Dudley Murphy (1897-1968) was one of early Hollywood's most intriguing figures. Active from the 1920s through the 1940s, Murphy was one of the industry's first independents and a guiding intelligence behind some of the key films in early twentieth-century cinema. In the first full-length biography of Murphy, author Susan Delson gives full rein to an American original whose life was as audacious as his films. As expertly chronicled here, Murphy caromed between film and the other arts, between Hollywood and other cultural capitals-Greenwich Village, Harlem, London, and Paris-hobnobbing with some of the era's leading cultural figures, including Ezra Pound, Man Ray, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Chaplin, and leaving many a scandal in his wake. With artist Fernand Léger, Murphy made Ballet mécanique, one of the seminal works of avant-garde film. He directed Bessie Smith in her only film appearance, St. Louis Blues, and Paul Robeson in The Emperor Jones. He had a hand in shaping Tod Browning's Dracula, gave Bing Crosby one of his first film appearances, and collaborated with William Faulkner in attempting to bring one of the author's most challenging novels to the screen. Murphy also turned out forgettable Hollywood fodder like Confessions of a Co-Ed and Stocks and Blondes, and ended his career making melodramas in Mexico. Delson pays close attention to Murphy's cinematic style, which favored visual play over narrative and character, and she offers provocative new insights into his two most important works, Ballet mécanique and The Emperor Jones. A lively portrait, Dudley Murphy, Hollywood Wild Card provides a fascinating perspective on the evolution of the classical Hollywood aesthetic, the development of the film industry, and the century's broader cultural currents. "Dudley Murphy doesn't bear a household name like John Ford or King Vidor, but, as chronicled by Delson, his ambitious career out-barnstormed them all-even if it often only sputtered in the public eye. The author displays a scholarly grasp of the facts, but also the fluid, resonant prose to animate them. A balanced portrait of a man and a panorama of his times, told with exceptional grace." -Kirkus Reviews "What a pleasant surprise to find a book about someone who has always intrigued me, a shadowy figure in film history whose name is attached to a handful of wildly different but significant movies, from Ballet Mécanique to Bessie Smith's St. Louis Blues to The Emperor Jones. Susan Delson has done an impeccable job of research to tell his story and tie the loose ends of his improbable career together. A brief but interesting, intelligent, and well-written book about a longtime mystery man who-in spite of a greater concern for carousing than career-building-made his mark on the world of cinema." -Leonard Maltin