Stroheim

A definitive biography.

~Boston Globe

Lennig took on the task of unpacking the legend, finding the truth. No one could have accomplished this task better.

~Choice

The real story of Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim is far more interesting and psychologically compelling than the legend ever could be.

~Hartford Courant

I doubt we'll see a better-done examination of Stroheim.

~H-Net Reviews

A magisterial, crazily comprehensive biographical study of the original renegade director. Provides a definitive portrait of the notorious director and, in his accounting of the follies of art met by commerce, an affecting cultural history.

~Kirkus Reviews

An extremely readable book, this biography manages to convey Lennig's appreciation of Stroheim's genius.... Highly recommended.

~Library Journal

Calls to mind the film societies of another era, the noise of a 16mm projector at the back of the room, the smell of mimeograph programme notes.

~London Review of Books

To keep track of everything that happened to von Stroheim's films requires a dogged determination, and Lennig is up to that task.... Definitely a labor of love.

~New York Times Book Review

In a thrilling biography of one of Hollywood's great originals, Lennig strips away the legends surrounding director/actor Erich von Stroheim.... Lennig's masterful knowledge of film history and technique informs this penetrating biography.

~Publishers Weekly

One of the most important books ever written on cinema history. This is a triumph.

~Rick Schmidlin, re-edit producer, Greed and Touch of Evil

Sets most of the record straight and has a shrewd sense of Stroheim's art, which was really an extravagant expression of his own personality.

~San Diego Union-Tribune

Definitive is certainly the word for it.

~Sight and Sound

A monument to the awful Good Old Days of an infant Hollywood.

~Times Literary Supplement

Lennig has unearthed the Austrian documents that establish Stroheim's true background.

~Wall Street Journal

To judge from Lennig's admiring new biography, the director's worst enemy was indisputably himself.

~Washington Post Book World

Lennig's expertise makes this the best Stroheim book by far.

~Booklist

Lennig is a serious researcher and he offers new film criticism and a thorough understanding of Lugosi's Hungarian background, his Hollywood years, five marriages and drug addiction.

~News at Cinema Books