The Sounds of Silent Films is a unique collection of investigatory and theoretical essays that, for the first time, unite up-to-date research on the complex historical performance practices of silent film accompaniment with in-depth analyses of relevant case studies.

This book is the first to take comedy seriously as an important aspect of the popular mockumentary form of film and television fiction. It examines the ways in which mockumentary films and television programmes make visible-through comedy-the performances that underpin straight documentaries and many of our public figures. Mockumentary Comedy focuses on the rock star and the politician, two figures that regularly feature as mockumentary subjects. These public figures are explored through detailed textual analyses of a range of film and television comedies, including A Hard Day's Night, This is Spinal Tap, The Thick of It, Veep and the works of Christopher Guest and Alison Jackson. This book broadens the scope of existing mockumentary scholarship by taking comedy seriously in a sustained way for the first time. It ultimately argues that the comedic performances-by performers and of documentary conventions-are central to the form's critical significance and popular appeal.

This book is thorough, well organized, and useful. It establishes background on the Australian understanding of the American dream, Austalian photography, image, and subject matter, and American influence on Australian cinema. Brief chapters summarize film theory, applicable mass communication theory, and financial practices of the Australian motion picture industry. Choice . . . presents an examination of major movies made in Australia in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The author argues that part of the reason for the success of Australian cinema in recent years may lie with America's identification with a simpler culture, an almost `wild west' atmosphere. To explore his thesis the author first offers a short history of the Australian cinema, and then a theory of film as mass communication. Communication Booknotes Lewis introduces Australian films from the 1920's and 30's and then focuses on thirty films produced between 1975 and 1987. He suggests that part of the reason for Australia's film success may lie in America's identification with a simpler culture and the portrayal of wild west type territory which is often found in Australian films. He also points out that various aspects of American culture have seeped into Australian culture and now appear in their films, making them more appealing to an American audience. He concludes this insightful study with a projection analysis for the future of Australian cinema. With its up-to-date content and analytical approach, this book will be valuable to anyone concerned with mass communication and society, cinema studies, media, or U.S.-Australian relations.

In 1927, The Jazz Singer heralded a revolution in the moviemaking industry with the advent of synchronized sound in full-length motion pictures. While movie studios adapted their production facilities to accommodate the new technology and movie theatres converted to sound, filmmakers continued to produce silents, albeit in dwindling numbers. And though talkies would overtake the industry and the public's demand soon enough, the silent motion picture did not disappear immediately. The Last Silent Picture Show: Silent Films on American Screens in the 1930s looks at this cultural shift. Drawing primarily on contemporary records, this book details the fate of an entire art form-the silent cinema-in the United States during the 1930s and how it managed to survive the onslaught of sound. Through the most diverse venues, from tent shows to universities, political meetings to picture palaces, ghetto theaters to art houses, the silent film continued to play an important role in American culture in the Depression years, culminating in the first efforts to chronicle and preserve cinema history. Through the voices of the audiences, critics, editors, and artists, Drew relates the impact of various silent films, whether new releases, reissues, or foreign imports, on the public and culture of the 30s-how they affected both the popular and intellectual environment and how they were promoted for their audiences. Providing an in-depth examination of the transitional period, which led to the birth of modern film studies, The Last Silent Picture Show is aimed not only at academics but also the large number of film devotees who will discover new information on a relatively neglected chapter of film history.

This book recounts the author's fieldwork among the trans and gender-variant communities in Naples. This is where a gender-variant figure, the femminiello, has found a safe environment within the city's historical poorest neighborhoods, the so-called "quartieri popolari", which were and continue to be culturally and socially connoted. The femminielli, who can be read as "suspended" figures between the feminine and the masculine, provide the background for a discourse on the meanings that genders and sexualities have assumed in modern Naples. This is done with significant openings to theoretical reasoning that is both extraterritorial and multidisciplinary. Starting from the micro context, the aim of the book is to explore the breadth and complexity of the gender variant and trans experience, with particular reference to the changing meanings of the body, which are also tied to the collective images of beauty in contemporary times.

This book offers a unique argument for the emergence of a post-9/11 vampire that showcases changing perspectives on identity and religion in American culture, offering a look at how cultural narratives can be used to work through trauma. Cultural narratives have long played a valuable role in mediating difficult and politically sensitive topics. Christina Wilkins addresses how the figure of the vampire is used in modern narratives and how it has changed from previous incarnations, particularly in American narratives. The vampire has been a cultural staple for centuries but the current conception of the figure has been arguably Americanized with the rise of the modern American vampire coinciding with the aftermath of 9/11. Wilkins investigates changes evident in cultural representations, and how they effectively mediate the altered approach to issues of trauma and identity. By investing metaphorical tropes with cultural significance, the book offers audiences the opportunity to consider new perspectives and prompt important discussions while also illuminating changes in societal attitudes.

- author-organized Visible Evidence conference slated to be held in August 2022, which offers a great pre- or post-pub promotional opportunity – utilizes interesting autobiographical approach

The cinema was the most popular form of entertainment during the Second World War. Film was a critically important medium for influencing opinion. Films, such as In Which We Serve and One of Our Aircraft is Missing, shaped the British people's perceptions of the conflict. British War Films, 1939-45 is an account of the feature films produced during the war, rather than government documentaries and official propaganda, making the book an important index of British morale and values at a time of desperate national crisis.

