Download or read book Cinema Treasures written by Ross Melnick and published by Motorbooks. This book was released on 2004 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 100 years after the first movie delighted audiences, movie theaters remain the last great community centers and one of the few amusements any family can afford. While countless books have been devoted to films and their stars, none have attempted a truly definitive history of those magical venues that have transported moviegoers since the beginning of the last century. In this stunningly illustrated book, film industry insiders Ross Melnick and Andreas Fuchs take readers from the nickelodeon to the megaplex and show how changes in moviemaking and political, social, and technological forces (e.g., war, depression, the baby boom, the VCR) have influenced the way we see movies.Archival photographs from archives like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and movie theater ephemera (postcards, period ads, matchbooks, and even a "barf bag") sourced from private collections complement Melnick's informative and engaging history. Also included throughout the book are Fuchs' profiles detailing 25 classic movie theaters that have been restored and renovated and which continue to operate today. Each of these two-page spreads is illustrated with marvelous modern photographs, many taken by top architectural photographers. The result is a fabulous look at one way in which Americans continue to come together as a nation. A timeline throughout places the developments described in a broader historical context."We've had a number of beautiful books about the great movie palaces, and even some individual volumes that pay tribute to surviving theaters around the country. This is the first book I can recall that focuses on the survivors, from coast to coast, and puts them into historical context. Sumptuously produced in an oversized format, on heavy coated paper stock, this beautiful book offers a lively history of movie theaters in America , an impressive array of photos and memorabilia, and a heartening survey of the landmarks in our midst, from the majestic Fox Tucson Theatre in Tucson, Arizona to the charming jewel-box that is the Avon in Stamford, Connecticut. I don't know why, but I never tire of gazing at black & white photos of marquees from the past; they evoke the era of moviemaking (and moviegoing) I care about the most, and this book is packed with them. Cinema Treasures is indeed a treasure, and a perfect gift item for the holiday season. - Leonard Maltin"Humble or grandiose, stand-alone or strung together, movie theaters are places where dreams are born. Once upon a time, they were treated with the respect they deserve. In their heyday, historian Ross Melnick and exhibitor Andreas Fuchs write in Cinema Treasures, openings of new motion-picture pleasure palaces that would have dazzled Kubla Khan 'received enormous attention in newspapers around the country. On top of the publicity they generated, their debuts were treated like the gala openings of new operas or exhibits, with critics weighing in on everything from the interior and exterior design to the orchestra.' Handsomely produced and extensively illustrated, Cinema Treasures is detailed without being dull and thoroughly at home with this often neglected subject matter. Its title would have you believe it is a celebration of the golden age of movie theaters. But this book is something completely different: an examination of the history of movie exhibition, which the authors accurately call 'a vastly under-researched topic.'" - Los Angeles Times

Download or read book A Very Old Machine written by Sudhir Mahadevan and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2015-10-06 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In A Very Old Machine, Sudhir Mahadevan shows how Indian cinema's many origins in the technologies and practices of the nineteenth century continue to play a vital and broad function in its twenty-first-century present. He proposes that there has never been a singular cinema in India; rather, Indian cinema has been a multifaceted phenomenon that was (and is) understood, experienced, and present in everyday life in myriad ways. Employing methods of media archaeology, close textual analysis, archival research, and cultural theory, Mahadevan digs into the history of photography, print media, practices of piracy and showmanship, and contemporary everyday imaginations of the cinema to offer an understanding of how the cinema came to be such a dominant force of culture in India. The result is an open-ended and innovative account of Indian cinema's "many origins."

Download or read book Silver Screens written by Larry Widen and published by Wisconsin Historical Society. This book was released on 2007 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silver Screens traces the rich history of Milwaukee's movie theaters, from 1890s nickelodeons to the grand palaces of the Roaring Twenties to the shopping mall outlets of today. But the story doesn't end there: in the past two decades, growing interest in restoring theaters has confirmed that there's still life in these beloved structures. With the publication of Silver Screens, authors Larry Widen and Judi Anderson help ensure that our old theaters - both those being preserved and those long since vanished from the landscape - will remain forever embedded in our collective memory.

Download or read book Cinemas and Theatres of Portsmouth From Old Photographs written by Ron Brown and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new edition of the highly popular Cinemas of PortsmouthA" updated and extended to include the area's theatres.

