Oh boy. For me, reading this book is an uphill climb. There is no "devouring," it's more like force-feeding. Besides all the unkindness, there are many errors of fact and misinterpretations. I have notes marked on nearly every page -- in purple ink. I'm making enough notes for an essay, let alone a review, but I can't help myself.

There is quite a bit of repetition, especially between the introduction and the movie chapters where there is word-for-word copying. And there is a tendency to use certain pet words and phrases again and again. Some of the more overused include capacious, (un)congenial, and termagant (which is misused as an adjective when it is actually a noun). Overall, though, the writing style is pretty good, as are the mechanics considering english is not the author's native language.

I've just completed the chapter on Mrs. Parkington, and there is not a single comment on AM's performance. However, in the previous chapter, about The Seventh Cross, where he claims to admire her performance, it is for erroneous reasons. He quotes lines she did not speak (perhaps from an older version of the script?), and obviously misinterprets her character's motivations, seeing psychological complexity which is simply not there. Sigh.

It'll probably be a couple more weeks before I can finish this thing and put together some kind of review.