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Books > Arts & Architecture > Performing arts > Films, cinema > General
Jones uncovers the fascinating inside story of the making of this film, one of the American Film Institutes's 100 Greatest Thrillers. Every aspect is revealed of the film's development and production - casting, design, shooting, scoring, and editing - to the profound disappointment upon its release. This book is the result of over a decade of archival research and interviews with a dozen key people associated with the film, including Grubb, Gregory, actors Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish and cinematographer Stanley Cortez. Their oral histories, along with numerous artifacts and film stills, are here deftly assembled into an account that is as compelling as the movie it celebrates.
The fall of the Soviet Union had the effect of making Russia even more of a riddle to the foreign observer than it had ever been. This book incorporates into an organic whole the realities of film production, the films themselves, and the socio-political-cultural context, weaving these three threads into a narrative discourse. It aims to integrate the films of the 1990s with life, and to provide a global picture of Russia (with Moscow in the foreground) as the big stage on which the drama unfolded. The author discusses some eighty films made between 1990 and 2000. Many reflect the reality of the present day, either in dramatic or grotesque form. Others reassess the past, placing different spins on various epochs and figures according to the director's ideological orientation. Still others offer escapism into imaginary worlds. The films selected may vary in technical quality and depth of thought; they may be mainstream pictures, or art films. But taken together, they provide an eloquent portrait of Russia, entering the new millennium still in search of its true identity.
Originally published in 1986 as 'Conversations with My Elders', this is a book of interviews with six men of the entertainment world: actors Sal Mineo and Rock Hudson, film directors George Cukor, Luchino Visconti and Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and designer, photographer and author Cecil Beaton. Aside from their career successes, they had in common that they were gay and that during their lifetimes they managed to conceal their sexual orientation from the public. What makes these interviews so surprising is the fact that the subjects talk freely and frankly about their lives and their careers, and how their sexuality affected both. In his new preface, Hadleigh reflects on how attitudes towards homosexuality have and have not changed in the 15 years since the book's first publication.
Peter Lorre described himself as merely a 'face maker'. His own negative attitude also characterizes traditional perspectives which position Lorre as a tragic figure within film history: the promising European artist reduced to a Hollywood gimmick, unable to escape the murderous image of his role in Fritz Lang's M. This book shows that the life of Peter Lorre cannot be reduced to a series of simplistic oppositions. It reveals that, despite the limitations of his macabre star image, Lorre's screen performances were highly ambitious, and the terms of his employment were rarely restrictive. Lorre's career was a complex negotiation between transnational identity, Hollywood filmmaking practices, the ownership of star images and the mechanics of screen performance.
The national cinemas of Czechoslovakia and East Germany were two of the most vital sites of filmmaking in the Eastern Bloc, and over the course of two decades, they contributed to and were shaped by such significant developments as Sovietization, de-Stalinization, and the conservative retrenchment of the late 1950s. This volume comprehensively explores the postwar film cultures of both nations, using a "stereoscopic" approach that traces their similarities and divergences to form a richly contextualized portrait. Ranging from features to children's cinema to film festivals, the studies gathered here provide new insights into the ideological, political, and economic dimensions of Cold War cultural production.
This book provides the first comprehensive study of narco cinema, a cross-border exploitation cinema that, for over forty years, has been instrumental in shaping narco-culture in Mexico and the US borderlands. Identifying classics in its mammoth catalogue and analyzing select films at length, Rashotte outlines the genre's history and aesthetic criteria. He approaches its history as an alternative to mainstream representation of the drug war and considers how its vernacular aesthetic speaks to the anxieties and desires of Latina/o audiences by celebrating regional cultures while exploring the dynamics of global transition. Despite recent federal prohibitions, narco cinema endures as a popular folk art because it reflects distinctively the experiences of those uprooted by the forces of globalization and critiques those forces in ways mainstream cinema has failed.
John DiLeo ventures beyond the obvious, paying tribute to a collection of acting feats that made priceless but often unappreciated contributions to the art of screen acting. So, no Scarlett O'Hara, Michael Corleone or Margo Channing here. But you will find Vivien Leigh, Al Pacino, and Bette Davis in outstanding performances that have been overshadowed by their signature roles. From Lillian Gish in 'Way Down East' (1920) to Renee Zellweger in 'Nurse Betty' (2000), DiLeo takes movie fans on an unpredictable ride through film history, covering eight decades, showcasing a variety of genres and performing styles, and providing fresh spins on the careers of Hollywood's top stars. He gets to the heart of what made the performers so original and memorable in the roles at hand, whetting your appetite to see all one hundred of these superb, eye-opening performances, even if you saw them before -- because you really didn't!
