Films, cinema Books

Book SynopsisWhy are big budget films typically made across an array of seemingly dissociated sites? Supply Chain Cinema shows how the production journeys of such films exemplify the principles of the supply chain, whose core imperative is to nimbly and opportunistically manufacturing wherever is most amenable and efficient. Through extensive on-site investigations and in-depth interviews with film professionals, Kay Dickinson delivers nuanced insight into working practices in the UK and the UAE. Among the sites she examines is Warner Bros' permanent base at Leavesden Studios near London. From tax breaks designed to attract foreign projects to infrastructures, logistical support and expertise offered, she considers why Hollywood giants elect to make more of their films in Britain than in the USA. Dickinson goes on to show how the UK's ambitions to enlarge its creative economies has opened up a host of competitive advantages with British higher education increasingly fashioned to conform to the needs of border-hopping enterprise, thus generating a workforce keenly adapted to the demands of blockbuster moviemaking.

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Book SynopsisIn this acclaimed autobiography, John Fraser takes us from the council estates of prewar Glasgow to the glamour of 1960 s Hollywood and beyond. Funny, honest and acutely observant about himself, his family and his friends, John Fraser presents such legendary figures as Rudolf Nureyev, Hedy Lamarr, Dirk Bogarde and Bette Davis in a new and startling light. "Trade Review"'The best showbusiness autobiography I have ever read' Sunday Express 'A Supa-candid-gossip-expo-valid-dose-worth of Dirk, Sophia, Bette and Rudy in the sixties. Grab and gobble it!' Richard E Grant"

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Book SynopsisTOBY MILLER is Professor of English, Sociology, and Women's Studies and Chair of the Program in Media and Performance at the University of California, Riverside and author ofTechnologies of Truth (1998) and The Avengers (1997). NITIN GOVIL is Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Sociology at the University of Virginia. JOHN MCMURRIA is Assistant Professor of Communications at DePaul University in Chicago.RICHARD MAXWELL is Professor and Chair of Media Studies at Queens College, City University of New York.TING WANG is a doctoral student in the Department of Radio, Television& Film at Northwestern University.

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Book SynopsisDespite 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.

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Book SynopsisAddresses the perennial appeal of the Western, exploring its 19th century popular culture, and its relationship to the economic structure of Hollywood. This work considers the defining features of the Western and traces its main cycles, from the epic Westerns of the 1920s and singing cowboys of the 1930s to the Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s.

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Book SynopsisProviding a history of the British B film, this book traces the development of the low-budget supporting feature from the 1927 Films Act to the age of television, when B film producers channelled their energies into making TV programmes. It also addresses leading producers and studios, B film stars, distributors, the genres and themes, and more.

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Book SynopsisJohn Hill''s definitive study looks at the career and work of British director Ken Loach. From his early television work (Cathy Come Home) through to landmark films (Kes) and examinations of British society (Looking For Eric) this landmark study reveals Loach as one of the great European directors.

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Book SynopsisRICHARD DYER is Professor of Film Studies at King's College, London, UK. He is the author of Stars (1979; 1998); Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society (1987; 2004); Now You See It: Historical Studies in Lesbian and Gay Film (1990; 2003); Only Entertainment (1992; 2002); The Matter of Images: Essays on Representations (1993; 2002); volumes on Brief Encounter (1993) and Seven (1999) in the BFI Film Classics series; White (1999); The Culture of Queers (2002) and Pastiche (2006).

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Book Synopsis100 Silent Films provides an authoritative and accessible history of silent cinema through one hundred of its most interesting and significant films. As Bryony Dixon contends, silent cinema is not a genre; it is the first 35 years of film history, a complex negotiation between art and commerce and a union of creativity and technology. At its most grand on the big screen with a full orchestral accompaniment it is magnificent, permitting a depth of emotional engagement rarely found in other fields of cinema. Silent film was hugely popular in its day, and its success enabled the development of large-scale film production in the United States and Europe. It was the start of our fascination with the moving image as a disseminator of information and as mass entertainment with its consequent celebrity culture. The digital revolution in the last few years and the restoration and reissue of archival treasures have contributed to a huge resurgence of interest in silent cinema. Bryony Dixon's illuminating guide introduces a wide range of films of the silent period (18951930), including classics such as The Birth of a Nation (1915), The General (1926), Metropolis (1927), Sunrise (1927) and Pandora's Box (1928), alongside more unexpected choices, and represents major genres and directors of the period Griffith, Keaton, Chaplin, Murnau, Sjöström, Dovzhenko and Eisenstein together with an introductory overview and useful filmographic and bibliographic information.

