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Author: Edward Watz
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2016-12-16
Total Pages: 337
ISBN-13: 1476616841
DOWNLOAD EBOOKDuring the Depression years, the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were second only to Laurel and Hardy at the box office. Each of their over 20 comedies are analyzed in detail here; full filmographic data, production notes, plot synopses, and critical commentary are provided. The research is supplemented by an interview with Bert Wheeler.
Author: Scott Balcerzak
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Published: 2013-10-01
Total Pages: 270
ISBN-13: 0814339662
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFans and scholars of film history, gender studies, and broadcast studies will appreciate Balcerzak's thorough exploration of the era's fascinating gender constructs.
Author: Edward Bernds
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 1999-04-29
Total Pages: 333
ISBN-13: 1461697085
DOWNLOAD EBOOKEdward Bernds came to Hollywood in 1928 to help United Artists make the transition to sound. He worked with some of the most notable directors in Hollywood including Frank Capra, Leo McCarey, and Howard Hawks. Though Bernds loved sound work, he had higher aspirations, and hoped to become a writer and director. His first breakthrough came during the mid-1940s on Columbia shorts starring the Three Stooges. Bernds worked with Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, and company for over twenty years as the Stooges' favorite director. A second breakthrough came when he wrote and directed feature length films, among them the science fiction classics: World Without End, Return of the Fly, Spacemaster X7, and Zsa-zsa Gabor's Queen of Outer Space. Edward Bernds witnessed all of the profound changes that Hollywood underwent from the advent of sound to the start of the Easy Rider era. Fortunately for students and fans of film, he tells his story in this fascinating and vivid account of his life in Hollywood.
Author: Edwin M. Bradley
Publisher: McFarland
Published: 2004-08-25
Total Pages: 404
ISBN-13: 9780786420292
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAs Hollywood entered the sound era, it was rightly determined that the same public fascinated by the novelty of the talkie would be dazzled by the spectacle of a song and dance film. In 1929 and 1930, film musicals became the industry's most lucrative genre--until the greedy studios almost killed the genre by glutting the market with too many films that looked and sounded like clones of each other. From the classy movies such as Sunnyside Up and Hallelujah! to failures such as The Lottery Bride and Howdy Broadway, this filmography details 171 early Hollywood musicals. Arranged by subgenre (backstagers, operettas, college films, and stage-derived musical comedies), the entries include studio, release date, cast and credits, running time, a complete song list, any recordings spawned by the film, Academy Award nominations and winners, and availability on video or laserdisc. These data are followed by a plot synopsis, including analysis of the film's place in the genre's history. Includes over 90 photographs.
Author: John C. Tibbetts
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2010-09-28
Total Pages: 346
ISBN-13: 0810876795
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn American Classic Screen Features, editors John C. Tibbetts and James M. Welsh have assembled some of the most significant and memorable essays and critical pieces written for the magazine over its ten-year history. This collection contains fascinating accounts of Hollywood history including articles on Marilyn Monroe's first screen test, John Ford's favorite film, Olivia De Havilland's lawsuit against Warner Bros., Walt Disney's unfinished projects, and Stanley Kubrick's early noir classics. This volume also contains in-depth examinations of classic films, including Birth of a Nation, The Big Parade,The Jazz Singer, King Kong, and Citizen Kane. This compendium of essays recaptures the spirit and scholarship of that time and will appeal to both scholars and fans who have an abiding interest in the American motion picture industry.
Author: Richard Barrios
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 509
ISBN-13: 0195088115
DOWNLOAD EBOOKChronicling the early musical film years from 1926 to 1934, A Song in the Dark offers a fascinating look at these innovative films, the product of much of the major experimentation that went on during the development of sound technology. The triumphs, disasters and offscreen intrigue of this era form a remarkable story of this vital and unique film history.
Author: Jeffrey Spivak
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 418
ISBN-13: 0813126436
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Great Depression was defined by poverty and despair, but visionary American filmmaker Busby Berkeley (1895-1976) managed to divert the public's attention away from the economic crash with some of the most iconic movies of all time. Known for his kaleidoscopic dance numbers featuring multitudes of performers in extravagant costumes, his musicals provided a brief respite for an audience whose reality was hard and bitter. Buzz: The Life and Art of Busby Berkeley is a revealing study of the director, drawing from interviews with his colleagues, newspaper and legal records, and Berkeley's own unpublished memoirs to uncover the life of a Hollywood legend renowned for his talent and creativity. Jeffrey Spivak examines how Berkeley's career evolved from creating musical numbers for other directors in films such as 42nd Street (1933) and Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) to directing his own pictures, such as Strike up the Band (1940) and The Gang's All Here (1943). Though Berkeley claimed he was no choreographer, his movies revitalized the public's waning interest in musical pictures. While other popular filmmakers advertised their works specifically as nonmusical, Berkeley embraced his niche, eventually becoming the premier dance director of his time. However, the happy face Berkeley presented publicly did not necessarily reflect his life. Offstage and away from the set, the director met with scandal, and his fondness for liquor and women was well known. In September 1935, he was involved in a car accident that left three people dead and four others severely injured. Accused of driving under the influence, he was put on trial for second-degree murder. The accident significantly changed the nature of his stardom.
Author: Bernard A. Drew
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-12-04
Total Pages: 415
ISBN-13: 1317928946
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1989 alone, for example, there were some forty-five major motion pictures which were sequels or part of a series. The film series phenomenon crosses all genres and has been around since the silent film era. This reference guide, in alphabetical order, lists some 906 English Language motion pictures, from 1899 to 1990, when the book was initially published. A brief plot description is given for each series entry, followed by the individual film titles with corresponding years, directors and performers. Animated pictures, documentaries and concert films are not included but movies released direct to video are.
Author: Richard B. Jewell
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Published: 2012-04
Total Pages: 340
ISBN-13: 0520271785
DOWNLOAD EBOOK"Enjoying exclusive access to RKO archives before they were dispersed to the winds, Rick Jewell has crafted a powerful and unprecedented company history that is rich in detail and sharp in insight. Pinpointing both industry ambitions and corporate shenanigans, Jewell offers a tale both gripping and instructive. A major contribution to Hollywood studio history in the classic era." —Dana Polan, author of Scenes of Instruction: The Beginnings of the U.S. Study of Film “Richard Jewell has written a definitive portrait of a major Hollywood studio during the heyday of the movies. Enriched by a lode of archival material, Jewell’s RKO story reconstructs the dynamics of the studio system; its stresses and strains; its logistical challenges; and its in-house rivalries. Some big names are vividly brought to life: David Sarnoff, Pandro Berman, Fred Astaire, Katharine Hepburn, Orson Welles, to name a few. Jewell interweaves RKO’s corporate maneuverings and production agenda with great skill. A more compelling history of a Hollywood major is hard to imagine.” —Tino Balio, author of The Foreign Film Renaissance on American Screens, 1946–1973 “A painstakingly researched and lucidly written business history of RKO Studios from its founding through 1942, Richard Jewell’s RKO Studios: A Titan is Born not only traces the shifting economic fortunes of the studio that gave us King Kong, the Astaire-Rogers musicals, and Citizen Kane but also fills an important gap in our understanding of how the studio system survived and at times even thrived during the Golden Age of Hollywood.” —Charles Maland, author of Chaplin and American Culture
Author: Frank Cullen
Publisher: Psychology Press
Published: 2007
Total Pages: 1362
ISBN-13: 0415938538
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