Film History

Brando is perpetually fascinating, both for the power of the characters he portrayed and for his tumultuous personal life. Best-selling biographer Stefan Kanfer seamlessly intertwines the man and the work to give us the fullest and most illuminating appraisal yet. Kanfer takes us from Brando's troubled childhood to his arrival in New York in the 1940s, where he studied with the legendary Stella Adler and became, at age 23, the star of Broadway in A Streetcar Named Desire.

In this passionate love-hate letter to the film industry, Peter Bart pulls together his best columns from Variety and GQ, outlining in detail the history and inner workings of Hollywood. In story after story, Bart shows how the major studios have diverted their energies away from production of the shrewdly crafted pictures that once made the industry powerful.

As he did in his bestselling biographies of Jimmy Stewart and Clint Eastwood, acclaimed Hollywood biographer Marc Eliot digs deep beneath the myth in this revealing look at the most legendary Western film hero of all time; the man with the distinctive voice, walk, and demeanor who was an inspiration to many and a symbol of American masculinity, power, and patriotism.

Between 1934 and 1968, no Hollywood studio could make a movie without the permission of, and a seal of approval from, the Production Code Administration. Formed in 1930 but not enforced until 1934, the Production Code was Hollywood’s official censorship system. Screenplays, books, plays, costumes, and even story ideas and song lyrics had to be cleared by the Code before they could be filmed, and Code staffers watched at every stage of the production process to ensure compliance.

The pantheon of big-budget, commercially successful films encompasses a range of genres, including biblical films, war films, romances, comic-book adaptations, animated features, and historical epics. In Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History authors Sheldon Hall and Steve Neale discuss the characteristics, history, and modes of distribution and exhibition that unite big-budget pictures, from their beginnings in the late nineteenth century to the present.

Ron Howard is long overdue to have his filmography viewed through the lens of the auteur theory. Since his debut in the late-1970s, he has remained one of the most prolific and recognizable working filmmakers, and yet... his "directed by" titles have garnished a low amount of commentary by film academics. Even younger mainstream directors have earned more than one volume of academic attention ? and yet Howard, who has continually developed himself, seems to only get treated with pop-culture-trivia "fun fact" regarding his acting career.

Join Cecilia Tan, a writer, editor, and devoted Harry Potter fan, as she takes you back to Hogwarts through a fan-centric guided tour of all eight movies in The Binge Watcher's Guide to the Harry Potter Films, where you can re-live all the excitement and wonder of seeing Harry hop on his broom for the very first time.

This book is the first anthology to explore the connection between race and the suburbs in American cinema from the end of World War II to the present. It builds upon the explosion of interest in the suburbs in film, television, and fiction in the last fifteen years, concentrating exclusively on the relationship of race to the built environment. Race and the Suburbs in American Film is a stimulating resource for considering the manner in which race is foundational to architecture and urban geography, which is reflected, promoted, and challenged in cinematic representations.

Go back to the time of VCRs, DVD rentals, and movies that mattered. Turn off your streaming services, put down your phones, delete your Twitter account, and take a look back at the nineties with your Eyes Wide Shut, a White Russian in your hand, and yell “Hasta la vista, baby” to today's meaningless entertainment. Revel in the risk-taking brilliance of Quentin Tarantino, Amy Heckerling, Spike Lee, Robert Altman, Paul Thomas Anderson, and others in Scott Ryan's magnum opus, The Last Decade of Cinema.

Film noir was the dark side of the movies’ happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new icon: the tough, independent dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble—or deal out some of her own. If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait until you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller takes listeners into the world of six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain.

The American World War II film depicted a united America, a mythic America in which the average guy, the girl next door, the 4-F patriot, and the grieving mother were suddenly transformed into heroes and heroines, warriors and goddesses. The Star-Spangled Screen examines the historical accuracy—or lack thereof—of films about the Third Reich, the Resistance, and major military campaigns.

Alanis Obomsawin used the art of documentary film making to bring into public consciousness the plight of the indigenous people of Canada. As a member of the Abenaki Nation herself, Alanis encountered bullying and the promotion of European cultural superiority in her community.

It's one of the greatest movie romances of all time. Yet the friction and controversy surrounding The Way We Were was so enormous, the movie was nearly never made at all. Drawing on Laurents's and Pollack's unpublished writings, as well as interviews with Streisand, Redford, and other key players, this is the definitive account of a film that changed the rules of moviemaking and defined romance ever since.

This is the first full-length biography of this mid-twentieth century multi-faceted star. One of the central tensions of Dale's life revolved around chasing the elusive work/family balance, making her story instantly relatable to women today. In addition to fame, Dale longed for a happy, stable, family life. Her roles of wife and mother became the foundation for her public persona: the smart, smiling, cheerful cowgirl. Unusual for the time were Dale Evans's attempts to control the trajectory of her career at a time when men dominated decision-making in the entertainment fields.

Quels sont les éléments du langage cinématographique (mouvements de caméra, plans, montage, etc.) ? Comment les cinéastes les ont-ils utilisés et comment ont-ils évolués depuis le début du XXe siècle ? En répondant à ces questions, Jean-Claude Carrière, scénariste de Luis Bunuel et de Louis Malle, nous permet de décrypter les images et le son, d'en prendre une conscience nouvelle et de changer à jamais notre regard sur le cinéma.

"I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth". On July 4, 1939, baseball great Lou Gehrig delivered what has been called "baseball's Gettysburg Address" at Yankee Stadium and gave a speech that included the phrase that would become legendary. He died two years later and his fiery widow, Eleanor, wanted nothing more than to keep his memory alive. With her forceful will, she and the irascible producer Samuel Goldwyn quickly agreed to make a film based on Gehrig's life, The Pride of the Yankees.

How do perceptions of the past - not just of particular events, but of the trajectory of history as a whole - shape our experience of the world? Sensing the Past tackles this question with an unlikely source of historical insight - the work of six major Hollywood stars: Clint Eastwood, Daniel Day-Lewis, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Meryl Streep, and Jodie Foster. By focusing on the career choices made by these iconic actors, Cullen uncovers a discrete set of historical narratives, revealing the surprising ways historical forces shape our understanding of the world.

The untold story of the innovative pioneers who helped make movies the preeminent art form of the 20th century by founding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The founders of the now infamous Academy were a motley crew as individuals, but when they first converged in Hollywood, then just a small town with dirt roads, sparks flew and fueled a common dream: to bring artistic validity to their beloved new medium.

When the Fox Film Corporation merged with Twentieth Century Pictures in 1935, the company posed little threat to industry juggernauts such as Paramount and MGM. In the years that followed however, guided by executives Darryl F. Zanuck and Spyros Skouras, it soon emerged as one of the most important studios.

A palavra pressa é o particípio passado, em latim, do verbo premere (apertar). Assim, pode-se dizer que A História do Cinema para Quem Tem Pressa se propõe a contar uma das maiores sagas do século 20 (e deste início do 21) para quem precisa apertar o passo ou está apertado de tempo. E quem não está? Sabadin traça um panorama do cinema – linguagem que há mais de um século revoluciona nossa maneira de ver a vida –, desde a época em que seus inventores nem sabiam direito o que fazer com ele, até os dias de hoje, quando movimenta bilhões de dólares pelos cinco continentes.