Cast Aside - With Bushman at the Unmaking of 'Ben-Hur' in Italy
by John W. Harding
286 pages
6x9 size, hardback
ISBN 9798887712932
The ‘UNMAKING’ of ‘Ben-Hur’!
A Hollywood film crew
away on location in Mussolini’s Italy—
Caught between Fascism
and a rising tide of anti-fascist fury!
No shunned movie idol ever had more at stake than Francis X. Bushman in 1924. Once dubbed the “handsomest man in movies,” he has been cast aside now for five years after a messy infidelity scandal. But his freak casting as the villain Messala in “Ben-Hur” could be his shot at redemption.
Only three things stand in his way: A studio mogul who detests him . . . A public that has forgotten him . . . And an overseas production gone haywire.
Can an amoral newsman with an equally suspect past help Bushman rebuild his reputation … or will be a beautiful, strong-willed signorina become both men’s downfall? “Cast Aside” is an insider look at the crimes, passions and publicity stunts of Hollywood’s final months on location in Rome.
From the notorious “Moltrasio trunk murder” at Lake Como to the violence inside Italy’s legendary lost studio of Cines, all roads lead to the single costliest episode of the silent film era—the deadly October 1924 uprising at sea in the waters off Livorno.
CAST ASIDE
John W. Harding, BearManor Media, 2023, $38.00, hb, 286pp, 9798887712932
In 1924, actor Francis X. Bushman is trying to come back from a tarnished image and a five-year "blacklist" after having an affair with a co-star while married. He enlists the help of a newspaper reporter, Lewis Tremayne, in order to portray himself as a changed man. The backdrop of this transformation is in Italy, where Bushman has begun work on the filming of Ben-Hur. The biggest challenge in revamping Bushman's image is the fact that Bushman has no intention of changing, and the job is complicated even further when Tremayne falls for Bushman's latest fling.
This is a fascinating look into the life of Francis X. Bushman, who played Messala in the 1925 silent film Ben-Hur, and the controversies surrounding the movie while it was filming in Italy. The author does a great job of portraying the flamboyant Bushman, whose selfish, partying ways did not sit well with American viewers in those days. The novel is written from the perspective of the reporter, Tremayne, and this viewpoint serves the novel well as we see all of Bushman's faults and hypocrisies, as well as the cutthroat nature of Hollywood studios at that time. But the novel goes much deeper: Early 20th-century Italian politics, Hollywood politics, and criminal conspiracies are also involved, and the way Tremayne finds himself in the middle of everything is intriguing. The meaning of the title, Cast Aside, is shown in many ways, which will be interesting for the reader to discover. The novel is well written and recommended to fans of historical fiction about filmmaking, Mussolini's Italy, and Hollywood.
Bonnie DeMoss
From the November 2024 edition of Historical Novels Review