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Book SynopsisPAUL COATES is a Paul Coates, Professor in the Film Studies Department of the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is the author of The Story of the Lost Reflection (1985), The Gorgon's Gaze: German Cinema, Expressionism and the Image of Horror (1991) and Cinema, Religion and the Romantic Legacy (2003).

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Book SynopsisHollywood is facing unprecedented challenges – and is changing rapidly and radically as a result. In this major new study of the contemporary film industry, leading film historian Tino Balio explores the impact of the Internet, declining DVD sales and changing consumer spending habits on the way Hollywood conducts its business. Today, the major studios play an insignificant role in the bottom lines of their conglomerate parents and have fled to safety, relying on big-budget tentpoles, franchises and family films to reach their target audiences. Comprehensive, compelling and filled with engaging case studies (TimeWarner, DreamWorks SKG, Spider Man, The Lord of the Rings, IMAX, Netflix, Miramax, Sony Pictures Classics, Lionsgate and Sundance), Hollywood in the New Millennium is a must-read for all students of film studies, cinema studies, media studies, communication studies, and radio and television.Table of ContentsIntroduction.- 1 Mergers and Acquisitions: The Quest for Synergy.- 2 Production: Tentpoles and Franchises.- 3 Distribution: Open Wide.- 4 Exhibition: Upgrading Moviegoing.- 5 Ancillary Markets: Shattered Windows.- 6 Independents: 'To the Rear and Back End'.- Conclusion.- References and Further Reading.- Index.

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Book SynopsisI.Q. Hunter is Reader in Film Studies at De Montfort University, Leicester. He is the editor of British Science Fiction Cinema (1999), and the co-editor of British Comedy Cinema (2012), Controversial Images: Media Representations on the Edge (2012) and Science Fiction Across Media: Adaptation/Novelization (2013).

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Book SynopsisIn these two volumes of original essays, scholars from around the world address the history of British colonial cinema stretching from the emergence of cinema at the height of imperialism, to moments of decolonization andthe ending of formal imperialism in the post-Second World War.

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Book SynopsisIan Brookes teaches in the Department of Culture, Film and Media at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of Film Noir: A Critical Introduction (2016).

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Book Synopsis"Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film" offers an extraordinary close-up of the hitherto overlooked golden age of Japanese cult, action and exploitation cinema from the early 1950s through to the late 1970s, and up to the present day. Having unique access to the top maverick filmmakers and Japanese genre film icons, Chris D. brings together interviews with, and original writings on, the lives and films of such transgressive directors as Kinji Fukasaku ("Battles Without Honour and Humanity"), Seijun Suzuki ("Branded to Kill") and Koji Wakamatsu ("Ecstasy of the Angels") as well as performers like Shinichi 'Sonny' Chiba ("The Streetfighter", "Kill Bill Vol. 1") and glamorous actress Meiko Kaji ("Lady Snowblood"). Bringing the story up-to-date with an overview of such Japanese 'enfants terrible' as Takashi Miike ("Audition") and Kiyoshi Kurasawa ("Cure"), this book also provides a compendium of facts and extras including filmographies, related bibliographies on genre fiction including Manga, and a section on female yakuzas. Illustrated with fantastic stills and posters from some of Japan's finest cult and action films, this is a veritable bible for fans and newcomers alike.Trade ReviewFor years now, Japanese movie mavericks have been confessing their secrets to Chris D. The resulting book is packed with information, resonant with insight, and a must for anyone who's ever wanted to explore the fringes of Japanese film and beyond.' - Patrick Macius, author of TokyoScope: The Japanese Cult Film Companion 'Profiling fourteen genre-defining and downright subversive filmmakers and actors who honed their craft on the wrong side of the cinematic tracks, Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film is long overdue. Chris D.'s boundless enthusiasm for and encyclopaedic knowledge of these films complement his probing interviews and informed commentary. Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in Japanese cinema.' - Stuart Galbraith IV, au thor of The Emperor and the Wolf: The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune ' Legends have a basis in both a perceived and a "virtual" reality. Chris D.'s book shows both sides, which is essential in understanding how filmmaking legends are born.' - Takashi Miike, director of Ichi, The Killer; Dead or Alive and Audition The Daily Yomiuri, 10th July 2005. Review by Colin Donald: 'With the fervour and diligence of the true film nerd, the tersely named Chris D. a writer, actor and rock band member, has collected the most comprehensive English guide in existence to this all-but-forgotten genre.' 'An excellent book by a knowledgeable and truly obsessed fan.' - The Japan TimesTable of ContentsAcknowledgements; Glossary; Introduction; 1. Kinji Fukasaku; 2. Eiichi Kudo; 3. Sinichi 'Sonny' Chiba; 4. Meiko Kaji; 5. Junya Sato; 6. Kihachi Okamoto; 7. Kazuo Ikehiro; 8. Masahiro Shinoda; 9. Yasuharu Hasebe; 10. Seijun Suzuki; 11. Teruo Ishii; 12. Koji Wakamatsu; 13. Takashi Miike; 14. Kiyoshi Kurosawa; Appendices; Selected Bibliography; Index.

