Download or read book Movie Roadshows written by Kim R. Holston and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work examines a film distribution system paralleling the rise of early features and persisting until 1972, when Man of La Mancha was the final roadshow to require reserved seating. Synonymous with Hollywood's star-studded premieres, roadshows were longer and cost more than regular features, making the experience similar to attending the legitimate theater. Roadshows, often epic in subject matter, played selected (usually only one) theaters in major urban centers until demand decreased. De rigueur by the 1960s were musical overtures, intermissions, entre'acte and exit music and souvenir programs for sale in the lobby. Throughout the text are recollections by people who attended roadshows, including actor John Kerr and actresses Barbara Eden and Ingrid Pitt. The focus is on roadshows released in the United States but an appendix identifies international roadshows and films forecast but not released as roadshows. Included are plots, contemporary critical reaction, premiere dates, production background, and methods of promotion--i.e., the ballyhoo.

Download or read book Pleasing Everyone written by Jeffrey Knapp (Professor of English) and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shakespeare's plays were immensely popular in their own day -- so why do we refuse to think of them as mass entertainment? In Pleasing Everyone, author Jeffrey Knapp opens our eyes to the uncanny resemblance between Renaissance drama and the incontrovertibly mass medium of Golden-Age Hollywood cinema. Through fascinating explorations of such famous plays as Hamlet, The Roaring Girl, and The Alchemist, and such celebrated films as Citizen Kane, The Jazz Singer, and City Lights, Knapp challenges some of our most basic assumptions about the relationship between art and mass audiences. Above all, Knapp encourages us to resist the prejudice that mass entertainment necessarily simplifies and cheapens whatever it touches. As Knapp shows, it was instead the ceaseless pressure to please everyone that helped generate the astonishing richness and complexity of Renaissance drama as well as of Hollywood film.

Download or read book The Silent Films of Harry Langdon 1923 1928 written by James L. Neibaur and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2012-07-06 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harry Langdon was a silent screen comedian unlike any other. Slower in pace, more studied in movement, and quirkier in nature, Langdon challenged the comic norm by offering comedies that were frequently edgy and often surreal. After a successful run of short comedies with Mack Sennett, Langdon became his own producer at First National Pictures, making such features as Tramp Tramp Tramp, The Strong Man, and Long Pants before becoming his own director for Three's a Crowd, The Chaser, and Heart Trouble. In The Silent Films of Harry Langdon (1923-1928), film historian James Neibaur examines Langdon's strange, fascinating work during the silent era, when he made landmark films that were often ahead of their time. Extensively reviewing the comedian's silent screen work film by film, Neibaur makes the case that Langdon should be accorded the same lofty status as his contemporaries: Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. With fascinating insights into the work of an under-appreciated artist, this book will be of interest to both fans and scholars of silent cinema.

Download or read book Guide to the Silent Years of American Cinema written by Christophe P. Jacobs and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 1999-09-30 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The latest offering from the Reference Guides to the World's Cinema series, this critical survey of key films, actors, directors, and screenwriters during the silent era of the American cinema offers a broad-ranging portrait of the motion picture production of silent film. Detailed but concise alphabetical entries include over 100 film titles and 150 personnel. An introductory chapter explores the early growth of the new silent medium while the final chapter of this encyclopedic study examines the sophistication of the silent cinema. These two chapters outline film history from its beginnings until the perfection of synchronized sound, and reflect upon the themes and techniques established with the silent cinema that continued into the sound era through modern times. The annotated entries, alphabetically arranged by film title or personnel, include brief bibliographies and filmographies. An appendix lists secondary but important movies and their creators. Film and popular culture scholars will appreciate the vast amount of information that has been culled from various sources and that builds upon the increased studies and research of the past ten years.

Download or read book The Perils of Moviegoing in America written by Gary D. Rhodes and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recaptures the lost history of the physical and moral perils that faced audiences at American movie theatres during the first fifty years of the cinema.

Download or read book The Promise of Cinema written by Anton Kaes and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 701 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rich in implications for our present era of media change, The Promise of Cinema offers a compelling new vision of film theory. The volume conceives of “theory” not as a fixed body of canonical texts, but as a dynamic set of reflections on the very idea of cinema and the possibilities once associated with it. Unearthing more than 275 early-twentieth-century German texts, this ground-breaking documentation leads readers into a world that was striving to assimilate modernity’s most powerful new medium. We encounter lesser-known essays by Béla Balázs, Walter Benjamin, and Siegfried Kracauer alongside interventions from the realms of aesthetics, education, industry, politics, science, and technology. The book also features programmatic writings from the Weimar avant-garde and from directors such as Fritz Lang and F.W. Murnau. Nearly all documents appear in English for the first time; each is meticulously introduced and annotated. The most comprehensive collection of German writings on film published to date, The Promise of Cinema is an essential resource for students and scholars of film and media, critical theory, and European culture and history.

Download or read book Metamorphosis of Hollywood Filmmaking written by Adrian Robbe and published by Lulu, Inc. (Publisher). This book was released on 2008-06 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The "Metamorphosis of Hollywood Filmmaking" describes the profound changes in film style and methods of film production that occurred throughout the life history of the Hollywood movie industry. These stages of development include the Silent Era (1920s), Studio Era (1930s, 1940s, and 1950s), New Hollywood Era (1960s and 1970s), as well as the Hollywood of Today (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s). Enjoy from a top level view the fascinating changes that have occurred in Hollywood motion picture entertainment over the past 80+ years. After reading this unique and interesting perspective on the life history of filmmaking, you will see how film production in Hollywood has undergone a complete metamorphosis and changed into the Hollywood of Today.

