Close-Up [Hardcover] Deighton. Len. BCA edition 1972

Item Condition: Used; Good

CLOSE-UP is an astonishingly authentic
view of the film world- the world where,
as one character remarks, even the has-
beens fly first class, The rituals, the
wheeler-dealer politics and back-stabbing
tactics of the richest industry in the world
have never been more effectively por-
trayed.
Linchpin of the narrative is Marshall
Stone, international superstar and charis-
matic member of Hollywood's elite.
Abundantly blessed with charm, genius
and wealth, he lacks the one gift he most
desires everlasting youth. Even this
ambition seems within his grasp when an
eminent writer begins the star's biography.
But painful memories and suppressed
scandals are uncovered along with yester-
day's triumphs.
The biographer is dazzled by flattery
and numbed by threats. He is caught up
in the big-daddy world where books are
properties, ilms are investments, ratings
are rigged, and stars and directors are
bought and sold like slaves at an auction.
It is only when the jigsaw pieces of Stone's
life are set out before him that he begins
to see that this is one story he won't be
able to write - except by starting all over
again.
Clase-Up shows the same careful docu-
mentation, wealth of research and broad
narrative sweep that distinguished Deigh-
ton's epic Bomber. Using cuttings, record-
ings, interviews, letters, diary entries, he
has compiled a brilliant portrait of a star
and the glittering machine of which he is
a product and a victim.