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Book Synopsis“Christopher Frayling’s Spaghetti Westerns is a particularly entertaining and enjoyably readable book. Frayling is obviously both a film buff and film critic, so he is able to appreciate Spaghetti Westerns as popular entertainments, to celebrate their cinematic stylishness, while simultaneously knowledgeably exploring their many social and political dimensions.” – Gary Crowdus, Cineaste “Unquestionably the single best book written about the Western.” – Journal of Popular Film and TelevisionTrade Review'The book is a major contribution to the understanding of film in society, and is as much fun as the movies it discusses' - Robert Reiner, New Society The Professor of Cultural History at the Royal College of Art has taken his chair in both hands. - Robert Hewison, Times Literary Supplement. 'An all-encompassing overview of the genre and its key contributors' - Howard Maxford, Film Review, 10th April 2006.

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Book SynopsisPioneer of political documentary and inventor of cinema verite, Dziga Vertov has exerted a decisive influence on directors from Eisenstein to Godard. Yet his reputation long rested upon a lone masterpiece, 'Man with a Movie Camera'. Recently, however Vertov has begun to be recognised as the creator of a body of innovative and distinct films and, as Jeremy Hicks argues, documentary as we know it today is unthinkable without the rediscovery of Vertov. This, the first book in English to cover the whole of Vertov's career, reveals him to be an auteur, allowing readers to combine the familiar and less familiar aspects of his filmmaking and thinking in a cohesive narrative. Jeremy Hicks demonstrates how Vertov draws on Soviet journalistic models for his transformation of newsreel into the new form of documentary film. Through analyses of "Cine-Pravda No 21" (Leninist Cine-Pravda), "Cine-Eye", "Forward Soviet!", "A Sixth Part of the Earth", "The Eleventh Year", "Man with a Movie Camera", "Enthusiasm", "Three Songs of Lenin", and "Lullaby", he shows how Vertov's greatest works combine authentic documentary footage ingeniously for tremendous rhetorical effect. Today, with the energetic revival of interest in documentary film, Vertov's reflexive and overtly partisan films are of great relevance; but they need to be better known and understood. This is the purpose of "Dziga Vertov - Defining Documentary Film".Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgements List of Illustrations Introduction: Dziga Vertov- Defining Documentary Film 1. The Birth of Documentary from the Spirit of Journalism. Cine-Pravda. Cine-Eye 2. Vertov and Documentary Theory: 'The Goal Was Truth, the Means Cine-Eye.' 3. 'A Card Catalogue in the Gutter.' Stride, Soviet! A Sixth Part of the World Contents 4. New Paths: The Eleventh Year. Man with a Movie Camera 5. Sound and the Defence of Documentary: Enthusiasm 6. Documentary or Hagiography? Three Songs of Lenin 7. Years of Sound and Silence: Lullaby 8. Forward Dziga! Foreign and Posthumous Reception Bibliography Filmography Index

