Download or read book Jacques Tourneur written by Chris Fujiwara and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-05-07 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At least three of director Jacques Tourneur's films--Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie and The Leopard Man--are recognized as horror classics. Yet his contributions to these films are often minimized by scholars, with most of the credit going to the films' producer, Val Lewton. A detailed examination of the director's full body of work reveals that those elements most evident in the Tourneur-Lewton collaborations--the lack of monsters and the stylized use of suggested violence--are equally apparent in Tourneur's films before and after his work with Lewton. Mystery and sensuality were hallmarks of his style, and he possessed a highly artistic visual and aural style. This insightful critical study examines each of Tourneur's films, as well as his extensive work on MGM shorts (1936-1942) and in television. What emerges is evidence of a highly coherent directorial style that runs throughout Tourneur's works.
Download or read book Fearing the Dark written by Edmund G. Bansak and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2003-10-09 with total page 586 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cat People (1942) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943) established Val Lewton's hauntingly graceful style where suggestion was often used in place of explicit violence. His stylish B thrillers were imitated by a generation of filmmakers such as Richard Wallace, William Castle, and even Walt Disney in his animated Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949). Through interviews with many of Lewton's associates (including his wife and son) and extensive research, his life and output are thoroughly examined.
Download or read book Fatalism in American Film Noir written by Robert B. Pippin and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reveals the ways in which American film noir explore the declining credibility of individuals as causal centers of agency, and how we live with the acknowledgment of such limitations.
Download or read book Maurice Tourneur written by Harry Waldman and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2008-10-30 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maurice Tourneur (1876-1961), the French and American director, actor, and theatrical manager, is the focus of this work. He began in France during the years 1912-1914, and then spent 1914-1926 in New Jersey and Hollywood, directing more than 50 films, using his French interests and talents to help shape the industry, and bringing "stylization" to the screen.
Download or read book Hitchcock s Partner in Suspense written by John Charles Bennett and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-04-29 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The colorful life and creative career of the writer behind six of Hitchcock’s thrillers: “An intriguing and revealing story.” —Times Literary Supplement With a career that spanned from the silent era to the 1990s, British screenwriter Charles Bennett lived an extraordinary life. His experiences as an actor, director, playwright, film and television writer, and novelist in both England and Hollywood left him with many amusing anecdotes, opinions about his craft, and impressions of the many famous people he knew. Among other things, Bennett was a decorated WWI hero, an eminent Shakespearean actor, and an Allied spy and propagandist during WWII, but he is best remembered for his commercially and critically acclaimed collaborations with directors Sir Alfred Hitchcock and Cecil B. DeMille. The fruitful partnership with Hitchcock began after the director adapted Bennett’s 1929 play Blackmail as the first British sound film. Their partnership produced six thrillers: The Man Who Knew Too Much, The 39 Steps, Sabotage, Secret Agent, Young and Innocent, and Foreign Correspondent. In this witty and intriguing book, Bennett discusses how their collaboration created such famous motifs as the “wrong man accused” device and the MacGuffin. He also takes readers behind the scenes with the Master of Suspense, offering his thoughts on the director’s work, sense of humor, and personal life. Featuring an introduction and additional biographical material from Bennett’s son, editor John Charles Bennett, Hitchcock’s Partner in Suspense is a richly detailed narrative of a remarkable yet often-overlooked figure in film history.
Download or read book I Walked With a Zombie written by Clive Dawson and published by Liverpool University Press. This book was released on 2023-07-15 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Val Lewton's second feature for RKO Radio Pictures, was described by critic Robin Wood as 'perhaps the most delicate poetic fantasy in the American Cinema.' Following immediately in the wake of the groundbreaking Cat People (1942), Zombie pioneered an even more radical narrative approach yet proved to be the critical and commercial equal of its predecessor, cementing the reputation of both Lewton and his director, Jacques Tourneur. Despite the lurid, studio-imposed title, I Walked with a Zombie is a subtle and ambiguous visual poem that advanced a daring condemnation of slavery and colonialism at a time when such themes were being actively suppressed by government censors. Clive Dawson charts the complex development and production of the project, essential to understanding the concerns of the filmmakers in the context of wartime Hollywood, then analyses the film in detail, referencing a broad range of academic studies of the audio-visual text and distilling new insight into its layers of meaning. Finally, he explores the film's reception, and the influence it exerted on the horror genre and beyond. Extensive primary research has uncovered a wealth of previously unpublished new material that solves many unanswered questions and dispels various myths about this utterly unique film.
Download or read book Fifty Hollywood Directors written by Suzanne Leonard and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-11-20 with total page 431 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fifty Hollywood Directors introduces the most important, iconic and influential filmmakers who worked in Hollywood between the end of the silent period and the birth of the blockbuster. By exploring the historical, cultural and technological contexts in which each director was working, this book traces the formative period in commercial cinema when directors went from pioneers to industry heavyweights. Each entry discusses a director’s practices and body of work and features a brief biography and suggestions for further reading. Entries include: Frank Capra Cecil B DeMille John Ford Alfred Hitchcock Fritz Lang Orson Welles DW Griffith King Vidor This is an indispensible guide for anyone interested in film history, Hollywood and the development of the role of the director.
Download or read book Film Noir written by Alain Silver and published by Taschen. This book was released on 2004 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beginning with a general overview of film noir and covering its most important themes, this illustrated handbook provides instant and in-depth access to the film noir genre. Films covered include 'Double Indemnity', 'Kiss Me Deadly', 'Gun Crazy', 'Criss Cross' and 'Detour'.
