MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot [Hardcover]

This book is one of the finest books I have ever seen produced on the subject of motion pictures! Like another reviewer I found myself looking at the photographs for minutes at a time trying to see the details in each backlot scene. It is truly a work of spectacular dimensions and I congratulate the authors who have tried to create something for every cinema lover and classic motion picture collector. I have just retired from 40 years in the television and motion picture industry and I have never seen a compilation such as this. I will be buying copies of this book for Christmas and birthday gifts! When you find something you enjoy as much as I enjoyed this work you will want to share it with everyone. Put it on your Christmas list - you can't go wrong!

The title of this book is QUITE misleading. Upon hearing about the book, I expected just a tour around the backlot of one of the most impressive movie studios in the world. When I opened the book, I found myself immersed in the ENTIRE studio, building by building, in this amazing feat of photographic glory and research. This is the book that diehard movie fans have been waiting for, and it does not disappoint. MGM: Hollywood's Greatest Backlot is a cornucopia of pictures, trivia, and history that has no parallel today.

The authors, Stephen Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester, and Michael Troyer, strive and succeed at bringing to life this studio. Told through a careful selection of photographs from the day (be ready for black and white), as well as a compelling text that begs to be read, the history of the studio unfolds early on (after a wonderful but all too short forward by Debbie Reynolds). Then, the authors go section by section and "deconstruct" the lot. They provide a map of each section, and then go through each part, explaining its significance to the studio and revealing factoids to keep the movie lover or trivia expert up all night devouring the information. Tidbits like "the bridge of sighs", what happened to the famed columned entrance, and Marion Davies' bungalow are there to just whet your whistle.

When the book first arrived, I expected to flip through the pictures and just look at them. However, the writing, and the information, kept pulling me away as I wanted to learn more about what I was seeing. As a result, the authors have done something rather remarkable: they have brought to life this studio unlike anything I've ever seen before. A longtime Judy Garland fan, I often pictured what places like "The Little Red Schoolhouse", where she, as well as Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, and other MGM child stars were schooled, was like. Now, not only do I have a photograph, but I have the location of the place on a map. Wow!

I have two wishes for this book, and both of them are minor. I wished that the authors included maps of each section that I could remove. As they move through each building, I found myself doing a lot of flipping back and forth. I learned to read the book with my finger on the latest map. Secondly, some of the pictures are amazingly detailed (especially aerial shots of the studio), but small. My 40 year old eyes strain a bit to get the details of these remarkable photos. Perhaps a magnifying glass is in order?

For who doesn't want to see the street where Andy Hardy lived? The pool where Esther Williams performed her magic? The snowy Massachusetts street where four "Little Women" walked arm in arm? Ahhh, this is a book to treasure, to examine, and to keep for a lifetime.

Finally a time machine that transports you back to the glorious days of the Hollywood Dream Machine. From cover to cover, the long lost world of Metro Goldwyn Mayer's backlot is revealed in a collection of pictures and story that gets you as close as you will ever come to actually being there. Author Steven Bingen spent the better part of ten years culling through thousands of rare and unique photographs tracing the entire MGM backlot. With his co-authors, they have woven a tapestry of history and memory unrealized in any other book. Included is an exhaustive and informative listing of productions made at the studio and precisely which stages and studio locations were used. Hail, hail, MGM is back, at least, thanks to Bingen, Sylvester and Troyan, in book form to revisit whenever you want to.

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