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Book SynopsisThis is the true story of the American West on film, through its shooting stars and the directors who shot them...Howard Hughes explores the Western, running from John Ford's "Stagecoach" to the revisionary "Tombstone". Writing with panache and fresh insight, he explores 27 key films, and draws on production notes, cast and crew biographies, and the films' box-office success, to reveal their place in western history. He shows how through reinvention and resurrection, this genre continually postpones the big adios and avoids ending up in Boot Hill...permanently. Major films covered include the best from genre giants John Ford, Howard Hawks and John Wayne, plus classics "High Noon", "Shane", "The Magnificent Seven" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid". "Stagecoach to Tombstone" makes many more stops along the way, examining well-known blockbusters and lowly B-movie oaters alike. It examines comedy westerns, adventures 'south of the border', singing cowboys and the varied depiction of Native Americans on screen. Hughes also engagingly charts the genre's timely renovation by Sam Peckinpah ("Ride the High Country" and "The Wild Bunch" ), Sergio Leone ("Once Upon a Time in the West") and Clint Eastwood ("The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "Unforgiven"). Presented too are the best of western trivia, a filmography of essential films - and ten aficionados and critics, including Alex Cox, Christopher Frayling, Philip French and Ed Buscombe, give their verdict on the best in the west.Trade Review'hold your horses for next month's release of "Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoer's Guide to Great Westerns" author Howard Hughes' detailed tome on 27 classic films' - NEWSDAY.COMTable of ContentsCONTENTS: Preface: Colt Movies Acknowledgements Out of the West: An Introduction to Westerns Ten Top Tens 1.'The Tumbril Awaits' - Stagecoach (1939) 2.'Shakespeare in Tombstone' - My Darling Clementine (1946) 3.'Your Heart's Soft...Too Soft' - Red River (1948) 4.'Tomorrow's All I Need' - She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) 5.'What Will I Do If You Leave Me?' - High Noon (1952) 6.'You Can't Break The Mould' - Shane (1953) 7.'I Never Shake Hands With A Left-Handed Draw' - Johnny Guitar (1954) 8.'We'll Fool Saint Peter Yet' - Vera Cruz (1954) 9.'I Came A Thousand Miles To Kill You' - The Man from Laramie (1955) 10.'That'll Be The Day' - The Searchers (1956) 11.'There's A Hundred More Tombstones' - Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957) 12.'I Bet That Rattler Died' - Forty Guns (1957) 13.'There's Some Things A Man Just Can't Ride Around' - Ride Lonesome (1959) 14.'I'd Hate To Have To Live On The Difference' - Rio Bravo (1959) 15.'We Deal In Lead, Friend' - The Magnificent Seven (1960) 16.'I Seen The Other Side Of Your Face' - One-Eyed Jacks (1961) 17.'All I Want Is To Enter My House Justified' - Ride the High Country (1962) 18.'Ain't You Got No Respect For Your Elders?' - The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) 19.'The End Of The Line' - Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 20.'The Fastest Finger In The West' - Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) 21.'This Time We Do It Right' - The Wild Bunch (1969) 22.'Who Are Those Guys?' - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 23.'I Got Poetry In Me' - McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971) 24.'Here In This Land, Man Must Have Power' - Ulzana's Raid (1972) 25.'Whooped 'Em Again, Josey' - The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) 26.'I've Always Been Lucky When It Comes To Killing Folks' - Unforgiven (1992) 27.'I'm Your Huckleberry' - Tombstone (1993) Filmography; Bibliography; Index

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Book SynopsisModern Lebanese cinema can best be explored in the context of the Civil War, in part because almost all the Lebanese films made since its outset in 1975 have been about this war. Lina Khatib takes 1975 Beirut as her starting point, and takes us right through to today for this, the first major book on Lebanese cinema and its links with politics and national identity.She examines how Lebanon is imagined in such films as Jocelyn Saab's "Once Upon a Time, Beirut", Ghassan Salhab's "Terra Incognita", and Ziad Doueiri's "West Beirut". In so doing, she re-examines the importance of cinema to the national imagination. Also, and using interviews with the current generation of Lebanese filmmakers, she uncovers how in the Lebanese context cinema can both construct and communicate a national identity and thereby opens up new perspectives on the socio-political role of cinema in the Arab world.Table of ContentsCONTENTS Introduction: On Lebanese Cinema and National Identity 1 The Lebanese Cinema Industry in Context 2 Religion, Conflict and the Other Within 3 War as a Masculine Arena 4 Women, the Body and the City 5 The Politics of Place, Exile and Belonging 6 History and the Avoidance of History Epilogue: Imagining the Nation Notes Bibliography Filmography Index

