Murder in Hollywood

Solving a Silent Screen Mystery

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by Charles Higham

Type

Studies

Subject

Director > William Desmond Taylor

Keywords

William Desmond Taylor, murder, silent cinema

Publishing date

2006

Publisher

University of Wisconsin Press

Collection

Wisconsin Studies in Film

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 227 pages
6 x 9 inches (15.5 x 23 cm)

ISBN-10
ISBN-13

0-299-20364-6
978-0-299-20364-1

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Book Presentation:
"The most thoroughly researched and carefully considered of all the books on the legendary William Desmond Taylor murder case."
—James Curtis, author of W. C. Fields: A Biography

Charles Higham successfully presents the most plausible and convincing solution yet to the mystery of who killed William Desmond Taylor. In the process he paints a vivid portrait of Hollywood in the 1920s—from its major stars to its bisexual subculture. The result is the answer to a long-standing mystery and a fascinating study of a place, and an industry, that has always let people reinvent themselves. Murder in Hollywood is more extraordinary than any crime fiction and as compelling as any suspense film.

"Drawing on unpublished documents compiled by director King Vidor, and making witty, insightful comments as he does, Higham cuts through a thicket of suspects, motives, and cover-ups to point the finger where it had rather clearly been pointing all along, arguing that for some years a hypocritical, moralistic press did its best to point the finger in other directions. More than the solution, what impresses here are Higham's portraits of Taylor, Minter, et al, as scarred souls who believed Hollywood would be their Lourdes on the Pacific. They were mistaken." —Kirkus Reviews

"Murder in Hollywood is engrossing, as much for chronicling the murder as it is for capturing an era as rollicking as a Keystone Cops two-reeler. Higham presents a persuasive argument for his favored suspect, . . . and the evidence is compelling. But inevitably, it is the time-capsule quality of the storytelling, and a peek at 'hiding in plain sight' homosexuality, that makes the book so interesting."—Lambda Book Report

"Paints a dazzling picture of Los Angeles in a golden age of sleaze and corruption."—Times Literary Supplement

See the publisher website: University of Wisconsin Press

See the complete filmography of William Desmond Taylor on the website: IMDB ...