Suspects by David Thomson

 

I thought that this was the least successful of the five books about cinema by David Thomson that I have read. Probably because he mixed fiction with fact in his eighty five very short potted histories of some of the most iconic characters of the silver screen. It certainly helps if you are familiar with the old movies in which they appear. There were many I didn't know.

There are links between some of the characters, especially as they sometimes appear in the same movie. Jake Gittes (played by Jack Nicholson in Chinatown) is followed by Noah Cross (John Huston) where the author introduces William Mullholland who gave his name to that famous Drive. Most of the back stories are pretty boring except, for instance, that for Joe Gillis (William Holden in Sunset Boulevard) where he needed some history given his demise in the movie. His co star Gloria Swanson plays Norma Desmond gives the author the excuse to talk about old Hollywood stars who started in silent films and then struggled with the coming of the talkies. How Norma comes to meet Noah Cross who cast her in his movie and bought her the mansion on that iconic road, is pure fantasy and does the book no favours.

Three characters from Double Indemnity include a back story for Harry Lime. But a lot better was that for Kay Corleone played by Diane Keaton in The Godfather, except where there is the most stupid and diabolical conceit. Then a nice imagining of Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson in The Shining) and that for LB Jeffries (James Stewart in Rear Window). Similarly Walker in Point Blank (Lee Marvin) and, of course, a longer piece for Richard (Rick) Blaine played by Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca. Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins in Psycho) gets a long back story and later there are four characters from Citizen Kane. But by then I was a bit fed up with it all.