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Book SynopsisFilm emerged in pre-Revolutionary Russia to become the 'most important of all arts' for the new Bolshevik regime and its propaganda machine. The 1920s saw a flowering of film experimentation, notably with the work of Eisenstein, and a huge growth in the audience for film, which continued into the 1930s with the rise of musicals. The films of the Second World War and Cold War periods reflected a return to political concerns in their representation of the 'enemy'. The 1960s and 1970s saw the rise of art-house films. With glasnost came the collapse of the state-run film industry and an explosion in the cinematic treatment of previously taboo topics. In the new Russia, cinema has become genuinely independent, as a commercial as well as an artistic medium. A History of Russian Cinema is the first complete history from the beginning of film to the present day and presents an engaging narrative of both the industry and its key films in the context of Russia's social and political history.Trade Review'An indispensable addition to any library, this superbly researched and engagingly written history of Russian cinema will be the standard reference for years to come. Beumers introduces readers to the rich complexity of Russian cinema and convincingly demonstrates the key role played by the 'most important art' in Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet culture.' Denise J. Youngblood, Professor of History, University of Vermont A comprehensive history of Russian cinema has not been available until the publication of this book. In short, [Beumers] has provided a most effective presentation of Russian movies as art. Slavic and East European Journal This is an excellent resource for students of film and history. P.H. Stacy, CHOICE Magazine As valuable as it is timely and would be ideal for use in survey courses on the history of Russian and Soviet cinema, and periods therein. It deserves a long publishing life, with regularly updated editions. Cultural & Social History The best account to date of Russian cinema in all its forms and guises ... A History of Russian Cinema is the important companion that teachers of Russian cinema have been waiting for. It gives precious reading on all the major films that are likely to be on the curriculum of Russian cinema courses, and Beumers' extensive knowledge of Russian theatre gives the book a personal touch that no existing account can match. A study of the intricate star system of Russian cinema could find no better pen than Beumers'. Europe-Asia StudiesTable of ContentsContents Introduction 1. The Silent Era: The beginnings of Russian cinema (1908-1919) 2. Cinema and the Revolution: art vs the masses? (1919-40) 3. War and Cold War: The Leader and the Enemy (1941-1956) 4. The Thaw: New Beginnings, Individual Lives (1956-64) 5. Stagnation Blockbusters: Comedies and adventures (1964-1986) 6. Between ideology and art (1964-1986) 7. Glasnost and its aftermath (1986-2000) 8. Russian cinema today (2000-) Conclusion Bibliography

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Book SynopsisSurrealism has long been recognised as having made a major contribution to film theory and practice, and many contemporary film-makers acknowledge its influence. Most of the critical literature, however, focuses either on the 1920s or the work of Buuel. The aim of this book is to open up a broader picture of surrealism's contribution to the conceptualisation and making of film.Tracing the work of Luis Buuel, Jacques Prvert, Nelly Kaplan, Walerian Borowcyzk, Jan vankmajer, Raul Ruiz and Alejandro Jodorowsky, Surrealism and Cinema charts the history of surrealist film-making in both Europe and Hollywood from the 1920s to the present day. At once a critical introduction and a provocative re-evaluation, Surrealism and Cinema is essential reading for anyone interested in surrealist ideas and art and the history of film.Trade Review'I so enjoyed reading this book! Its arguments about surrealism and film are lucid and persuasive and presented with compelling clarity. I couldn't put it down.'Mary Ann Caws, author of Surrealism: themes and movements and Surrealist Painters and Poets: an anthology'There is nothing that would compel one to not recommend this intelligent and fiercely radical study of Surrealism and cinema, which ranges further in its scope, is more up-to-date, and is more thorough in its investigation than any other.'Manticore: Surrealist Communication'Richardson begins where most other commentators leave off.'Leonardo'This expansive study contributes to maintaining a notion of what surrealism within cinema might be without restricting it to a set of rules or conditions.'Screening the PastTable of ContentsIntroduction: Surrealist film theory and practice 1. Surrealism and Popular Culture 2. Luis Buuel and the Snares of Desire 3. Jacques Prvert and the Poetry of the Eventual 4. Surrealism and Hollywood 5. Surrealism and the Documentary 6. Nelly Kaplan and Sexual Revenge 7. Walerian Borowczyk and the Touch of Desire 8. Jan vankmajer and the Life of Objects 9. Panique: A Ceremony Beyond the Absurd 10. The Baroque Heresy of Ral Ruiz 11. Surrealism and Contemporary Cinema