Download or read book The Survival of American Silent Feature Films 1912 1929 written by David Pierce and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 74 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Commissioned for and sponsored by the National Film Preservation Board."

Download or read book Motion Pictures written by Library of Congress. Copyright Office and published by . This book was released on 1951 with total page 1266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Silent Film Stars on the Stages of Seattle written by Eric L. Flom and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2009-03-05 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before they became household names, many would-be Hollywood stars began their careers as small-time actors in regional theatres and playhouses. Few of them earned much recognition based on their time in the footlights, but often the stage provided these Hollywood hopefuls with their first break in show business. Drawing on material from the J. Willis Sayre Collection, a nearly unbroken accumulation of theatrical programs from 1865 to 1955, this book chronicles the Seattle stage engagements of more than 30 silent film personalities. Such Hollywood giants as Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Cecil B. DeMille, D.W. Griffith, and Buster Keaton, to name just a few, can trace their early careers through the Emerald City.

Download or read book The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States written by American Film Institute and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 962 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After more than fifteen years, this initial volume of the American Film Institute Catalog series is again in print. The 1920s set covers the important filmmaking period when "movies" became "talkies," and the careers of many influential directors and actors were launched. Films such as Wings, The Phantom of the Opera, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Jazz Singer are included in this volume.

Download or read book America in The 1920s written by Michael J. O'Neal and published by Infobase Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Details the Roaring Twenties in American history discussing presidents, the Eighteenth Amendment, Nineteenth Amendment, expatriate writers, the Ku Klux Klan, the Harlem Renaissance, restricted immigration, the National Football League and more.

Download or read book A Companion to the Gangster Film written by George S. Larke-Walsh and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2018-11-12 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A companion to the study of the gangster film’s international appeal spanning the Americas, Europe, and Asia A Companion to the Gangster Film presents a comprehensive overview of the newest scholarship on the contemporary gangster film genre as a global phenomenon. While gangster films are one of America’s most popular genres, gangster movies appear in every film industry across the world. With contributions from an international panel of experts, A Companion to the Gangster Film explores the popularity of gangster films across three major continents, the Americas, Europe, and Asia. The authors acknowledge the gangster genre’s popularity and examine the reasons supporting its appeal to twenty-first century audiences across the globe. The book examines common themes across all three continents such as production histories and reception, gender race and sexuality, mafia mythologies, and politics. In addition, the companion clearly shows that no national cinema develops in isolation and that cinema is a truly global popular art form. This important guide to the gangster film genre: Reveals how the gangster film engages in complex and contradictory themes Examines the changing face of the gangster film in America Explores the ideas of gangsterism and migration in the Hispanic USA, Latin America and the Caribbean Discusses the wide variety of gangster types to appear in European cinema Contains a review of a wide-range of gangster films from the Americans, Europe, and Asia Written for academics and students of film, A Companion to the Gangster Film offers a scholarly and authoritative guide exploring the various aspects and international appeal of the gangster film genre.

Download or read book Motion Pictures 1912 1939 written by Library of Congress. Copyright Office and published by . This book was released on 1951 with total page 1270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Crowds and Democracy written by Stefan Jonsson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-08 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1918 and 1933, the masses became a decisive preoccupation of European culture, fueling modernist movements in art, literature, architecture, theater, and cinema, as well as the rise of communism, fascism, and experiments in radical democracy. Spanning aesthetics, cultural studies, intellectual history, and political theory, this volume unpacks the significance of the shadow agent known as “the mass” during a critical period in European history. It follows its evolution into the preferred conceptual tool for social scientists, the ideal slogan for politicians, and the chosen image for artists and writers trying to capture a society in flux and a people in upheaval. This volume is the second installment in Stefan Jonsson’s epic study of the crowd and the mass in modern Europe, building on his work in A Brief History of the Masses, which focused on monumental artworks produced in 1789, 1889, and 1989.

Download or read book Making Believe written by Lisa Bode and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2017-07-07 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past twenty years, we have seen the rise of digital effects cinema in which the human performer is entangled with animation, collaged with other performers, or inserted into perilous or fantastic situations and scenery. Making Believe sheds new light on these developments by historicizing screen performance within the context of visual and special effects cinema and technological change in Hollywood filmmaking, through the silent, early sound, and current digital eras. Making Believe incorporates North American film reviews and editorials, actor and crew interviews, trade and fan magazine commentary, actor training manuals, and film production publicity materials to discuss the shifts in screen acting practice and philosophy around transfiguring makeup, doubles, motion capture, and acting to absent places or characters. Along the way it considers how performers and visual and special effects crew work together, and struggle with the industry, critics, and each other to define the aesthetic value of their work, in an industrial system of technological reproduction. Bode opens our eyes to the performing illusions we love and the tensions we experience in wanting to believe in spite of our knowledge that it is all make believe in the end.

Download or read book Hollywood on the Hudson written by Richard Koszarski and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2008-08-27 with total page 591 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Hollywood on the Hudson, Richard Koszarski rewrites an important part of the history of American cinema. During the 1920s and 1930s, film industry executives had centralized the mass production of feature pictures in a series of gigantic film factories scattered across Southern California, while maintaining New York as the economic and administrative center. But as Koszarski reveals, many writers, producers, and directors also continued to work here, especially if their independent vision was too big for the Hollywood production line.