American Film History 1: Selected Readings, Origins to 1960 9781118475133, 1118475135, 9781118475171, 1118475178

Table of contents :
American Film History......Page 3
The Editors......Page 4
Contents......Page 7
Acknowledgments......Page 14
Preface......Page 15
Notes......Page 16
Part I Origins to 1928......Page 19
1 Setting the Stage......Page 21
The Nickelodeon Era......Page 22
Censorship Battles......Page 24
The Industry......Page 25
Genres and Stars......Page 26
Hollywood and World Cinema......Page 29
The Jazz Age On-Screen– Inside and Outside of Hollywood......Page 30
Newsreels......Page 31
Animation......Page 32
The Coming of Sound to the Cinema......Page 33
References......Page 34
2 D. W. Griffith and the Development of American Narrative Cinema......Page 36
Griffiths Move to Biograph: An Industry in Flux......Page 38
Storytelling Challenges and Stylistic Strategies......Page 39
1908–1909: Shaping a Story......Page 40
1910–1911: An Increasingly Confident Style......Page 43
1912–1913: Refinement and Reconfiguration......Page 47
References......Page 52
3 Women and the Silent Screen......Page 54
Exhibitors, Moviegoers, and Fans: “Remember the 83%!”......Page 55
Filmmakers, Stars, and Extras: Women at Work in Early Hollywood......Page 56
Critics, Writers, and Tastemakers: Film Culture as a Feminine Sphere......Page 63
Censors, Reformers, and Educators: “Ultimately a Womans Responsibility”......Page 65
Conclusion: “History Has Not Been Kind”......Page 68
References......Page 69
4 African-Americans and Silent Films......Page 72
Early Background: Vaudeville, Blackface Minstrelsy, and Film......Page 73
Story Films, Melodrama, and Uplift......Page 76
White-Owned Race Film Companies: Competition and Collaboration......Page 80
The Minors: Lesser-Known Race Film Companies......Page 82
The End: The Coming of Sound......Page 85
References......Page 86
5 Chaplin and Silent Film Comedy......Page 88
The Tramp and Chaplins Rise to Stardom......Page 90
From Willie Work to the Glasses Character: Harold Lloyd......Page 92
A Calm Demeanor Beneath a Porkpie Hat: Buster Keaton......Page 96
City Lights: A Farewell to Silent Film Comedy......Page 100
References......Page 102
Two Directors and the Rise of the Feature Film......Page 103
Cecil B. DeMille: The Genius of Jazz-Age Hokum......Page 104
Erich von Stroheim: The Genius Hollywood Loved to Hate......Page 110
References......Page 115
7 The Star System......Page 117
Larger-than-Life Figures......Page 120
Reinventing the Star System......Page 122
Making Stars Pay......Page 123
Coming to Know the Stars......Page 125
The Publics Loyalties......Page 127
The Compulsion to Repeat......Page 128
Notes......Page 130
References......Page 131
8 Synchronized Sound Comes to the Cinema......Page 133
Warner Bros. Gambit: The Vitaphone......Page 135
Early Sound Cinema: A Multimedia Distraction......Page 137
The Technical Demands of Sound......Page 140
Fine-Tuning: Sound-on-Film Processes and Theories of Sound Recording......Page 141
Conclusion: The Lost Futures of Sync Sound......Page 145
Notes......Page 146
References......Page 147
Part II 1929–1945......Page 149
9 Setting the Stage......Page 151
The Studio Industry......Page 152
The Production Code......Page 154
Studio House Styles, Genres, and Auteurs......Page 155
Innovations in Film Technology......Page 162
Documentary Filmmaking......Page 164
The Film Avant-Garde......Page 165
Animation......Page 166
Hollywood and World War II......Page 167
References......Page 169
10 Era of the Moguls......Page 171
The Historical Context......Page 173
The Industrial Context......Page 174
The Corporate Context......Page 176
Censorship and Self-Regulation......Page 177
Fox and Twentieth Century-Fox......Page 179
MGM......Page 180
Paramount Pictures......Page 181
RKO......Page 183
Warner Bros.......Page 185
Columbia Pictures Corporation......Page 186
Universal Pictures Corporation......Page 187
United Artists and Hollywoods Semi-Independent Producers......Page 188
Conclusion......Page 190
References......Page 191
11 “As Close to Real Life as Hollywood Ever Gets”......Page 193
Realism and Editorial Cinema......Page 196
Fugitive......Page 199
Burbanking......Page 202
Hollywoods Popular Front......Page 204
Black Legion......Page 206
Conclusion: “An Official Welcome to Ideas”?......Page 210
Notes......Page 212
References......Page 216
12 Early American Avant-Garde Cinema......Page 218
Early Avant-Garde Exhibition and Reception......Page 219
Troubled Modernism and the First American Avant-Garde......Page 220
Representations of Nature in the Early American Avant-Garde......Page 222
Light, Color, and Form as Subjects of the Early American Avant-Garde......Page 224
Music, Movement, and Dance in Early Avant-Garde Film......Page 225
Surrealist and Psychoanalytic Expressions in the Early Avant-Garde......Page 227
Other Artistic Influences within the Early Avant-Garde......Page 228
Parody and Metaphor in the Early Avant-Garde......Page 230
References......Page 232
13 “Let ’Em Have It”......Page 233
Enter the All-Talking Gangster......Page 234
Early 1930s Gangsters: The Public Enemy, Little Caesar, and Scarface......Page 237
The Post-Gangster Gangster Movie: “G” Men and Bullets or Ballots......Page 240
The Post-Gangster Gangster Comedy......Page 246
Conclusion......Page 247
References......Page 248
14 Landscapes of Fantasy, Gardens of Deceit......Page 249
Generic Configurations......Page 250
Action and Movement, Spectacle and Performance, the Musical and Opera......Page 252
Personality versus Genre Hybridity: The Adventurer as Character......Page 253
