Download or read book Bound and Gagged written by Kalton C. Lahue and published by New York : Castle Books. This book was released on 1968 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The adventure, romance, and pathos that were so much a part of the silent serial during the early years of the motion picture industry have vanished from the scene of the Hollywood movie studio. The present generation neither remembers - for none was born yet - nor cares; for to them the silent serial is but a small part of the American past which might never even have existed. But to those who themselves were growing up in the pre-talkie era, when the motion picture industry itself was just beginning to unfold its wings, the silent serial was an outlet for the fancies of children and the dreams of adults. It was an action-packed, thrill-a-minute entry into the world of exciting experiences. Bound and Gagged is the story of the silent serial: its birth; its growth; its heroes and heroines; its successes and failures; and finally its demise.
Download or read book Silent Serial Sensations written by Barbara Tepa Lupack and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2020-04-15 with total page 405 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first book-length study of pioneering and prolific filmmakers Ted and Leo Wharton, Silent Serial Sensations offers a fascinating account of the dynamic early film industry. As Barbara Tepa Lupack demonstrates, the Wharton brothers were behind some of the most profitable and influential productions of the era, including The Exploits of Elaine and The Mysteries of Myra, which starred such popular performers as Pearl White, Irene Castle, Francis X. Bushman, and Lionel Barrymore. Working from the independent film studio they established in Ithaca, New York, Ted and Leo turned their adopted town into "Hollywood on Cayuga." By interweaving contemporary events and incorporating technological and scientific innovations, the Whartons expanded the possibilities of the popular serial motion picture and defined many of its conventions. A number of the sensational techniques and character types they introduced are still being employed by directors and producers a century later.
Download or read book Serials and Series written by Buck Rainey and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-06-08 with total page 333 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While many fans remember The Lone Ranger, Ace Drummond and others, fewer focus on the facts that serials had their roots in silent film and that many foreign studios also produced serials, though few made it to the United States. The 471 serials and 100 series (continuing productions without the cliffhanger endings) from the United States and 136 serials and 37 series from other countries are included in this comprehensive reference work. Each entry includes title, country of origin, year, studio, number of episodes, running time or number of reels, episode titles, cast, production credits, and a plot synopsis.
Download or read book Bound and gagged written by Kalton Carroll Lahue and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Muscles in the Movies written by John D. Fair and published by University of Missouri Press. This book was released on 2020-11-16 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Fair and David Chapman tell the story of how filmmakers use and manipulate the appearance and performances of muscular men and women to enhance the appeal of their productions. The authors show how this practice, deeply rooted in western epistemological traditions, evolved from the art of photography through magic lantern and stage shows into the motion picture industry, arguing that the sight of muscles in action induced a higher degree of viewer entertainment. From Eugen Sandow to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, muscular actors appear capable of performing the miraculous, and with the aid of stuntmen and filming contrivances, they do. By such means, muscles are used to perfect the art of illusion, inherent in movie-making from its earliest days.
Download or read book Republic Studios written by Richard M. Hurst and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2007-03-15 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hollywood studios of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s were rarely concerned with film as an art form; this was especially true of those specializing in the B film. Of these, Republic Pictures Corporation was the finest. Their quality B action pictures and serials influenced the industry and the moviegoing public, resulting in greater public acceptance. The Republic's roster of talent included John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Gene Autry, and the serials it produced featured such iconic figures as Dick Tracy, Captain America, Zorro, and The Lone Ranger. In Republic Studios: Between Poverty Row and the Majors, author Richard Hurst documents the influence and significance of this major B studio. Originally published in 1979, this book provides a brief overview of the studio's economic structure and charts its output. Hurst examines the various genres represented by the studio, including the comedies of Judy Canova and westerns featuring Autry, Rogers, and The Three Mesquiteers. The book addresses the non-series B films Republic produced, as well as rare A films such as Wake of the Red Witch, Sands of Iwo Jima, and John Ford's The Quiet Man, all of which starred John Wayne. This new edition of Republic Studios, with two additional expanded chapters on serials, a new introduction, and an epilogue, brings the Republic story up to date. This fascinating look at Republic chronicles the impact the studio had on American cultural history from the mid-1940s to the mid-1950s and examines the studio's role in Hollywood history and its demise in the late '50s.
Download or read book Stuntwomen written by Mollie Gregory and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2015-11-19 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Gives voice to the women who have risked their lives for a few (perilous) moments on the big screen. A fascinating look at a risky profession.” —The Washington Post They’ve traded punches in knockdown brawls, crashed biplanes through barns, and raced to the rescue in fast cars. They add suspense and drama to the story, portraying the swimmer stalked by the menacing shark, the heroine dangling twenty feet below a soaring hot air balloon, or the woman leaping nine feet over a wall to escape a dog attack. Only an expert can make such feats of daring look easy, and stuntwomen with the skills to perform—and survive—great moments of action in movies have been hitting their mark in Hollywood since the beginning of film. Here, Mollie Gregory presents the first history of stuntwomen in the film industry from the silent era to the twenty-first century. In the early years of motion pictures, women were highly involved in all aspects of film production, but they were marginalized as movies became popular, and more important, profitable. Capable stuntwomen were replaced by men in wigs, and very few worked between the 1930s and 1960s. As late as the 1990s, men wore wigs and women’s clothes to double as actresses, and were even “painted down” for some performances, while men and women of color were regularly denied stunt work. For decades, stuntwomen have faced institutional discrimination, unequal pay, and sexual harassment even as they jumped from speeding trains and raced horse-drawn carriages away from burning buildings. Featuring sixty-five interviews, Stuntwomen showcases the absorbing stories and uncommon courage of women who make their living planning and performing action-packed sequences that keep viewers’ hearts racing.
