Competing with idiots : Herman and Joe Mankiewicz, a dual portrait
(Book)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"A dual biography of brothers Herman and Joseph Mankiewicz, each a Hollywood legend"--,Provided by publisher.

Herman Mankiewicz went to Hollywood in 1926, was almost immediately successful, and became one of the highest-paid screenwriters in Hollywood. His brother Joe, eleven years younger, focused, organized, a disciplined writer, produced, wrote and directed Oscar winning films before seeing his career upended by the spectacular fiasco of Cleopatra. Davis-- grandson of Herman, great-nephew of Joe, shows us their dreams and desires, fears and feuds, struggles to free themselves from their dark past; and the driving forces that kept them bound to a system they loved and hated. -- adapted from jacket