Screenwriter Moffat (1918–2002) is an elegant, enigmatic and intriguing subject for an autobiography. His life as sophisticate, socialite and appreciator of beautiful women is arguably more fascinating than his filmography. The high points of Moffat's career, in collaboration with director George Stevens, were A Place in the Sun
and Giant
, but the critical consensus is that many of his other movies—Bhowani Junction
, They Came to Cordura
and Tender Is the Night
—are seriously flawed. What remains virtually flawless is Moffat's graceful prose, as demonstrated in accounts of his unique family history. His mother, actor Iris Tree, appeared in Fellini's La Dolce Vita
; his grandfather Sir Herbert Beerbohm, produced and starred in more than 90 plays. Lambert (Natalie Wood: A Life
) matches Moffat's beautiful, polished style with his own chapters, penned after Moffat's death. Compelling incidents include Moffat's Pygmalion protectiveness of a drug-addicted stripper and his compulsion to pay for her psychoanalysis after they parted. The book is most beguiling in the "Voice Prints" section; it offers witty, probing characterizations of Hollywood luminaries such as Marion Davies, Preston Sturges and David O. Selznick. Devastating critiques by cutting raconteur Billy Wilder, an evaluation of James Dean and telling vignettes about Aldous Huxley, Elizabeth Taylor and Dylan Thomas justify the book's subtitle. Photos. (Oct. 12)
