the flamboyance of say Harry Cohn. But it's a splice of his impressive life.