Description
Book SynopsisIn the 1950s and early 1960s, America imagined itself young and in love in Europe. And Hollywood films of the era reflected this romantic allure. From a young and naive Audrey Hepburn falling in love with Gregory Peck in "Roman Holiday" to David Lean's "Summertime", featuring Katherine Hepburn's sexual adventure in Venice, these glossy travelogue romances were shot on location, and established an exciting new genre for Hollywood. As Robert Shandley shows in "Runaway Romances", these films were not only indicative of the ideology of the American-dominated postwar world order, but they also represented a shift in Hollywood production values. Eager to capture new audiences during a period of economic crisis, Hollywood's European output utilized the widescreen process to enhance cinematic experience. The films - "To Catch a Thief", "Three Coins in the Fountain", and "Funny Face" among them - enticed viewers to visit faraway places for romantic escapades. In the process, these runaway romances captured American fantasies for a brief, but intense, period that ended as audiences grew tired of Old World splendors, and entered into a new era of sexual awakening.
Trade ReviewQUOTE: “Shandley's careful analysis is informed by a wealth of relevant historical and critical studies. Runaway Romances is both conceptually interesting and original and it is a meaningful scholarly addition to the field.”—Antje Ascheid, Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Georgia, and author of Hitler's Heroines: Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema (Temple)
Table of ContentsPreface
Introduction
1. Hollywood’s Move Abroad
2. How Rome Saved Hollywood
3. Foreign Affairs: Metaphors of Transatlantic Relations
4. Tourists with Big Cameras: Widescreen Runaways and Class Mobility
5. Marrying the Enemy: The Occupation Romance
6. The End of the European Romance
Notes
Filmography
Bibliography
Index
Photographs follow page 110
