1.0 out of 5 stars Bio or Creative Writing?, November 6, 2007
By Gail K. Powers (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
Curiousity got the better of me, so I read the whole thing in less than two hours. This was a repeat performance of his last book about Joan Crawford. David Bret seems to be following a recipe for mediocrity......collect all the salacious stories you can about your long dead victim (Valentino), throw in a heavy doses of gossip about friends and acquaintances (also long dead), flesh out the stories with graphic detail, call it a book, and sell it. Seriously, if you want to read an excellent Valentino bio read Emily Leider's book which is an objective treatment and well researched. Bret's book is a joke and not worth your $ or your time.
1.0 out of 5 stars Hype or Tripe, May 25, 2008
By Jeanette Shepard (REAL NAME)
Believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see was something I learned a long time ago. I would certainly apply the adage to this book.
In all of his "biographies, according to David Bret, every (deceased) person in the movie industry; male and female, from the lighting technicians to the highest paid stars and the movie moguls themselves; the single and the married as well, were all either, bi-sexual, lesbian, homosexual... or wish they were. Mr. Bret offers no proof except what apparently exists in the fantasy dream world of others or his own imagination... and perhaps wishful thinking.
It makes for titillating reading but unless the author can back up his claims it is all fiction and the reader should take it with a grain of salt.
1.0 out of 5 stars No star for you!, January 1, 2002
By Rambova
This book is truly horrid! According to this author 90% of 1920's Hollywood were gay or lesbian and Valentino slept with them all. The timeline of events in Valentino's life has numerous errors, errors that could have been corrected by the most basic research. There is absolutely no documentation given for the outrageous stories told in this book and quotes from movie fan magazines of the period are taken GROSSLY out of context, some even being altered a bit to fit the author's storyline. If Valentino had been gay and was forced to live in hiding due to the times he lived in - it was a great tragedy. However, if the stories in this book are to be believed he lived quite openly and everyone knew it. A hard thing to believe with the Hays "morality" Office snooping around hell bent on cleaning up Hollywood. If you want an honest look into the life of Rudolph Valentino there are many biographies better than this, some written by people who actually knew him. If however, you'd prefer the fictionalized, Jerry Springer version of events, then this is the book for you!
