MERCURY PICTURES PRESENTS

Carlotta Brentan gives a fine narration of this saga of Hollywood in the '30s and '40s. With her father in prison for anti-fascist activities in Italy, Maria, along with her mother, moves to an Italian neighborhood in Los Angeles. Maria becomes a secretary for the head of Mercury Pictures, Artie Feldman. Her secret romance with an Asian actor is disrupted when part of her past, in the person of an Italian immigrant, catches up with her. Brentan slips easily in and out of a variety of accents. She keeps the family's secrets well hidden and underplays the occasionally florid text. But the story is familiar, and the characters are stereotypes, especially Feldman, who behaves like every wheeler-dealer producer from every old Hollywood movie about Hollywood. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: AUGUST 2022]