Colonialism and Its White Heroes......Page 256
Tarzan......Page 258
Landscape on Display......Page 260
The Encounter with the Mythical and the Magical......Page 261
Notes......Page 263
References......Page 264
15 Cinema and the Modern Woman......Page 266
Cinema, the New Woman, and Urban Modernity......Page 267
New Women and Visual Attractions......Page 269
The Age of Order and the Demise of the New Woman......Page 276
A Notable Exception: Free Women and Screwball Comedies......Page 278
References......Page 280
Queerness and National Crisis......Page 282
Reading the Code......Page 285
The Question of Subversion......Page 287
The Question of Difference......Page 289
Lesbian Representation During a Masculinity Crisis......Page 290
Establishing Masculinity......Page 292
Conclusion......Page 296
References......Page 298
17 Theres No Place Like Home......Page 300
Genre and Modernity......Page 302
The Hollywood Musical and Wartime America......Page 304
The Wizard of Oz (1939)......Page 305
Babes in Arms (1939)......Page 307
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)......Page 310
Notes......Page 313
References......Page 314
18 The Magician......Page 315
Deep Focus and Realism......Page 316
Faust or Quixote?......Page 325
Notes......Page 327
References......Page 328
19 Classical Cel Animation, World War II, and Bambi......Page 329
Genre and Mode of Production......Page 330
Disneys Impact on the Art Form......Page 331
Changes in the 1940s Cartoon: Speed and Sex......Page 332
Animation and War......Page 333
Bambi......Page 337
Anthropomorphism and the Cycle of Life......Page 338
Dread and Death......Page 340
The Musical and Domesticated World of Nature......Page 341
Notes......Page 342
References......Page 343
20 Mapping Why We Fight......Page 344
Where We Fight......Page 348
Why We Fight and the Postwar World......Page 354
References......Page 357
Introduction: The Promise of a Bloodbath......Page 359
The “Democratic Tradition” Comes to Hollywood......Page 361
A Cinema of Presence......Page 363
Bringing the War into the Hollywood Film......Page 366
Race, the Hollywood Left, and the War Film......Page 368
Conclusion......Page 372
Notes......Page 374
References......Page 377
22 Hollywood as Historian, 1929–1945......Page 379
Film versus History?......Page 381
A Hollywood Cavalcade......Page 384
Hollywoods Historians in the SoundEra......Page 386
History, Prestige, and Women Audiences......Page 391
References......Page 395
Part III 1945–1960......Page 399
23 Setting the Stage......Page 401
Television and the Movies......Page 402
The Paramount Case and HUAC......Page 403
Postwar Hollywood Genres and Auteurs......Page 404
Hollywood Realism and a New Method of Acting......Page 412
The Studio Era in Transition......Page 413
The End of the Classical Era......Page 414
References......Page 415
24 Taking Stock at Wars End......Page 416
Constructing a Hollywood Prestige Film......Page 419
The Martha Ivers Marketing Campaign......Page 421
Film Noirs Male-Centered Narrative Arc......Page 424
Crime, Gendered Perspective, and the Womans Film......Page 426
Company Town......Page 430
Notes......Page 437
References......Page 439
25 Natalie Wood......Page 441
Coming of Age in Hollywood......Page 442
Sex and the Single Girl......Page 448
Identity Crisis and Transition: Star and Actor......Page 455
Identity Crisis and Transition: Hollywood Old and New......Page 457
Notes......Page 462
References......Page 464
Introduction......Page 466
Close Description......Page 469
Combining the Personal and the Political......Page 472
Considerations of Genre......Page 474
The Story of Cain and Abel......Page 479
Spectatorial Affect......Page 480
The Ending......Page 482
Minor Imperfections......Page 484
Notes......Page 485
References......Page 487
27 The Actors Studio in the Early Cold War......Page 489
Cold War Winners (the Actors Studio) and Losers (the Actors Lab)......Page 491
The Actors Studio and Method Acting: From Kazan to Strasberg......Page 493
Publicity versus Reality......Page 495
The Method Acting Style and Cold War Conceptions of Character......Page 497
Polemics and Cultural Context......Page 499
References......Page 503
28 Authorship and Billy Wilder......Page 504
La politique des auteurs......Page 505
Auteur Theory......Page 506
Vienna, Berlin, Hollywood......Page 508
Double Indemnity......Page 509
Ace in the Hole......Page 511
The Apartment......Page 514
Kiss Me, Stupid......Page 517
References......Page 519
A Diplomatic Victory?......Page 521
Neurotic and Paranoid Views of World Affairs......Page 522
Fortress America?......Page 524
Foreign Intrigues......Page 526
Domestic Discontents......Page 528
Establishing the Industrys Bona Fides......Page 529
We Will Not Be Driven by Fear into an Age of Unreason......Page 533
References......Page 537
30 American Underground Film......Page 538
Defining “Underground Cinema”......Page 539
Roots of the Underground Movement......Page 540
Maya Deren and Her Influence......Page 541
Kenneth Angers Fireworks and Joseph Cornells Rose Hobart......Page 542
Jack Smith: His Work and His Influence......Page 543
Gregory Markopoulos and Ken Jacobs......Page 545
Pull My Daisy and Beat Cinema......Page 546
The Cinema of Andy Warhol......Page 547
Underground Narrative Filmmaking......Page 549
Experimental Animation: Harry Smith......Page 550
Adventures in Perception: Marie Menken, Stan Brakhage, and BruceBaillie......Page 551
References......Page 553
Index......Page 555
EULA......Page 568

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