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"This book is a collection of little-known writings by and about Dziga Vertov. It follows the development of his work and opinions from 1917 to 1930, and chronicles contemporary reactions to them - from critics whose names are now forgotten, as well as such prominent personalities as fellow directors Lev Kuleshov and Sergei Eisenstein, artists Aleksandr Rodchenko and Kazimir Malevich, and theorists Walter Benjamin and Siegfried Kracauer." --Book Jacket.
"Presidential campaigns of the twenty-first century are not the first to use new media to promote their platform and marshal votes. In Politicking and Emergent Media, distinguished film historian Charles Musser looks at four US presidential campaigns during the long 1890s (1888-1900) as Republicans and Democrats mobilized a variety of media forms to achieve electoral victory. New York--the home of Wall Street, Tammany Hall, and prominent media industries--became the site of intense debate as candidates battled over voters' rights, labor issues, and currency standards for a fragile economy. If the city's leading daily newspapers were mostly Democratic as the decade began, Republicans eagerly exploited alternative media opportunities. Using the stereopticon (a modernized magic lantern), they developed the first campaign documentaries. Soon they were using motion pictures, the phonograph, and telephone in surprising and often successful ways. Brimming with rich historical details, Charles Musser tells the remarkable story of the political forces driving the emergence of new media at the turn of the century"--Provided by the publisher.
"This study considers Italian filmmaking during the Fascist era and offers an original and revealing approach to the interwar years. Steven Ricci directly confronts a long-standing dilemma faced by cultural historians: while made during a period of totalitarian government, these films are neither propagandistic nor openly "Fascist." Instead, the Italian Fascist regime attempted to build ideological consensus by erasing markers of class and regional difference and by circulating terms for an imaginary national identity. Cinema and Fascism investigates the complex relationship between the totalitarian regime and Italian cinema. It looks at the films themselves, the industry, and the role of cinema in daily life, and offers new insights into this important but neglected period in cinema history." -- Book cover.
A critical examination of the films of Oscar Micheaux. One of the most original and successful filmmakers of all time, Oscar Micheaux was born into a rural, working-class, African-American family in mid-America in 1884, yet he created an impressive legacy in commercial cinema. Between 1913 and 1951 he wrote, directed, and distributed some forty-three feature films, more than any other black filmmaker in the world, a record of production that is likely to stand for a very long time. Micheaux's work was founded upon the concern for class mobility, or uplift, for African Americans. Uplift provided the context for Micheaux's extensive commentary on racist cinema, such as D. W. Griffith's 1915 bl...
Bordwell scrutinizes the theories of style launched by various film historians and celebrates a century of cinema. The author examines the contributions of many directors and shows how film scholars have explained stylistic continuity and change.
In Hollywood on the Hudson, Richard Koszarski rewrites an important part of the history of American cinema. During the 1920s and 1930s, film industry executives had centralized the mass production of feature pictures in a series of gigantic film factories scattered across Southern California, while maintaining New York as the economic and administrative center. But as Koszarski reveals, many writers, producers, and directors also continued to work here, especially if their independent vision was too big for the Hollywood production line.
Almost every day of the year a film festival takes place somewhere in the world. This book is a tour of the world's film festivals by an insider familiar with the personalities, places, and culture surrounding the cinema.
This collection of essays explores the link between comedy and animation in studio-era cartoons, from filmdom’s earliest days through the twentieth century. Written by a who’s who of animation authorities, Funny Pictures offers a stimulating range of views on why animation became associated with comedy so early and so indelibly, and illustrates how animation and humor came together at a pivotal stage in the development of the motion picture industry. To examine some of the central assumptions about comedy and cartoons and to explore the key factors that promoted their fusion, the book analyzes many of the key filmic texts from the studio years that exemplify animated comedy. Funny Pictures also looks ahead to show how this vital American entertainment tradition still thrives today in works ranging from The Simpsons to the output of Pixar.
Published in 1995, "Film & Television" is an important contribution to Film and Media.
No other silent film director has been so extensively studied as D. W. Griffith. However, only a small group of his more than 500 films has been the subject of a systematic analysis and the vast majority of his other works still awaits proper examination. For the first time in film studies, the complete creative output of Griffith - from 'Professional Jealousy' (1907) to 'The Struggle' (1931) - will be explored in this multi-volume collection of contributions from an international team of leading scholars in the field.