Download or read book Jean Arthur written by Jerry Vermilye and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2012-06-06 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Blonde, vivacious Jean Arthur is best remembered today for her unizue, childlike voice and for the handful of classic Thirties and Forties movies she made for directors Frank Capra and George Stevens, such as You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The More the Merrier and her last picture Shane, released in 1953. But not many know that her 30-year film career dates from the early Twenties, when she was an inexperienced contract player at Fox. In fact, Arthur appeared in more movies of the silent era (mostly program Westerns and minor comedies) than she made after the advent of sound. Born with the name Gladys Greene in 19-00, Jean Arthur renamed and reinvented herself when she arrived in Hollywood in 1922, fictionizing her background and subtracting eight years from her actual age. Colleagues have recalled the eccentric personality and behind-the-scenes insecurities that negated her popularity with the press and inhibited her later career as a stage and TV star, prompting her eventual retreat into seclusion. All of these exploits and more are detailed in this comprehensive biofilmography by Jerry Vermilye, a much published author who tells his story in a brisk non-judgmental style that has drawn critical praise for his volumes on such legendary film personalities as Cary Grant, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Charles Bronson, Audrey Hepburn, Buster Crabbe, Lawrence Olivier. and Elizabeth Taylor. This book includes casts, production credits and critical commentary on Jean Arthur's many films, as well as 100 scene stills, portraits and candids, many of them are photographs from the author's private collection.
Download or read book Cinema at the Margins written by Wheeler Winston Dixon and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2013-12-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More and more, just a few canonical classics, such as Michael Curtiz’s “Casablanca” (1942) or Victor Fleming’s “Gone With The Wind” (1939), are representing the entire film output of an era, to a new generation that knows little of the past, and is encouraged by popular media to live only in the eternal present. What will happen to the rest of the films that enchanted, informed and transported audiences in the 1930s, 1940s, and even as recently as the 1960s? This collection of essays aims to highlight some of the lesser-known treasures of the past – those titles that have been pushed aside by today’s wave of cinema amnesia.
Download or read book Distributing Silent Film Serials written by Rudmer Canjels and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2011-01-25 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tracing the international consumption, distribution, and cultural importance of silent film serials in the 1910s and 1920s, Canjels provides an exciting new understanding of the cultural dimension and the cultural transformation and circulation of media forms. Specifically, he demonstrates that the serial film form goes far beyond the well-known American two-reel serial—the cliffhanger. Throughout the book, Canjels focuses on the biggest producers of serials, America, France, and Germany, while imported serials, such as those in the Netherlands, are also examined. This research offers new views on the serial work of well known directors as D.W. Griffith, Abel Gance, Erich von Stroheim, and Fritz Lang, while foregrounding the importance of lesser known directors such as Louis Feuillade or Joe May. In the early twentieth-century, serial productions were constantly undergoing change and were not merely distributed in their original form upon import. As adjusted serials were present in large quantities or confronted different social spaces, nationalistic feelings and views stimulated by the unrest of World War I and the expanding American film industry could be incorporated and attached to the serial form. Serial productions were not only adaptable to local discourses, they could actively stimulate and interact as well, influencing reception and further film production. By examining the distribution, reception, and cultural contexts of American and European serials in various countries, this cross-cultural research makes both local and global observations. Canjels thus offers a highly relevant case study of transnational, transcultural and transmedia relations.
Download or read book Melodrama and Modernity written by Ben Singer and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2001-04-05 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this groundbreaking investigation into the nature and meanings of melodrama in American culture between 1880 and 1920, Ben Singer offers a challenging new reevaluation of early American cinema and the era that spawned it. Singer looks back to the sensational or "blood and thunder" melodramas (e.g., The Perils of Pauline, The Hazards of Helen, etc.) and uncovers a fundamentally modern cultural expression, one reflecting spectacular transformations in the sensory environment of the metropolis, in the experience of capitalism, in the popular imagination of gender, and in the exploitation of the thrill in popular amusement. Written with verve and panache, and illustrated with 100 striking photos and drawings, Singer's study provides an invaluable historical and conceptual map both of melodrama as a genre on stage and screen and of modernity as a pivotal idea in social theory.
