Marlon Brando (A&E Biography)

Rating:
Summary: A BIO AS APPEALING AS ITS SUBJECT AND TV SHOW!
Review: Like the TV series on which they are based, the series of
"Biography" books are accessible approaches to the men and
women on whom they focus. (They are also a great marketing idea.
Give that boy/girl a raise!) Each volume is written by a
well-known and/or respected author; "Marlon Brando" was penned
by David Thomson, whose past achievements include tomes on
Orson Welles and David O. Selznick. The books are pithy
and pleasing, highlighting and spotlighting (in concise detail) its subject, and not shrinking away from controversy or scandal. The photos are terrific; the layouts are done in that appealing, yet not over-the-top, DK style. Think of these books as printed soundbytes that are as interesting and insightful and welcome as their
small-screen counterparts.

Rating:
Summary: One long sneer from an intellectual snob
Review: Marlon Brando was, according to David Thomson, brilliant and a genius when it came to acting but, the reader is repeatedly told, not very smart intellectually. In fact he was rather dim. So dim that he didn't really understand his own films or indeed his own life. So it is a good job we have film critics like Thomson to explain how wrong about everything Brando was. For example, when Brando said his childhood was rather unhappy because both his parents were alcoholics he was mistaken. Why? Because when Thomson looks at Brando family photos young Marlon is (albeit in a rather dim way) always smiling.

The only evidence that Thomson gives for Brando's lack of intelligence is his academic failure at school. The fact that he was dyslexic (a condition which wasn't even known at the time) is dismissed out of hand as a possibly relevant factor. Elia Kazan, on the other hand, was a college graduate so obviously he can't be dim. No he is, instead, ugly - again the reader is told this repeatedly.

Brando's weight problems, another cause of constant sniping, also appear to be connected to his lack of intelligence because, apparently, he was too dim to realise that he should be seeing nutritionists rather than psychiatrists. Which brings me to my main objection to this book: the constant sneering at Brando as a self indulgent fool because he went to see psychiatrists. What is the self indulgence in a person with mental or emotional problems seeking professional help to overcome them?

I have always thought that Brando suffered from some form of Bipolar disorder (which is to a large extent genetic). If he did it would explain so many of the things that happened in his life. It is also a condition which is almost invariably associated with above average intelligence.

Rating:
Summary: Good Pictures, Bad Review
Review: The positive features of this book include its many photos and interesting captions. DK books are known for their aesthetically pleasing quality.

Praise for it ends there, as the author's impressions are less than kind and uncalled for.

Rating:
Summary: Thomson fails to enlighten us
Review: This biography is superficial and unworthy of its subject. David Thomson has his face pressed up against the glass of the window to Marlon Brando's life but fails to gain entry. His attempts to trivialize Mr. Brando's life, work, political opinions and involvement, reveal his own inability to see anything except through the prism of his own opinions. His constant digs about Mr. Brando's weight show a lack of compassion and understanding about such health problems. A more compelling analysis of Mr. Brando's films can be found elsewhere. Read Schickel, Bosworth, Grobel, Marlon's own autobiography, and newspaper and magazine accounts of his political activism. But skip this. Marlon Brando has long since proven himself as the greatest actor of our time. His continued courage to explore his own emotional limits has given us a wealth of inspired stage and film performances. He is by most accounts a compassionate, caring individual who has walked the walk of his convictions. Like the rest of us he has made some mistakes in his life, but on balance his is a life worthy of our praise.