Download or read book Flickering Treasures written by Amy Davis and published by Johns Hopkins University Press+ORM. This book was released on 2017-08-01 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These vintage and contemporary images of Baltimore movie palaces explore the changing face of Charm City with stories and commentary by filmmakers. Since the dawn of popular cinema, Baltimore has been home to hundreds of movie theaters, many of which became legendary monuments to popular culture. But by 2016, the number of cinemas had dwindled to only three. Many theaters have been boarded up, burned out, or repurposed. In this volume, Baltimore Sun photojournalist Amy Davis pairs vintage black-and-white images of downtown movie palaces and modest neighborhood theaters with her own contemporary color photos. Flickering Treasures delves into Baltimore’s cultural and cinematic history, from its troubling legacy of racial segregation to the technological changes that have shaped both American cities and the movie exhibition business. Images of Electric Park, the Century, the Hippodrome, and scores of other beloved venues are punctuated by stories and interviews, as well as commentary from celebrated Baltimore filmmakers Barry Levinson and John Waters. A map and timeline reveal the one-time presence of movie houses in every corner of the city, and fact boxes include the years of operation, address, architect, and seating capacity for each of the 72 theaters profiled, along with a brief description of each theater’s distinct character.

Download or read book The Decline of the Cinema written by John Spraos and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-12-17 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between 1952 and 1962, when this book was originally published, the number of people visiting British cinemas had fallen by nearly two thirds and was little more than half the pre-war total. Nearly 1500 of the 4500 cinemas functioning in 1955 had closed five years later, and the author here predicts a further substantial fall. The causes of this drastic decline are traced to the competition of television but also to the dramatic halving of the number of new American films and to the difficulty of transferring a cinema’s ‘congregation’ when it is closed. This decline has few parallels in recent times and in conjunction with a disproportionate and unexpected increase in the price of seats presents a fascinating study for the economist, which the author fully exploits. But the film industry is of general interest so that the author’s conclusions and his social recommendations will appeal to the general reader as well as those in the industry.

Download or read book Movie Theaters written by and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Following on the heels of their incredibly successful The Ruins of Detroit, this major new project by the prolific French photographer duo Marchand/Meffre, poignantly eulogizes and celebrates the tattered remains of hundreds of movie theaters across America. They are in every American city and town—grandiose movie palaces, constructed during the heyday of the entertainment industry, that now stand abandoned, empty, decaying, or repurposed. Since 2005, the acclaimed photographic duo Marchand/Meffre have been traveling across the US to visit these early 20th-century relics. In hundreds of lushly colored images, they have captured the rich architectural diversity of the theaters’ exteriors, from neo renaissance to neo-Gothic, art nouveau to Bauhaus, and neo-Byzantine to Jugendstill. They have also stepped inside to capture the commonalities of a dying culture— crumbling plaster, rows of broken crushed-velvet seats, peeling paint, defunct equipment, and abandoned concession stands—as well as their transformation into bingo halls, warehouses, fitness centers, flea markets, parking lots, and grocery stores. Using a large format camera, the photographers’ carefully composed images range from landscape exteriors to starkly beautiful closeups. Presented here in a gorgeous oversized format, exquisitely printed with superior inks and spot varnish, this illustrated eulogy for the American movie palace is certain to become a modern-day classic.

Download or read book Cinema Houston written by David Welling and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-06-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cinema Houston celebrates a vibrant century of movie theatres and moviegoing in Texas's largest city. Illustrated with more than two hundred historical photographs, newspaper clippings, and advertisements, it traces the history of Houston movie theatres from their early twentieth-century beginnings in vaudeville and nickelodeon houses to the opulent downtown theatres built in the 1920s (the Majestic, Metropolitan, Kirby, and Loew's State). It also captures the excitement of the neighborhood theatres of the 1930s and 1940s, including the Alabama, Tower, and River Oaks; the theatres of the 1950s and early 1960s, including the Windsor and its Cinerama roadshows; and the multicinemas and megaplexes that have come to dominate the movie scene since the late 1960s. While preserving the glories of Houston's lost movie palaces—only a few of these historic theatres still survive—Cinema Houston also vividly re-creates the moviegoing experience, chronicling midnight movie madness, summer nights at the drive-in, and, of course, all those tasty snacks at the concession stand. Sure to appeal to a wide audience, from movie fans to devotees of Houston's architectural history, Cinema Houston captures the bygone era of the city's movie houses, from the lowbrow to the sublime, the hi-tech sound of 70mm Dolby and THX to the crackle of a drive-in speaker on a cool spring evening.

