Mercury Pictures Presents

Written by Anthony Marra
Review by Bridget Walsh

This is a vast story which stretches from the mid-1930s in Italy to America during WW2. It tells the story of Mercury Pictures, a film production company in Hollywood. The characters are mesmerising, and include Maria, an Italian refugee; Artie, the Jewish co-owner of Mercury Pictures; Vincent, a Sicilian imposter; and Eddie Lu, a Chinese actor. Maria takes centre stage as she is the person whom everyone revolves around, even Artie. I particularly enjoyed reading about the power struggle between Artie and his brother over the ownership of Mercury Pictures, and Maria’s crucial role in the bargaining.

The reader will be enthralled by the ingenuity of the characters, their struggles and successes. In the telling of this tale, the history of the mid-20^th century unfolds from European Fascists to American film censors. All aspects of the film industry, from politics, to screenwriting, to producing and acting, play their part in this intriguing story.

Anthony Marra is an Italian American and bases his work on in-depth knowledge of Fascist Italy, the Italian diaspora in America, and the American film industry as a machine for propaganda during the Second World War. Highly recommended.