Download or read book Val Lewton the Reality of Terror written by Joel E. Siegel and published by New York : Viking Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Cat People written by Kim Newman and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Novelist and critic Kim Newman assesses the horror noir Cat People (1943), produced by Val Lewton and directed by Jacques Tourneur. This important and influential film is considered in the light of its place in film history and as a work of ambitious horror. The new edition includes a postscript about the sequel, The Curse of the Cat People."--Bloomsbury publishing.
Download or read book Eyewitness Companions Film written by Anita Ganeri and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2006-10-16 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not just another film guide–this is a visual road map to the best cinema has to offer. A comprehensive, fun to browse, and easy-to-use source for everything you need to know about movies and the people behind them. From Hollywood to Bollywood, the unique approach will explore every aspect of film and provide pointers on how to watch and understand films of different types, styles, and periods.Covers the history of film, from celluloid to the virtual world of digital FXProfiles the most important historical and contemporary directors, actors, producers, studios, and moreHighlights the top 100 “cornerstone movies” and contains an extensive trivia sectionDetails the principles behind film making styles, from sci-fi to romantic comedy
Download or read book Clarence Brown written by Gwenda Young and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2018-11-23 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Greta Garbo proclaimed him as her favorite director. Actors, actresses, and even child stars were so at ease under his direction that they were able to deliver inspired and powerful performances. Academy–Award–nominated director Clarence Brown (1890–1987) worked with some of Hollywood's greatest stars, such as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Mickey Rooney, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy. Known as the "star maker," he helped guide the acting career of child sensation Elizabeth Taylor (of whom he once said, "she has a face that is an act of God") and discovered Academy–Award–winning child star Claude Jarman Jr. for The Yearling (1946). He directed more than fifty films, including Possessed (1931), Anna Karenina (1935), National Velvet (1944), and Intruder in the Dust (1949), winning his audiences over with glamorous star vehicles, tales of families, communities, and slices of Americana, as well as hard-hitting dramas. Although Brown was admired by peers like Jean Renoir, Frank Capra, and John Ford, his illuminating work and contributions to classic cinema are rarely mentioned in the same breath as those of Hollywood's great directors. In this first full-length account of the life and career of the pioneering filmmaker, Gwenda Young discusses Brown's background to show how his hardworking parents and resilient grandparents inspired his entrepreneurial spirit. She reveals how the one–time engineer and World War I aviator established a thriving car dealership, the Brown Motor Car Company, in Alabama—only to give it all up to follow his dream of making movies. He would not only become a brilliant director but also a craftsman who was known for his innovative use of lighting and composition. In a career spanning five decades, Brown was nominated for five Academy Awards and directed ten different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Despite his achievements and influence, however, Brown has been largely overlooked by film scholars. Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master explores the forces that shaped a complex man—part–dreamer, part–pragmatist—who left an indelible mark on cinema.
Download or read book Stolen Glimpses Captive Shadows written by Geoffrey O'Brien and published by Catapult. This book was released on 2013-06-01 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We watch what is moving fast from a platform that is also moving fast," writes Geoffrey O'Brien in the beginning of Stolen Glimpses, Captive Shadows. This collection—gathering the best of a decade's worth of writing on film by one of our most bracing and imaginative critics—ranges freely over the past, present, and future of the movies, from the primal visual poetry of the silent era to the dizzying permutations of the merging digital age. Here are 38 searching essays on contemporary blockbusters like Spider–Man and Minority Report; recent innovative triumphs like The Tree of Life and Beasts of the Southern Wild; and the intricacies of genre mythmaking from Chinese martial arts films to the horror classics of Val Lewton. O'Brien probes the visionary art of classic filmmakers—von Sternberg, Fod, Cocteau, Kurosawa, Godard—and the implications of such diverse recent work as Farenheit 9/11, The Passion of Christ, and The Sopranos. Each of these pieces is alert to the always–surprising intersections between screen life and real life, and the way that film from the beginning has shaped our sense of memory and history.
Download or read book Projecting the World written by Russell Meeuf and published by Wayne State University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-05 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating exploration of an oft-overlooked aspect of classical Hollywood films, Projecting the World offers a series of striking new analyses that will entice cinema lovers, film historians, and those interested in the history of American neocolonialism.
Download or read book Beyond Hollywood s Grasp written by Harry Waldman and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recounts the period in which American directors, stars, and technicians ventured beyond America's shores to first make films abroad. But out of sight, they were quickly forgotten, or worse, ignored back home, though as a group they produced more than 200 films in 30 years.This is the story of those films--illustrated with 60 rarely seen stills--and the filmmakers who created them.
Download or read book Family History James Alan Burdick written by james burdick and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2016-02-19 with total page 644 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The family history of James Alan Burdick as of February 20, 2016. Printed for review.
Download or read book France and the Americas 3 volumes written by Bill Marshall and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-05-24 with total page 1334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique, multidisciplinary encyclopedia covering the impacts that French and American politics, foreign policy, and culture have had on shaping each country's identity. From 17th-century fur traders in Canada to 21st-century peacekeepers in Haiti, from France's decisive role in the Revolutionary War leading to the creation of the United States to recent disagreements over Iraq, France and the Americas charts the history of the inextricable links between France and the nations of the Americas. This comprehensive survey features an incisive introduction and a chronology of key events, spanning 400 years of France's transatlantic relations. Students of many disciplines, as well as the lay reader, will appreciate this comprehensive survey, which traces the common themes of both French policy, language, and influence throughout the Americas and the wide-ranging transatlantic influences on contemporary France.