Download or read book Cinemas of the World written by James Chapman and published by Reaktion Books. This book was released on 2004-06-03 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The cinema has been the pre-eminent popular art form of the 20th century. In Cinemas of the World, James Chapman examines the relationship between film and society in the modern world: film as entertainment medium, film as a reflection of national cultures and preoccupations, film as an instrument of propaganda. He also explores two interrelated issues that have recurred throughout the history of cinema: the economic and cultural hegemony of Hollywood on the one hand, and, on the other, the attempts of film-makers elsewhere to establish indigenous national cinemas drawing on their own cultures and societies. Chapman examines the rise to dominance of Hollywood cinema in the silent and early sound periods. He discusses the characteristic themes of American movies from the Depression to the end of the Cold War especially those found in the western and film noir – genres that are often used as vehicles for exploring issues central to us society and politics. He looks at national cinemas in various European countries in the period between the end of the First World War and the end of the Second, which all exhibit the formal and aesthetic properties of modernism. The emergence of the so-called "new cinemas" of Europe and the wider world since 1960 are also explored. "Chapman is a tough-thinking, original writer . . . an engaging, excellent piece of work."—David Lancaster, Film and History

Download or read book Old Cinemas written by Allen Eyles and published by Shire Publications. This book was released on 2008-03-04 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book examines the rise and fall of the picture house in Britain before the advent of the dreary and unadventurous multiplex.

Download or read book A History of Greek Cinema written by Vrasidas Karalis and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-02-02 with total page 491 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of Greek cinema is a rather obscure and unexamined affair. Greek cinema started slowly and then collapsed; for several years it struggled to reinvent itself, produced its first mature works, then collapsed completely and almost vanished. Because of such a complex historical trajectory no comprehensive survey of the development of Greek cinema has been written in English. This book is the first to explore its development and the contexts that defined it by focusing on its main films, personalities and theoretical discussions. A History of Greek Cinema focuses on the early decades and the attempts to establish a "national" cinema useful to social cohesion and national identity. It also analyses the problems and the dilemmas that many Greek directors faced in order to establish a distinct Greek cinema language and presents the various stages of development throughout the background of the turbulent political history of the country. The book combines historical analysis and discussions about cinematic form in to construct a narrative history about Greek cinematic successes and failures.

Download or read book The Man In The Seventh Row written by Brian Pendreigh and published by Blasted Heath Ltd. This book was released on 2013-12-05 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Man in the Seventh Row tells the deeply affecting story of Roy Batty, a film fan who loves the cinema just a little too much. No matter the movie - The Graduate, Brief Encounter, The Magnificent Seven - Roy finds himself sucked from his seventh-row seat into the heart of the action on the big screen. His life has spiralled into The Purple Rose of Cairo in reverse. A fantasy come true -- or a living nightmare? "A strange and beguiling novel about films and those who love and live them" - Ian Rankin What they're saying... "A most unusual novel, proving emphatically that life is possible both inside and outside the cinema! It's a very nice lend of the real, the fictional and the dream world and I really don't think I've read anything quite like it before." - Barry Norman "...hugely enjoyable. Pacy, sharp and witty - in the proper sense - it is a novel that baby boomers and film buffs will strongly relate to, and all enthusiasts of unusual - of original - fiction will take great pleasure in." - Andrew Marr "Pendreigh's infectious love of cinema and brilliant wordcraft combine to make for a singularly enthralling tale of one man's journey through the hardships of life." - Literally Jen "... a wholly likeable read ... Pendreigh's novel is a pleasing dissection of man's all-too-modern need for escape in darkened auditoriums that posits him somewhere between David Thomson's Suspects and Guy Bellamy's The Secret Lemonade Drinker." - Paul Dale, The List "I loved it... a terrific read, definitely one for fans of film." - Janice Forsyth, Movie Cafe, Radio Scotland From the author... "The book is sub-titled The Movie Lover's Novel with good reason, as it certainly celebrates a love of the movies. You'll doubtless be familiar with many of the classic movies featured but it might also introduce you to one or two less familiar films. "Ultimately, The Man in the Seventh Row it is about childhood and adulthood, about obsession and love, and about loss and the possibility of redemption. "Set in Scotland and California, the book addresses questions we all have: where did we come from, where are we going, how long do we have?"

Download or read book Knowing Audiences written by Martin Barker and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring the influence ""action"" films have on audiences, this book considers how people relate to and are influenced by such films as Judge Dredd.

