Steven Helmer Publications

Synopsis: First cast as a 15-year-old teenager in a film role that would earn her the nickname of "the Sweater Girl," Lana Turner became a Hollywood sex symbol and went on to a film and television career that lasted from the 1930s until the 1980s. Behind the scenes, however, Turner's life wasn't so glamorous, filled with failed and abusive romances, including to Johnny Stompanato, a mobster working for crime boss Mickey Cohen, a relationship that eventually ended with Stompanato dead on her bedroom floor and her teenage daughter, Cheryl, willingly taking the blame for the stabbing.  This non-fiction book presents an account of Turner's life, how it reached that pivotal point and the impact of the scandal on her career and mother/daughter relationship. Review:   A a classic movie fan, I was well-aware of both Lana Turner's film work and the scandal that nearly completely derailed her career. So, when I came across A Murder in Hollywood at the library, I deci...

Synopsis: Drifter Frank Chambers accepts a job at a rural diner and falls in love with the owner's beautiful and ambitious wife, Cora. Cora feels the same about him but has worked too hard to make the diner successful and leaving her husband, Nick, would mean starting over from scratch. The only way for them to be together is to murder Nick. But, to get away with that, they have to fool a very capable district attorney. Who's in it? The movie stars Lana Turner , John Garfield , Cecil Kellaway , Hume Cronyn and Leon Ames. Review: I came across this film on one of our movie channels a couple weeks ago and, mostly because it's a movie I had always wanted to watch, decided to record it for a rainy day. My original intention was to watch it by myself (probably early in the morning, when everyone was still asleep). However, my wife and I were unimpressed with a movie we attempted to watch on Netflix and, since we didn't have a contingency plan, I decided to watch...