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Book SynopsisPostcards from the Cinema is the book Serge Daney, one of the greatest of film critics, never wrote. It is based around an interview that was to be the starting point for a book, a project cut short by Daney's death. Postcards turns a history of cinema into a profound meditation on the art and politics of film.Daney's passionate and lucid engagement with film, combined with his concern for journalistic clarity, effectively created film criticism as a genre. Equally at home with the theories of Deleuze, Lacan and Debord as he was with the movie-making of Bunuel, Godard and Ray, Daney was also a fan of Jerry Lewis and Hitchcock. At the same time - and before his time - he championed the critical analysis of television and other audio-visual media.Long-awaited, this is the first book-length translation of Daney's work, testimony to a life lived with a fierce love of film.Trade Review'This long overdue introduction in English to the greatest French film critic since Andre Bazin helps to show what keeps Daney's work vital, eye-opening, and even timely.'Jonathan Rosenbaum, Film Critic, Chicago Reader'Perched well above cinema studies, Serge Daney wrote and spoke of films in thrilling sentences, unrivalled in insight, moral fervor and sheer genius. Easily the best critic of his day.'Dudley Andrew, Yale University'Serge Daney was the end of criticism as I understood it.'Jean Luc Godard'Only Serge Daney could serve as the guide through this labyrinth of images.'Wim Wenders'Serge Daney knew something about cinema that no one else knew.'Olivier Assayas'Our most scrupulous and inspired film critic.'Raymond Bellour'Cinema is the only thing at our disposal with which we can recognize ourselves in today's images. As an instrument it's inevitably inadequate, but it's the only one.' Serge Daney'Postcards from the Cinema is a book thaTable of ContentsIntroduction by Paul Grant Preface 1. The Tracking Shot in Kapo 2. Cine-biography 3. Cinema and History 4. Travelling Cinephile 5. A Night in Ronda 6. Cinema Would be the Promise of the World 7. Cinema and Communism: In Defense of a Counter Society 8. Experience: From Cahiers to Liberation 9. Cinema and Television: Departure and Return 10. The Two Cinemas Notes

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Book SynopsisComedy has been a feature of cinema since its inception. From mickey-moused accompaniments to slapstick scenes, ironic musical statements, clever musical allusions and jokes, well-worn sound effects, and even laugh tracks, sound has been integral to the development of the comedy on screen. This volume covers all aspects of sound (including dialogue) and music as they have been utilised in comedy film. The volume looks at various subsets of the 'comedy film' from the post-War period, including black comedy, romantic comedy, slapstick, dialogue comedy, parody and spoofs. This volume aims to explore the way in which music and sound articulate humour, create comedic situations and direct comedic identifications for viewer/listeners.Table of Contents1. Sounding Funny: The Importance of Hearing the Joke Liz Giuffre, Independent scholar, and Mark Evans 2. The Soundtrack as Appropriate Incongruity Marshall Heiser, PhD student, Griffith University 3. Trading Places with Mozart Ben Winters, The Open University 4. Parody, Self-Parody and Genre-Parody: Music in The Magnificent Seven and !Three Amigos! Erik Heine, Oklahoma City University 5. Austin Powers: Intentional Music Man Liz Giuffre and Mark Evans 6. Paranormal Product: The Music and Promotion of Ghostbusters Jon Fitzgerald, Southern Cross University, and Philip Hayward 7. Red In Tooth And Lipstick: Music and Sound Design in Lesbian Vampire Killers Claire Butkus, Independent Scholar, and Jon Fitzgerald 8. 'Be a Clown' and 'Make 'Em Laugh': Comic Timing, Rhythm, and Donald O'Connor's Face Jonas Westover, Independent scholar 9. Sound, Comedy and Cinematic Modernism: Kaasua, komisario Palmu! Kimmo Laine and Anu Juva, University of Oulu 10. Spanish film music in the 1940s: Comedy, subversion, and dissident rhythms in the films of Manuel Parada Laura Miranda, Independent scholar 11. An Okinawan Romance: Lyrical Dialogue, Comedy and Music in Nabbie's Love Philip Hayward 12. A Special Flavour: Comic Song Scenes in the Hindi Cinema Gregory D. Booth, University of Auckland 13. Humour Between The Keys: A Detailed Analysis of The Cat Concerto Peter Morris, University of Surrey

