MGM: When the Lion Roars <i> by Peter Hay (Turner Publishing: $50; 336 pp.).</i>

There is no small irony in the fact that the publishing arm of the company that helped dismember MGM, in Helen Hayes’ words “the great film studio of the world,” has now turned out a glossy book on its victim, timed to coincide with a Turner Network miniseries on same. Still, this is one gift book that shouldn’t be looked in the mouth. Luxuriously produced, it is filled with a fine selection of little-seen stills and memorabilia, including a fascinating selection of promotion material for Greta Garbo (above with studio mascot Leo the Lion) in “Queen Christina.” They don’t make movies like that, or books like this, very much any more.