"Snakes and Ladders," the second volume of Dirk Bogarde's memoirs, [is] drawn from 30 years of journals and letters…. With his keen eye for detail and actor's ear for dialogue, he brings us a picture of survival in an industry in which money is prized more than art….

The successful autobiographer, Virginia Woolf has written, needs to record two levels of existence: "The rapid passage of events and actions; the slow opening up of single, and solemn moments of concentrated emotion." Mr. Bogarde does this admirably. He is an intelligent writer, thoughtful and modest without exaggerated self-deprecation. Yet there's much that he passes over in silence….

This volume opens with his induction into the army and covers the war years, his return to the theater and subsequent stardom….

Mr. Bogarde's descriptions of his army days—the boredom, his colleagues, the death of a friend, an interview for his commission...