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Book SynopsisIn a film business increasingly transnational in its production arrangements and global in its scope, what space is there for culturally English filmmaking? In this groundbreaking book, Andrew Higson demonstrates how a variety of Englishnesses have appeared on screen since 1990, and surveys the genres and production modes that have captured those representations. He looks at the industrial circumstances of the film business in the UK, government film policy and the emergence of the UK Film Council. He examines several contemporary 'English' dramas that embody the transnationalism of contemporary cinema, from 'Notting Hill' to 'The Constant Gardener'. He surveys the array of contemporary fiction that has been re-worked for the big screen, and the pervasive - and successful - Jane Austen adaptation business. Finally, he considers the period's diverse films about the English past, including big-budget, Hollywood-led action-adventure films about medieval heroes, intimate costume dramas of the modern past, such as 'Pride and Prejudice', and films about the very recent past, such as 'This is England'.Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One Film production in the UK in the 1990s and 2000s Chapter Two Film policy and national cinema: cultural value and economic value Chapter Three English cinema, transnationalism and globalisation Chapter Four English literature, the contemporary novel and the cinema Chapter Five Jane Austen: “The hottest scriptwriter in Hollywood” Chapter Six The Austen screen franchise in the 2000s Chapter Seven Intimate and epic versions of the English past Chapter Eight Blurring boundaries: historical myopia and period authenticity Conclusion Filmography Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisItalian filmmakers have created some of the most magical and moving, violent and controversial films in world cinema. During its twentieth-century heyday, Italy's film industry was second only to Hollywood as a popular film factory, exporting cinematic dreams with multinational casts to the world, ranging across multiple genres. 'Cinema Italiano' is the first book to discuss comprehensively and in depth this Italian cinema, both popular and arthouse. It is illustrated throughout with rare stills and international posters from this revered era in European cinema and reviews over 350 movies. Howard Hughes uncovers this treasure trove of Italian films, from Lucino Visconti's epic 'The Leopard' to the cult superhero movie 'Puma Man'. Dario Argento's bloody 'gialli' thrillers and Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns are explored alongside films of Federico Fellini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Michelangelo Antonioni. Chapters discuss the rise and fall of genres such as mythological epics, gothic horrors, science fiction, spy films, war movies, costume adventures, zombie films, swashbucklers, political cinema and 'poliziotteschi' crime films. They also trace the directorial careers of Mario Bava, Sergio Corbucci, Francesco Rosi, Lucio Fulci, Duccio Tessari, Enzo G. Castellari, Bernardo Bertolucci and Gillo Pontecorvo.Table of ContentsArt and Artifice: An Introduction to Italian Cinema Acknowledgements Chapter One - Hercules Conquers the Box Office: Mythological Epics Chapter Two - Historical Escapades, High Seas and Low B’s: Costume Adventures Chapter Three - Fall of the Empire: Sword and Sandal Spectacles Chapter Four - Tales from the Tomb: Gothic Horrors Chapter Five - Battle of the Worlds: Science Fantasy and Fiction Chapter Six - Vita All’Italiana: Love and Death Chapter Seven - Shoot, Gringo…Shoot!: Italian Westerns Chapter Eight - Passports to Hell: Euro Crime and Crimebusters Chapter Nine - Anarchy and Allegory: Political Cinema Chapter Ten - Mission Improbable: World War II Movies Chapter Eleven - Knifes in the Dark: Gialli Thrillers Chapter Twelve - A Funny Thing Happened: Italian Comedy Chapter Thirteen - Splats Entertainment: Italian Cinema Eats Itself Bibliography and Sources

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Book SynopsisFade to Black chronicles the lives and deaths of more than 1500 movie personalities. Included are not just the big stars but a wealth of important characters from the history of film.Some achieved world fame or great power. Some were consigned to obscurity after one scandal too many. Others hid dark secrets that would only emerge after their deaths. In the biggest edition yet, Paul Donnelley has once again added almost 200 new entries and revised numerous existing ones. Many entries now include the wealth of the star at the time of death which makes it fascinating reading.Amongst the names in this updated, enlarged edition are Marlon Brando, Bob Hope, President Ronald Reagan, Gregory Peck, Janet Leigh, Christopher Reeve plus a host of stars from the ''Golden Age of Hollywood'' whose work is being rediscovered on satellite television and DVDs.For better or worse they are all here, the villains and the heroes side by side, all made equal at last by the final Fade to Black.

