Season of the Gods, Robert Matzen
Season of the Gods, Robert Matzen
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Season of the Gods
A Novel

Author: Robert Matzen

Narrator: Holly Adams

Unabridged: 15 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 01/23/2024


Synopsis

A woman in wartime Hollywood and her dream of the perfect motion picture.

Renie Lee has climbed the ladder in a man's world to be head of the Story Department at Warner Bros. Studios. Renie is an idealist who believes that "the perfect film" can be created. When she pulls an unproduced stage play set in Morocco out of the slush pile, she has a feeling this one is special, maybe not perfect but special enough to secure her place as an equal to the studio's most powerful men. No one agrees with her until two brash young studio writers, Julius and Philip Epstein, decide to back Renie's gamble and bring the Morocco story to the screen. Their screenplay's name: Casablanca. Renie uses her charms on executive producer Hal Wallis until he finally agrees to her plan, but the problems seem insurmountable from the start, and Renie's gamble threatens to become a career killer for not only Renie but also her confederates, the Epsteins.

Set against the backdrop of Pearl Harbor and the first months of World War II, Season of the Gods careens across the Warner Bros. lot, from the Writers Building to the dressing rooms and soundstages, to tell the spellbinding and unlikely story of Hollywood's greatest masterpiece through the eyes of all who made it happen.

About Robert Matzen

Robert Matzen is the internationally bestselling author of Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II, Mission: Jimmy Stewart and the Fight for Europe, and seven other books. He is a Hollywood historian specializing in Warner Bros. Studios, and his byline has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, among other publications.


Reviews

Robert Matzen is a fantastic writer and researcher. He has proven his dedication to classic cinema with his books on Carole Lombard, Jimmy Stewart and Audrey Hepburn. This is his first turn at fiction. I predict a bright future in this genre. Here he presents the story of the making of Casablanca, an......more

Goodreads review by Nancy

The ultimate fan fiction. I think you have to have seen the movie for this to work.......more

Goodreads review by Jan

If you are into the inner workings of the film industry in the early 1940s you will definitely love this very well written fictional backstory on the creation and production of the film "Casablanca". The players in this are real people who made a difference in their time, and defining just what that......more

Goodreads review by Eugenea

A tale of resistance? Yes. A bittersweet romance? Yes. A story of desperation? Yes. One of Hollywood’s best war movies ever? Yes. I enjoyed Bogie and Bergman, Sam, Victor, and all the technicians, actors, and writers who brought them to life in “Casablanca”. Read this for the ultimate inside story o......more

Goodreads review by Debra

I was given an advance reading copy of this book by NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. First off, I wish to thank author Robert Matzen for making one of my dreams come true--I have always wished to be a fly on the wall as a Hollywood classic was in development. Matzen, who normally writes no......more