"A fascinating one-volume reference source that identifies and describes the key characters (and their performers) from some of the more memorable films between 1915 and 1983." Reference Books Bulletin

Since her film debut in 1930, Maureen O'Sullivan has consistently proven herself to be one of the most talented and versatile performers in the entertainment media. Her career has spanned 60 years, over which time she has appeared on stage and screen, on television and radio, and has even been a published author of a few short stories. This bio-bibliography explores every facet of O'Sullivan's distinguished career and illustrates the surprising depth and range that she exhibited and still continues to display in her fascinating career. Billips traces the entirety of the actress's professional life, from her film career at Fox in Song O' My Heart in 1930, including her six other films for the Fox studio, to her piece for RKO and Patrician/UA, to her portrayal of Jane in the Tarzan films of the early 1930s to her most recent appearance in 1987's Stranded, revealing an enormous talent. O'Sullivan's contributions to the performing arts have yet to be fully appreciated. Through separate chapters, focusing on different aspects of O'Sullivan's life, the book provides an impressive picture of the actress's multifaceted career. The biographical section primarily discusses her films and the characters she portrayed, while a career chronology offers an overview of her entire professional life, with credits in the various media serving to illustrate her constant activities. Four separate chapters chronicle O'Sullivan's film, radio, television, and stage appearances, with full cast and credits included for each entry, and cross references incorporated to lead the reader to other pertinent material in the book. A bibliographic section follows with film reviews, theater reviews, books and articles, and fan magazine stories each given their own chapters. An appendix reproduces in their entirety two short stories published by Maureen O'Sullivan in the Ladies' Home Journal, and an index concludes the work. This important reference tool will be a welcome resource for film fans and collectors and for courses in film history. It will also be a valuable addition to public, college, and university libraries.

"All students of the Great Man's'career will have to rely on this work. . . . Perhaps Gehring's greatest contributio here is his discussion of 23 sketches that Fields copyrighted that are now in the Library of Congress." Choice

Media depictions of community are enormously influential on wider popular opinion about how people would like to live. In this study, Rowley examines depictions of ideal communities in Hollywood films and television and explores the implications of attempts to build real-world counterparts to such imagined places.

Global Melodrama is the first booklength work to investigate melodrama in a specifically twenty-first century setting across regional and national boundaries, analyzing film texts from a variety of national contexts in the wake of globalization.

Considering films as audio-visual creations opens new inroads into the cultural practice, politics, and aesthetics of the soundtrack. This book is critical and trans-disciplinary engagement with cinema in Italy that examines the national archive of film based on sound and listening using a holistic audio-visual approach to film politics and practices from the coming of sound to the screen in the Fascist era, through the work of post WWII neorealist directors, to art cinema directors such as Michelangelo Antonioni and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Sisto shifts the sensory paradigm of film history and analysis from the optical to the sonic, demonstrating how this translates into a shift of canonical narratives and interpretations. Listening functions as a fundamental critical tool that permits viewers to detect the interplay of technological productions, historical contingencies, and mediations which coalesce within the political and aesthetical track of sound at the movies.

(Applause Books). Now in paperback, the complete story of the actor's career, including his secret gay life. Raymond Burr (1917-1993) was an enigma. A film noir regular known for his villainous roles in movies like Rear Window, he eventually became one of the most popular stars in television history as the lead actor on two top-rated dramas, Perry Mason and Ironside, which between them ran virtually uninterrupted for 20 years. But Raymond Burr was leading a secret gay life at a time in Hollywood when exposure would have been career suicide. To protect his secret, Burr fabricated a tragic past for himself as a grieving husband and father. He claimed to have been twice widowed he said his first wife had died in a plane crash, and his second marriage had ended with his wife's early death from cancer. And there was also a dead son 10-year-old Michael, who lost his battle with leukemia. Neither of the wives nor Michael ever existed. But that didn't stop these lies from being perpetuated again and again, even in Burr's New York Times obituary. Hiding in Plain Sight examines the totality of Raymond Burr's career and his personal life, including his 35 years with partner Robert Benevides. The author interviewed over 30 people who knew or worked with Burr, including Angela Lansbury, Barbara Hale, Robert Wagner, Gale Storm, and more.

This book offers a comprehensive and systematic overview of the flourishing genre of the contemporary Latin American road movie, of which Diarios de motocicleta and Y tu mama tambien are only the best-known examples. It offers the first systematic survey of the genre and explains why the road movie is key to contemporary Latin American cinema and society. Proposing the new category of "counter-road movie," and paying special attention to the genre's intricate relationship to modernity, Nadia Lie charts the variety of the road movie through films by both renowned and emerging filmmakers. The Latin American (Counter-) Road Movie and Ambivalent Modernity engages with ongoing debates on transnationalism and takes the reader along a wide range of topics, from exile to undocumented migration, from tourism to internally displaced people.

Known for their limitless passion and incredible ingenuity for film and television posters, Mondo turns their attention to the highly acclaimed show Batman: The Animated Series. The show first aired in 1992 and was instantly met with critical praise for its sophisticated writing and distinctive, noir-influenced art style, generating an intense following that still exists today. Over the years, Mondo has received global recognition for their astonishing artisanal posters, and their creations for Batman: The Animated Series are no exception. The studio has partnered exclusively with the award-winning artist at Phantom City Creative, Inc., Justin Erickson, in order to bring this show to life in a striking and unparalleled way. Filled with Erikson's slick graphic design as well as beautifully rendered illustrations, this Batman: The Animated Series art book is a one-of-a-kind tribute to one of the greatest animated shows of all time. Mondo is an art gallery and online store devoted to a passionate love of film, art, music, and collectibles. The company has received global recognition for bringing art back to movie poster design and has emerged as one of the leading curators of classic and contemporary film soundtracks on vinyl.

Film Distribution in the Digital Age critically examines the evolution of the landscape of film distribution in recent years. In doing so, it argues that the interlocking ecosystem(s) of media dissemination must be considered holistically and culturally if we are to truly understand the transnational flows of cultural texts.