{"product_id":"hollywoods-embassies-9780231201513","title":"Hollywoods Embassies","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBeginning in the 1920s, audiences around the globe were seduced not only by Hollywood films but also by lavish movie theaters that were owned and operated by the major American film companies. In a history that stretches from Buenos Aires and Tokyo to Johannesburg and Cairo, Ross Melnick considers these movie houses as cultural embassies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is nothing short of a sterling book, an assiduously researched compendium of notable facts and compelling anecdotes culled from public archives, personal memorabilia collections, and old-time newspaper morgues all over the map. -- Kevin Canfield * Cineaste *\u003cbr\u003eThe political and cultural repercussions of this exhibition strategy for both Hollywood and the national film industries “invaded” by these foreign-owned movie theaters are explored in great detail by Ross Melnick in his new book, \u003ci\u003eHollywood’s Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected American Power around the World\u003c\/i\u003e. -- Bruno Guaraná * Film Quarterly *\u003cbr\u003eIf there’s anyone who still holds the view that entertainment, art and politics are separate realms, Ross Melnick’s exhaustively researched book should set them straight. -- Tom Ryan * The Sydney Morning Herald *\u003cbr\u003eThis volume is highly recommended for those interested in film studies, theater architecture, global affairs and American Studies and it may easily become a standard title on the reception of American films abroad. -- Dr. A. Ebert * Popcultureshelf.com *\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eHollywood's Embassies\u003c\/i\u003e offers a unique history of movie theaters “as cultural embassies.” The scale of research and insight here is staggering. * The Film Stage *\u003cbr\u003eMelnick's book is a masterful achievement. -- Klaus Dodds * Business History Review *\u003cbr\u003eA work of vast scope and synoptic power, Ross Melnick’s \u003ci\u003eHollywood’s Embassies \u003c\/i\u003eis required reading for anyone seeking to understand how American cinema came to dominate most of the planet’s screen space. With pinpoint global positioning, Melnick tracks how Hollywood planted its flag from Cairo to Rio and beyond, transmitting American values, colonizing consciousnesses, and raking in cash. It is a fascinating story, splendidly told. -- Thomas Doherty, author of \u003ci\u003eLittle Lindy Is Kidnapped: How the Media Covered the Crime of the Century\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA brilliantly conceived and trailblazing work, this is a must-read history of Hollywood studios’ perennial and always complicated efforts to create a globalized presence via theaters that promoted American values around the world. Melnick’s impeccable research and lively writing style raises the curtain on this largely neglected aspect of theater history, providing vivid, fascinating accounts of specific endeavors as well as an incisive framework for understanding them. \u003ci\u003eHollywood’s Embassies \u003c\/i\u003econfirms Melnick’s stature as the leading historian of American film exhibition of his generation. -- Matthew H. Bernstein, author of \u003ci\u003eWalter Wanger, Hollywood Independent\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCaptivating and ambitious, \u003ci\u003eHollywood’s Embassies\u003c\/i\u003e covers a fascinating breadth of global territory as it explores the way Hollywood displayed America to the world. -- Kathy Fuller-Seeley, author of \u003ci\u003eJack Benny and the Golden Age of American Radio Comedy\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMelnick reveals a world-spanning exhibition strategy that major U.S. film companies continuously updated and coherently pursued for most of the twentieth century. All scholars of Hollywood will have perceived some aspect of this strategy, but none of us can possibly have appreciated its scope before now. A tour de force. -- Mark Garrett Cooper, author of \u003ci\u003eUniversal Women: Filmmaking and Institutional Change in Early Hollywood\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA fascinating book. * The Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eAn essential volume that provides significant access for readers to the histories that lurk behind the marquees and that uncovers the critical challenges that lie ahead as both empires navigate the waters of pandemics and trade wars. * New Review of Film and Television Studies *\u003cbr\u003eA valuable entry in media studies as much as a thoughtful historization of business practices with a determined commitment to exploring multilingual archives, extracting and deciphering them for both experts and