Download or read book Felix the Shark An AFK Book Five Nights at Freddy s Fazbear Frights 12 written by Scott Cawthon and published by Scholastic Inc.. This book was released on 2022-04-19 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Don’t miss this pulse-pounding collection of three novella-length tales that will keep even the bravest player up at night . . . A dark bridge to the past . . . Dirk sets out on a long-shot quest to recapture a cherished childhood memory from a unique animatronic pizzeria. Mandy finds something lurking in the files of her favorite horror game and opens herself up to a haunting. In light of her son’s fascination with Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, Sylvia buys her son a unique birthday present—a Freddy Fazbear mask that’s the genuine article . . . in more ways than one. In this twelfth volume, Five Nights at Freddy’s creator Scott Cawthon spins three bonus novellalength stories from different corners of his series’ canon. These tales may have ended up on the cutting room floor while developing the Fazbear Frights series, but they bring no less terror in the telling. Readers beware: This collection of terrifying tales is enough to unsettle even the most hardened Five Nights at Freddy’s fans.

Download or read book Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas written by K. Moti Gokulsing and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: India is the largest film producing country in the world and its output has a global reach. After years of marginalisation by academics in the Western world, Indian cinemas have moved from the periphery to the centre of the world cinema in a comparatively short space of time. Bringing together contributions from leading scholars in the field, this Handbook looks at the complex reasons for this remarkable journey. Combining a historical and thematic approach, the Handbook discusses how Indian cinemas need to be understood in their historical unfolding as well as their complex relationships to social, economic, cultural, political, ideological, aesthetic, technical and institutional discourses. The thematic section provides an up-to-date critical narrative on diverse topics such as audience, censorship, film distribution, film industry, diaspora, sexuality, film music and nationalism. The Handbook provides a comprehensive and cutting edge survey of Indian cinemas, discussing Popular, Parallel/New Wave and Regional cinemas as well as the spectacular rise of Bollywood. It is an invaluable resource for students and academics of South Asian Studies, Film Studies and Cultural Studies.

Download or read book Arctic Cinemas and the Documentary Ethos written by Anna Westerstahl Stenport and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-18 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays analyzing the representation of the Arctic region in documentary films. Beginning with Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North (1922), the majority of films that have been made in, about, and by filmmakers from the Arctic region have been documentary cinema. Focused on a hostile environment that few people visit, these documentaries have heavily shaped ideas about the contemporary global Far North. In Arctic Cinemas and the Documentary Ethos, contributors from a variety of scholarly and artistic backgrounds come together to provide a comprehensive study of Arctic documentary cinemas from a transnational perspective. This book offers a thorough analysis of the concept of the Arctic as it is represented in documentary filmmaking, while challenging the notion of “The Arctic” as a homogenous entity that obscures the environmental, historical, geographic, political, and cultural differences that characterize the region. By examining how the Arctic is imagined, understood, and appropriated in documentary work, the contributors argue that such films are key in contextualizing environmental, indigenous, political, cultural, sociological, and ethnographic understandings of the Arctic, from early cinema to the present. Understanding the role of these films becomes all the more urgent in the present day, as conversations around resource extraction, climate change, and sovereignty take center stage in the Arctic’s representation. “Highly recommended.” —Choice “A thorough exploration of the inexorable links between the circumpolar regions and historic and contemporary documentary filmmaking. It will b valuable to Arctic humanities specialists, particularly as a welcome addition to scholarship on visual depictions of the Arctic by authors such as Ann Fienup-Riordan, Richard Condon, Russell Potter, and Peter Geller, as well as Mackenzie and Westerstahl Steport’s earlier co-edited volume, Films on Ice. It will also be of use to anyone interested in ways of studying linkages between filmmaking, environments, and local and outsider communities.” —Sarah Pickman, Yale University, H-Environment, January 2020

Download or read book Pop Culture Russia written by Birgit Beumers and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2005-06-21 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A revealing look at contemporary Russian popular culture, exploring the historical and social influences that make it unique. Pop music is only one aspect of contemporary Russian culture that has taken some unexpected turns in the chaotic aftermath of the Soviet Union's collapse. Television and advertising, theater and cinema, athletics and religion, even fashion and food now reflect more exposure to the West, yet remain in essence distinctively Russian. Pop Culture Russia! introduces readers to the fascinating, often surprising, post-Soviet cultural landscape. With chapters on media, the arts, recreation, religion, and consumerism, the book offers an insightful survey of Russian mass culture from the death of Stalin in 1953 to the present, exploring the historical significance of important events and trends, as well as the social and political contexts from which they emerged.