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Book SynopsisKira Muratova is a respected and original contemporary film director, yet her earliest works were not welcomed when they were shown just after the end of Brezhnev's 'period of stagnation'. Only in 1987 in one of the first breaths of perestroika were these movies re-released, sending Muratova from talented pariah to celebrity almost overnight. Drawing from interviews with Muratova herself and her friends, unpublished scripts and interviews with audiences, Taubman traces the progress of Muratova's career, looking closely at each of her films including the 1990 masterpiece Asthenic Syndrome. She also surveys critical reaction to her films, both in Russia and the West.Trade Review'A timely celebration of the life and works of this most idiosyncratic figure... This first book on Muratova in English will become a fixture on Russian cinema reading lists.' - Helen Ferguson, SEER MLR 'filled with rich and relevant information and analysis.'

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Book SynopsisThis is a clear and engrossing account of how popular films in America just after the close of the Second World War played out America's mood at that crucial time. It is also a revisionist challenge to received scholarly understanding of this mood, which has tended to be seen as characterized by an abiding pessimism most clearly manifested in the films noir of the period. Chopra-Gant makes here an important contribution to film genre, which proposes that the 'noir and Zeitgeist' reading is based on the retrospective promotion of selected movies. He turns to the top box office successes of the period, including "Best Years of our Lives", "The Jolson Story" and "Two Years Before the Mast", finding that these films emphasise rather the triumph of American beliefs in democracy, classlessness and individualism. They deploy positive, performative masculinities and the pleasures of male friendships and celebrate the traditional American family, while recognising the problems of 'momism' and absent fathers.

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Book Synopsis"The art of fighting without fighting."- Bruce Lee on his martial arts style in "Enter the Dragon". Written for both interested filmgoers and established aficionados, "Chasing Dragons" is the essential introduction and guide to the martial arts cinemas of Japan, Hong Kong and Hollywood. "Chasing Dragons" explores over fifty key films, their texts, fighting techniques, stars and directors - set in the distinct cultures producing and forming them. "Chasing Dragons" examines the Japanese masters of the samurai film like Kurosawa Akira and Kobayashi Masaki; encounters Zatoichi and the lethal swordsmen of the screen, and the superstars of Hong Kong, from Kwan Tak Hing through 'Little Dragon' Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung, to Jackie Chan and Jet Li. It traces Hollywood's martial arts cinema, including exploitation ninja movies and box-office blockbusters like "The Matrix" and "Kill Bill". All this and much more in this fresh and informative companion to a remarkable cinema.

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Book SynopsisThis book deals with an important and too-often ignored area of cultural studies. To examine the enormous industry of Indian popular cinema is to study Indian modernity at its very rawest. The questions and perspectives this book presents provoke a thinking of cinema that is political in the widest sense – from cinemas importance in ideas of nation and national cultural formation to psycho-social perspectives on identity, class and gender. The contributors deal with a range of themes from the metaphor of the slum as a defining cultural phenomenon to personal reflections on the political meanings and strategies of South Asian film, from Tamil blockbusters to the intrinsic ineffectivity of TV as a propagator of state ideology. Whilst the book is essential reading for students and academics of film, media and of South Asian studies. It will also fascinate anyone with an interest in the genuinely global phenomenon of South Asian cinema.Table of Contents 1. Introduction: Popular Cinema and the Slum's Eye View of Indian Politics - Ashis Nandy 2. Dilip Kumar Made Me Do It - Ziauddin Sardar 3. Raj Kapur: From Jis Mesh me Ganga Behti Hai to Ram Teri Ganaga Maili - Rajni Bakshi 4. How Angry is the Angry Young Man: 'Rebellion' in Conventional Hindi Cinema - Fareedudeen Kazmi 5. Official Television and Unofficial Fabrications of the Self: The Spectator as Subject - Anjali Monteiro 6. On Castes and Comedians: The Language of Power in Recent Tamil Cinema - K. Ravi Srinivas and Sundar Kaali 7. The Impossibility of the Outsider in the Modern Hindi Film - Vinay Lal

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Book SynopsisThe "KINO Russian Cinema" series has been expanding to provide students and general readers with readable companion handbooks to important and interesting films of Russian cinema from its beginnings to contemporary times. This volume investigates the production, context and reception of the film "The Man with the Movie Camera" directed by Dziya Ventov, the people who made it, and the film itself, including its place in Russian and World cinema.Table of ContentsPlot and synopsis; the historical context; a textual analysis; signification and significance.

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