Not as enjoyable as other memo books for Selznick and Warner Bros, this is nevertheless interesting enough. It’s clear that Zanuck was a fine script editor (his thoughts on story are first rate – John Ford and Joe Mankiewicz never worked on better scripts than the ones they did for Zanuck), gutsy (backing Gentlemen’s Agreement, Wilson, Pinky), derivative in his creative ideas (he was always remaking stories and pinching ideas fom previous movies), constantly sniping at Jack Warner (his old boss), owner of a healthy ego (like Selznick he is always invoking is track record and claiming to accurately predict failures), polite to great talent, smart.
It lacks a little fire - maybe Zanuck wasn't as good on paper, maybe the records aren't as strong... or the book is too short. Still, very entertaining.
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