In the course of the twentieth century glamour was associated primarily with cinema, although the theatre, fashion, high society, popular music, glossy magazines and department stores have all sought to harness its allure. It is usually associated with 'magic' and suggests a capacity to dazzle and seduce. Yet glamour's origins and meanings have never until now been thoroughly examined. For many, it is simply the aura of excitement and mystery that has surrounded the famous and the desirable from time immemorial. By contrast, this innovative book traces the origins of glamour to the nineteenth century and identifies it as a core feature of consumer culture. The authors examine the way that a language of visual seduction has been associated with a variety of social milieux and used to arouse envy and interest, mainly in commercial settings. They also illustrate eight distinct permutations of glamour, each of which has a complex history and is in continual evolution.
Traditional critics of film adaptation generally assumed a) that the written text is better than the film adaptation because the plot is more intricate and the language richer when pictorial images do not intrude; b) that films are better when particularly faithful to the original; c) that authors do not make good script writers and should not sully their imagination by writing film scripts; d) and often that American films lack the complexity of authored texts because they are sourced out of Hollywood. The 'faithfulness' view has by and large disappeared, and intertextuality is now a generally received notion, but the field still lacks studies with a postmodern methodology and lens.Exploring Hollywood feature films as well as small studio productions, Adaptation Theory and Criticism explores the intertextuality of a dozen films through a series of case studies introduced through discussions of postmodern methodology and practice. Providing the reader with informative background on theories of film adaptation as well as carefully articulated postmodern methodology and issues, Gordon Slethaug includes several case studies of major Hollywood productions and small studio films, some of which have been discussed before ("Age of Innocence, Gangs of New York," and "Do the Right Thing") and some that have received lesser consideration ("Six Degrees of Separation, Smoke, Smoke""Signals, Broken Flowers," and various Snow White narratives including "Enchanted, Mirror Mirror, and Snow White and the Huntsman"). Useful for both film and literary studies students, Adaptation Theory and Criticism cogently combines the existing scholarship and uses previous theories to engage readers to think about the current state of American literature and film.
Chronicling Shirley Temple Black's various careers, this work spans the years from her childhood at the studio and at home through her waning success during adolescence, to her diplomatic and political pursuits. An anomaly among child stars, Shirley Temple Black's successful adaptation to life outside the traditional Hollywood social life is explored against the backdrop of the child-star phenomenon in American entertainment. Facts about her childhood, her parental influences, and her political beliefs present Shirley Temple Black as a unique individual rather than as a child star icon. Scholars researching American popular culture will find information on child stars in general through this exploration of Shirley Temple Black's significance within that role. Current attitudes toward racial stereotyping in early films are examined. Research sources for radio broadcasts during the late 1930s and early 1940s are also valuable. The changing American political climate can be viewed through the filter of the economic depression, during which the public embraced Shirley Temple's sense of hope and optimism, and through her, revealed political activism.
"[Slide's] blockbuster effort fills a gap in this area and is essential for all libraries supporting popular culture or film studies." Library Journal
In "Making Settler Cinemas," Peter Limbrick argues that the United States, Australia, and New Zealand share histories of colonial encounters that have shaped their cinemas in distinctive ways. Going beyond readings of narrative and representation, this book studies the production, distribution, reception, and reexhibition of cinema across three settler societies under the sway of two empires. Investigating films both canonical and overlooked, "Making Settler Cinemas "not only shows how cinema has mattered to settler societies but affirms that practices of film history can themselves be instrumental in encountering and reshaping colonial pasts.""
Cinema--invented just before psychoanalysis formally developed--primed the public and scholars to rethink ideas about dreams. The author describes how surrealist artists purposely applied Freudian dream theories to their art to make the public aware of modern ideas about dreams. Most of our current cultural consciousness about the psychological value of dreams is traced to classical and contemporary cinema. This work examines how residuals of past approaches to dreams make conceptions of dreams in psychoanalysis and science more complex than ever today. Scholars and students in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, cinema, medicine, and religion may find this volume useful. The book also examines academic psychiatry's increased emphasis in dream study on neuropsychiatry and psychopharmocology, as well as managed care's decreased compensation for dream therapy.
Although the exploration of space has long preoccupied authors and filmmakers, the development of an actual space program, discoveries about the true nature of space, and critical reconsiderations of America's frontier experiences have challenged and complicated conventional portrayals of humans in space. This volume reexamines the themes of space and the frontier in science fiction in light of recent scientific and literary developments. From this new perspective, we discern previously unnoticed commentaries from older authors, while newer writers either remain within a reassuring but obsolete tradition, venture into unexplored new realities, or abandon space to focus on other frontiers. The intriguing contributions to this volume include a previously unpublished interview with Arthur C. Clarke, the world's greatest living author of science fiction; examinations of space opera by veteran author Jack Williamson and scholar David Pringle; surveys of space in science fiction film, and writer and producer Michael Cassutt's account of his efforts to launch a film based on a Clifford D. Simak novel; and speculations about future developments from noted writers Gregory Benford, Jack Dann, James Gunn, and Howard V. Hendrix.
