When the Movies Were Young

When the Movies Were Young PDF Author: Linda Arvidson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Motion pictures
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description

When the Movies Were Young

When the Movies Were Young PDF Author: Linda Arvidson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Motion pictures
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description


Silent Topics

Silent Topics PDF Author: Anthony Slide
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
ISBN: 9780810850163
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 144

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Book Description
In Silent Topics, film historian Anthony Slide looks at various under-discussed and generally undocumented areas of silent film. The two lengthiest essays discuss the release of British silent films in the United States and the contribution of gays and lesbians to American silent film. Other essays examine the cost of silent film production, the "Great Events" series produced by Technicolor in the 1920s, and the manner in which early sheet music exploited silent film personalities. There are career essays on the screen's first special effects specialist, Roy Pomeroy, actor/minister Neal Dodd, and Margerie Bonner, the wife of novelist Malcolm Lowry. Silent Topics also includes the only known interview with the most prominent of silent film composers, David Mendoza, as well as a personal discussion on the lack of talent among a number of silent screen actors and actresses.

Thinking in Pictures

Thinking in Pictures PDF Author: Joyce E. Jesionowski
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520318528
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1987.

Eloquent Gestures

Eloquent Gestures PDF Author: Roberta Pearson
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520073661
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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Book Description
"Pearson writes beautifully, clearly, and entertainingly (with a touch of sardonic sarcasm here and there). This is the single best work centering on performance in film that I have read."—Thomas Gunning, author of D. W. Griffith and the Origins of American Narrative Film

Birdmen

Birdmen PDF Author: Lawrence Goldstone
Publisher: Ballantine Books
ISBN: 0345538056
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 450

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Book Description
From acclaimed historian Lawrence Goldstone comes a thrilling narrative of courage, determination, and competition: the story of the intense rivalry that fueled the rise of American aviation. The feud between this nation’s great air pioneers, the Wright brothers and Glenn Curtiss, was a collision of unyielding and profoundly American personalities. On one side, a pair of tenacious siblings who together had solved the centuries-old riddle of powered, heavier-than-air flight. On the other, an audacious motorcycle racer whose innovative aircraft became synonymous in the public mind with death-defying stunts. For more than a decade, they battled each other in court, at air shows, and in the newspapers. The outcome of this contest of wills would shape the course of aviation history—and take a fearsome toll on the men involved. Birdmen sets the engrossing story of the Wrights’ war with Curtiss against the thrilling backdrop of the early years of manned flight, and is rich with period detail and larger-than-life personalities: Thomas Scott Baldwin, or “Cap’t Tom” as he styled himself, who invented the parachute and almost convinced the world that balloons were the future of aviation; John Moisant, the dapper daredevil who took to the skies after three failed attempts to overthrow the government of El Salvador, then quickly emerged as a celebrity flyer; and Harriet Quimby, the statuesque silent-film beauty who became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. And then there is Lincoln Beachey, perhaps the greatest aviator who ever lived, who dazzled crowds with an array of trademark twists and dives—and best embodied the romance with death that fueled so many of aviation’s earliest heroes. A dramatic story of unimaginable bravery in the air and brutal competition on the ground, Birdmen is at once a thrill ride through flight’s wild early years and a surprising look at the personal clash that fueled America’s race to the skies. Praise for Birdmen “A meticulously researched account of the first few hectic, tangled years of aviation and the curious characters who pursued it . . . a worthy companion to Richard Holmes’s marvelous history of ballooning, Falling Upwards.”—Time “The daredevil scientists and engineers who forged the field of aeronautics spring vividly to life in Lawrence Goldstone’s history.”—Nature “The history of the development of an integral part of the modern world and a fascinating portrayal of how a group of men and women achieved a dream that had captivated humanity for centuries.”—The Christian Science Monitor “Captivating and wonderfully presented . . . a fine book about these rival pioneers.”—The Wall Street Journal “[A] vivid story of invention, vendettas, derring-do, media hype and patent fights [with] modern resonance.”—Financial Times “A powerful story that contrasts soaring hopes with the anchors of ego and courtroom.”—Kirkus Reviews “A riveting narrative about the pioneering era of aeronautics in America and beyond . . . Goldstone raises questions of enduring importance regarding innovation and the indefinite exertion of control over ideas that go public.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Doing Criticism