Download or read book Motion Picture Series and Sequels written by Bernard A. Drew and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-04 with total page 597 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1989 alone, for example, there were some forty-five major motion pictures which were sequels or part of a series. The film series phenomenon crosses all genres and has been around since the silent film era. This reference guide, in alphabetical order, lists some 906 English Language motion pictures, from 1899 to 1990, when the book was initially published. A brief plot description is given for each series entry, followed by the individual film titles with corresponding years, directors and performers. Animated pictures, documentaries and concert films are not included but movies released direct to video are.
Download or read book Karl Dane written by Laura Petersen Balogh and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-10-21 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Karl Dane's life was a Cinderella story gone horribly wrong. The immigrant from Copenhagen was rapidly transformed from a machinist to a Hollywood star after his turn as the tobacco-chewing Slim in The Big Parade in 1925. After that, Dane appeared in more than 40 films with such luminaries as Lillian Gish, John Gilbert and William Haines until development of talkies virtually ruined his career. The most famous casualty of the transition from silent to sound film, Dane reportedly lost his career because of his accent. He was broke and alone at the height of the Depression and committed suicide in 1934.
Download or read book The Hollywood Studio System written by Douglas Gomery and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2019-07-25 with total page 655 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite being one of the biggest industries in the United States, indeed the World, the internal workings of the 'dream factory' that is Hollywood is little understood outside the business. The Hollywood Studio System: A History is the first book to describe and analyse the complete development, classic operation, and reinvention of the global corporate entitles which produce and distribute most of the films we watch. Starting in 1920, Adolph Zukor, Head of Paramount Pictures, over the decade of the 1920s helped to fashion Hollywood into a vertically integrated system, a set of economic innovations which was firmly in place by 1930. For the next three decades, the movie industry in the United States and the rest of the world operated by according to these principles. Cultural, social and economic changes ensured the dernise of this system after the Second World War. A new way to run Hollywood was required. Beginning in 1962, Lew Wasserman of Universal Studios emerged as the key innovator in creating a second studio system. He realized that creating a global media conglomerate was more important than simply being vertically integrated. Gomery's history tells the story of a 'tale of two systems 'using primary materials from a score of archives across the United States as well as a close reading of both the business and trade press of the time. Together with a range of photographs never before published the book also features over 150 box features illuminating aspect of the business.
Download or read book Exporting Perilous Pauline written by Marina Dahlquist and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2013-06-01 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exceptionally popular during their time, the spectacular American action film serials of the 1910s featured exciting stunts, film tricks, and effects set against the background of modern technology, often starring resourceful female heroines who displayed traditionally male qualities such as endurance, strength, and authority. The most renowned of these "serial queens" was Pearl White, whose career as the adventurous character Pauline developed during a transitional phase in the medium's evolving production strategies, distribution and advertising patterns, and fan culture. In this volume, an international group of scholars explores how American serials starring Pearl White and other female stars impacted the emerging cinemas in the United States and abroad. Contributors investigate the serial genre and its narrative patterns, marketing, and cultural reception, and historiographic importance, with essays on Pearl White's life on and off the screen as well as the "serial queen" genre in Western and Eastern Europe, India, and China. Contributors are Weihong Bao, Rudmer Canjels, Marina Dahlquist, Monica Dall'Asta, Kevin B. Johnson, Christina Petersen, and Rosie Thomas.
Download or read book I Love It When You Talk Retro written by Ralph Keyes and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2009-03-31 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Discusses those "verbal fossils" that remain embedded in our national conversation long after the topic they refer to has galloped off into the sunset. Mrs. Robinson, Edsel, "Catch-22", Gangbusters, "Alphonse and Gaston", or "Where's the beef?" are just a few of the "retroterms" that can be found in this word-lover's store of trivia and obscure references.
Download or read book Movie Struck Girls written by Shelley Stamp and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Movie-Struck Girls examines women's films and filmgoing in the 1910s, a period when female patronage was energetically courted by the industry for the first time. By looking closely at how women were invited to participate in movie culture, the films they were offered, and the visual pleasures they enjoyed, Shelley Stamp demonstrates that women significantly complicated cinemagoing throughout this formative, transitional era. Growing female patronage and increased emphasis on women's subject matter did not necessarily bolster cinema's cultural legitimacy, as many in the industry had hoped, for women were not always enticed to the cinema by dignified, uplifting material, and once there, they were not always seamlessly integrated in the social space of theaters, nor the new optical pleasures of film viewing. In fact, Stamp argues that much about women's films and filmgoing in the postnickelodeon years challenged, rather than served, the industry's drive for greater respectability. White slave films, action-adventure serial dramas, and women's suffrage photoplays all drew female audiences to the cinema with stories aimed directly at women's interests and with advertising campaigns that specifically targeted female moviegoers. Yet these examples suggest that women's patronage was built with stories focused on sexuality, sensational thrill-seeking, and feminist agitation, topics not normally associated with ladylike gentility. And in each case concerns were raised about women's conduct at cinemas and the viewing habits they enjoyed, demonstrating that women's integration into motion picture culture was not as smooth as many have thought.