Hollywood's South Seas and the Pacific War explores the expectations, experiences, and reactions of Allied servicemen and women who served in the wartime Pacific. Viewing the South Pacific through the lens of Hollywood's South Seas, Americans and their Allies expected to find glamorous women who resembled the famous 'sarong girl, ' Dorothy Lamour. But Dorothy was nowhere to be seen. Despite those disappointments popular images proved resilient, and at war's end the 'old' South Seas re-emerged almost unscathed. Based on extensive archival research, Hollywood's South Seas and the Pacific War explores the intersections between military experiences and cultural history.
Providing new and challenging ways of understanding the medieval in the modern and vice versa, The Medieval Motion Picture: The Politics of Adaptation highlights how medieval aesthetic experience breathes life into contemporary cinema. Engaging with the subject of time and temporality, the essays examine the politics of adaptation and our contemporary entanglement with the medieval: not only in overtly medieval-themed films but also in such diverse genres as thrillers, horror films, performance animation, and even science fiction. Among the films and TV shows discussed are productions such as HBO's award winning series Game of Thrones, Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, Akira Kurosawa's Ran, and M. Night Shyamalan's The Sixth Sense.
I heard the rustle again, too close and too real to ignore. I clutched the flashlight, stuck my head out of the mosquito net... and found myself face-to-face with a jaguar. Four travelers meet in Bolivia and set off into the heart of the Amazon rainforest to find a hidden tribe and explore places tourists only dream of seeing. But what begins as the adventure of a lifetime quickly deteriorates into a dangerous nightmare. After weeks of wandering in the dense undergrowth the group splits up after disagreements, and Yossi and his friend try to find their own way back without a guide. When a terrible rafting accident separates him from his partner, Yossi is forced to survive for weeks alone against one of the wildest backdrops on the planet. Stranded without a knife, map, or survival training, he must improvise shelter and forage for wild fruit to survive. As his feet begin to rot during raging storms, as he loses all sense of direction, and as he begins to lose all hope, he wonders whether he will make it out of the jungle alive. The basis of an upcoming motion picture starring Daniel Radcliffe, "Jungle" is the incredible story of friendship and the teachings of nature, survival and human fortitude and a terrifying true account that you won't be able to put down.
Reading a Japanese Film, written by a pioneer of Japanese film studies in the United States, provides viewers new to Japanese cinema with the necessary tools to construct a deeper understanding of some of the most critically acclaimed and thoroughly entertaining films ever made. In her introduction, Keiko McDonald presents a historical overview and outlines a unified approach to film analysis. Sixteen "readings" of films currently available on DVD with English subtitles put theory into practice as she considers a wide range of work, from familiar classics by Ozu and Kurosawa to the films of a younger generation of directors.
This is the first book-length consideration of music in British films to appear in sixty years. During the 1930s, British-made musicals were the most popular films seen by British audiences while British film music produced some outstanding pieces that became concert hall classics. This book addresses music in British films, both as musical scores (in the first half of the book) and as British film musicals (the second half). Each section will start with a detailed chronological review history.
This book investigates a Jewish orientation to film culture in interwar Britain. It explores how pleasure, politics and communal solidarity intermingled in the cinemas of Jewish neighbourhoods, and how film was seen as a vessel through which Jewish communal concerns might be carried to a wider public. Addressing an array of related topics, this volume examines the lived expressive cultures of cinemas in Jewish areas and the ethnically specific films consumed within these sites; the reception of film stars as representations of a Jewish social body; and how an antisemitic canard that understood the cinema as a Jewish monopoly complicated its use as a base for anti-fascist activity. In shedding light on an unexplored aspect of British film reception and exhibition, Toffell provides a unique insight into the making of the modern city by migrant communities. The title will be of use to anyone interested in Britain's interwar leisure landscape, the Jewish presence in modernity, and a cinema studies sensitised to the everyday experience of audiences.
The bio-bibliography of one of America's most beloved actors, James Stewart spans six decades of his career. The detailed biography chronicles Stewart's youth in Indiana, Pennsylvania, records his college years at Princeton, his early years in Hollywood and World War II, his stardom in the Capra and Hitchcock films, and finally his current special appearances and television commercials. The volume is a compilation of Stewart's acting career and contains a complete bibliography. Included are listings of his credits for stage, screen, radio, and television, as well as his own writings. The book will be valuable for all fans of Stewart, film researchers, and others interested in obtaining a complete record of Jimmy Stewart's impressive and widely-praised career. |
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