Doing Criticism PDF Author: James Chandler
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1405177799
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Not only an accessible hands-on guide to writing criticism across the literary arts, the dramatic arts, and the narrative screen arts, but also a book that makes a case for how and why criticism matters today Doing Criticism: Across Literary and Screen Arts is a practical guide to engaging actively and productively with a critical object, whether a film, a novel, or a play. Going beyond the study of lyric poetry and literature to include motion picture and dramatic arts, this unique text provides specific advice on how to best write criticism while offering concrete illustrations of what it looks like on the page. Divided into two parts, the book first presents an up-to-date account of the state of criticism in both Anglo-American and Continental contexts—describing both the longstanding mission and the changing functions of criticism over the centuries and discussing critical issues that bridge the literary and screen arts in the contemporary world. The second part of the book features a variety of case studies of criticism across media, including works by canonical authors such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and W. B. Yeats; films such as Coppola's The Conversation and Hitchcock's Vertigo; screen adaptations of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Ishiguro's The Remains of the Day; and a concluding chapter on several of Spike Lee's film "joints" that brings several of the book's central concepts to bear on work of a single film auteur. Helping students of literature and cinema write well about what they find in their reading and viewing, Doing Criticism: Across Literary and Screen Arts: Discusses how the bridging of the literary arts and screen arts can help criticism flourish in the present day Illustrates how the doing of criticism is in practice a particular kind of writing Considers how to generalize the consequences of criticism beyond personal growth and gratification Addresses the ways the practice of criticism matters to the practice of the critical object Suggests that doing without criticism is not only unwise, but also perhaps impossible Features case studies organized under the rubrics of conversation, adaptation, genre, authorship and seriality Doing Criticism: Across Literary and Screen Arts is an ideal text for students in introductory courses in criticism, literary studies, and film studies, as well as general readers with interest in the subject.

100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America [2 volumes]

100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America [2 volumes] PDF Author: Mary Cross
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1162

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Book Description
To what extent does a person's own success result in social transformation? This book offers 100 answers, providing thought-provoking examples of how American culture was shaped within a crucial time period by individuals whose lives and ideas were major agents of change. 100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America provides a two-volume encyclopedia of the individuals whose contributions to society made the 20th century what it was. Comprising contributions from 20 academics and experts in their field, the thought-provoking essays examine the men and women who have shaped the modern American cultural experience—change agents who defined their time period as a result of their talent, imagination, and enterprise. Organized chronologically by the subjects' birthdates, the essays are written to be accessible to the general reader yet provide in-depth information for scholars, ensuring that the work will appeal to many audiences.

Early American Cinema in Transition

Early American Cinema in Transition PDF Author: Charlie Keil
Publisher: Univ of Wisconsin Press
ISBN: 9780299173647
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The period 1907–1913 marks a crucial transitional moment in American cinema. As moving picture shows changed from mere novelty to an increasingly popular entertainment, fledgling studios responded with longer running times and more complex storytelling. A growing trade press and changing production procedures also influenced filmmaking. In Early American Cinema in Transition, Charlie Keil looks at a broad cross-section of fiction films to examine the formal changes in cinema of this period and the ways that filmmakers developed narrative techniques to suit the fifteen-minute, one-reel format. Keil outlines the kinds of narratives that proved most suitable for a single reel’s duration, the particular demands that time and space exerted on this early form of film narration, and the ways filmmakers employed the unique features of a primarily visual medium to craft stories that would appeal to an audience numbering in the millions. He underscores his analysis with a detailed look at six films: The Boy Detective; The Forgotten Watch; Rose O’Salem-Town; Cupid’s Monkey Wrench; Belle Boyd, A Confederate Spy; and Suspense.

D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation

D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation PDF Author: Jenny Barrett
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526164442
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
In 1915, American filmmaker D. W. Griffith released a film that went on to become one of the most controversial of all time. Over a century later, The Birth of a Nation continues to stimulate debate on the relationship between Hollywood and racism. This volume reveals new perspectives on Griffith’s film across ten original chapters, re-considering it as text, historical milestone and influence. The volume also includes a helpful timeline that lists key publications and events in Birth’s ongoing history, revealing the rich and stimulating discourse on its art, its cultural impact and its ethical dimensions.

Lillian Gish

Lillian Gish PDF Author: Charles Affron
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520234345
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
"As someone who worked with and knew Lillian Gish for years, I found Charles Affron’s portrait revealing and moving. He rekindles the life of this intuitive and generous artist beautifully."—Eva Marie Saint