Hollywood enthusiasts alike. * International Journal of Communication *\u003cbr\u003eThe book is easily adaptable for teaching in a variety of classes both due to its geographically determined chapter structure and elegant and accessible prose. \u003ci\u003eHollywood’s Embassies \u003c\/i\u003eis full of treasures and is a monumental addition to the field. * Journal of Cinema and Media Studies *\u003cbr\u003e[An] absolute must-read. -- Peter Labuza * The Strategist *\u003cbr\u003eSkillfully woven together to offer a foundational industrial history of Hollywood’s majors and the many locales in which they operated shop window cinemas and nationwide or regional circuits. * Media Industries *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments\u003cbr\u003eIntroduction: “Shop Windows,” “Cultural Embassies,” and Hollywood’s Global Exhibition\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart  I. Europe. When Expansion Was Paramount (1923–1993): “Shop Window”  Cinemas and the European Expansion of U.S. Film Exhibitors\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e1. Hollywood’s British Invasion and the Battle of Birmingham, 1919–1929\u003cbr\u003e2. Hollywood’s European Adventure, 1925–1941\u003cbr\u003e3. A New Battleground: U.S. Exhibitors Under Nazi Occupation, 1941–1945\u003cbr\u003e4. Postwar Europe and the Legacy of Hollywood Cinemas, 1945–1993\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart II. Australasia. Banking on Australasia (1930–1982): Global Banks and U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia and New Zealand\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e5. Fox Chases Hoyts: U.S. Cinema Ownership in Australia, 1930–1936\u003cbr\u003e6. The Fox Chase in New Zealand and Australia, 1936–1946\u003cbr\u003e7. Hollywood and Australasian Cinemas, 1946–1982\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart  III: Latin America and the Caribbean. Hollywood in Cinelandia  (1927–1973): U.S. Cinemas and Local Politics in Latin America and the  Caribbean\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e8. Cine Metros y Cine Paramounts, 1926–1941: MGM and Paramount’s Latin American Shop Window Cinemas\u003cbr\u003e9.  Prop(aganda) Window Cinemas, 1933–1945: Ufa, Hollywood, and the Battle  for Hearts and Minds Through South American Cinemas During World War II\u003cbr\u003e10. Hollywood Cinema Expansion in Postwar South America, 1945–1973\u003cbr\u003e11. Caribbean Dreams, 1929–1973: Hollywood Cinemas in Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart  IV. Middle East. Hollywood’s Muddle East (1925–1982): Political Change  in Egypt and Israel and the Consequences for Hollywood’s Middle Eastern  Cinemas\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e12. Buildings, Ballyhoo, and Boycotts in Egypt, 1925–1947: Alternating Realities at Hollywood’s Egyptian Cinemas\u003cbr\u003e13. No Meeting in the Middle, 1947–1956: Hollywood Cinemas, Egyptian Revolution, and Israeli Independence\u003cbr\u003e14. After the Revolution, 1957–1982: Twentieth Century-Fox, Egypt, and Israel\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart  V. Africa. An “Unhappy Image of the United States Before an African  Population” (1932–1975): Race, Industry, and Rebellion at Hollywood’s  African Cinemas\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e15. MGM and the “Uncrowned King of South Africa,” 1932–1937: Hollywood Shop Window Cinemas in a Bitterly Protected Market\u003cbr\u003e16. Fox Hunting on the African Continent, 1937–1956: Twentieth Century-Fox and the Struggle for Control of African Cinemas\u003cbr\u003e17.  A “Royal” Mess: Racial Strife in Colonial Zimbabwe, the Struggle for  Independence in Postcolonial Kenya, and the End of Hollywood’s Control  of South African Cinemas, 1959–1975\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePart VI. Asia. Eastern Promises (1927–2013): Hollywood’s Cinemas in China, India, Japan, and the Philippines\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e18. \u003ci\u003eBenshi\u003c\/i\u003e and Ballyhoo, 1927–1973: Hollywood’s Shop Window Cinemas in Japan and the Philippines\u003cbr\u003e19. Joining the Global Metro Cub Club, 1936–1973: MGM and Fox’s Shop Window Cinemas in India\u003cbr\u003e20. China as Hollywood’s Final Frontier, 1946–2013: Hollywood’s Chinese Cinemas and the End of Hollywood’s Exhibition Empires\u003cbr\u003eEpilogue: Global Exhibition Flows in Reverse Before the Pandemic, 2013–2019\u003cbr\u003eNotes\u003cbr\u003eIndex","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48864262750551,"sku":"9780231201513","price":27.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780231201513.jpg?v=1722271130","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/hollywoods-embassies-9780231201513","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}