Books: The Celluloid Jungle

THE MAGIC LANTERN (504 pp.)—Robert Carson—Holt ($3.95).

Take a pioneer of the movie industry (nickelodeon vintage) and take him seriously. Shadow him through the eyes of his only son as he makes a ruthless, razzle-dazzle climb from two reels and a crank in a primitive lower Manhattan studio to control of a lavish Hollywood lot. March an army of extras in slow motion through the lives of father & son featuring such types as deep, silent directors (genius division), mean old financiers with moist-eyed granddaughters, fading stars, grasping agents, gossip columnists, and other native life of the celluloid jungle. Dub in a score of documentary asides on 20 pre-talkie years of motion-picture history, focus on the printed page, and the nickering result is The Magic Lantern, Author Robert Carson’s 504-page formula for the great Hollywood novel and the Book-of-the-Month Club’s choice for December.

The hand that plunges the latest rubber dagger into the heart of Hollywood belongs to no neophyte; Author Carson won the Academy Award in 1937 for coscripting A Star Is Born. But his novel has a chance for life only while Franklin P. Silversmith, his egomaniacal robber baron, struts over its sets.

Pioneer Silversmith begins his career by peddling “stag” films, soon infringes camera patents to shoot his early two-reelers. On the West Coast, he thieves on a bigger scale, lifts a whole studio from a trusting partner. Silversmith’s son, Ellis, starts out a yes-but critic of his father’s tactics, ends up by becoming a me-too partner. Together they dream of a Silversmith dynasty. But the dream turns into a nightmare with the coming of sound; Silversmith Productions never gets through the sound barrier. A new breed of buccaneers squeeze the Silversmiths out of the picture business for a measly $3,000,000 and break their hearts.

Those who wish to learn what father and son do with their consolation prize can do so by plunking down $3.95, but canny readers will wait for the movie. It ought to be better than the book.