Search

Hailed as the definitive work upon its original publication in 1975 and now extensively revised and updated by the author, this vastly absorbing and richly illustrated book examines film as an art form, technological innovation, big business, and shaper of American values. Ever since Edison's peep shows first captivated urban audiences, film has had a revolutionary impact on American society, transforming culture from the bottom up, radically revising attitudes toward pleasure and sexuality, and at the same time, cementing the myth of the American dream. No book has measured film's impact more clearly or comprehensively than Movie-Made America. This vastly readable and richly illustrated volume examines film as art form, technological innovation, big business, and cultural bellwether. It takes in stars from Douglas Fairbanks to Sly Stallone; auteurs from D. W. Griffith to Martin Scorsese and Spike Lee; and genres from the screwball comedy of the 1930s to the "hard body" movies of the 1980s to the independents films of the 1990s. Combining panoramic sweep with detailed commentaries on hundreds of individual films, Movie-Made America is a must for any motion picture enthusiast.

Against "leftists" in the entertainment industry. Moving beyond conventional film criticism, which has largely ignored the importance of performance, City Boys reveals the inseparability of actors' professional lives, American societal struggles, and media representations.

Frank Capra's films have had a lasting impact on American culture. His powerful depiction of American values, myths, and ideals was central famous Hollywood films as It Happened One Night, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and It's a Wonderful Life. These pre-war films are remembered for their depiction of an individual's overcoming adversity, populist politics, and an unflappable optimist view of life. This collection of nine essays by leading international film historians analyzes Capra's filmmaking during his most prolific period, from 1928 to 1939, taking a closer look at the more complex aspects of his work. They trace his struggles for autonomy against Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn, his reputation as an amateur, and the ways in which working within studio modes of production my have enhanced the director's strengths. The contributors also place their critiques within the context of the changing fortunes of the Hollywood studio system, the impact of the Depression, and Capra's working relationships with other studio staff and directors. The contributors' access to nineteen newly restored Capra films made at Columbia during this period fills this collection with some of the most comprehensive critiques available on the director's early body of work.

Urban Originals When the mean streets went Hollywood, the city boy went with them: tough, clever, fast-talking, handy with a girl or a gun. Film scholar Robert Sklar weaves the professional, personal, and political lives of three such city boys: Jimmy Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, and John Garfield. Sklar follows the city boys from their disparate upbringings in New York City to Hollywood, where the films they made for Warner Bros. brought them fame--even while the studio often exploited their talents and fumbled their fortunes. The city boys struggled to maintain their leftist political ideologies against the communist witch hunts that embroiled Hollywood, an aspect of their careers that usually gets short shrift but which Sklar examines in the context of a politically and culturally evolving America--an America that had, in many ways, left the city boy, with his swagger and masculine bravado, behind. In their later years, with varying success, Cagney, Bogart, and Garfield sought to shed the city boy mantle that had made them stars. Sklar chronicles this bittersweet end of the city boy with thoughtful insight, examining the cinematic and cultural legacy left behind by these urban originals, and their influence on a generation of young, male moviegoers.

Lively text and 768 illustrations, 120 in full color, cover commercial film, animation, documentaries, art cinema, and the avant-garde the world over, to present the entire history of film from a global perspective. Includes bibliography, filmography, glossary, notes, index, and 6 timelines.

Study of Fitzgerald's mind and art from his collegiate fiction through "The last Laocoon."

"Technological advances and regulatory changes have created both investment opportunity and challenge for participants in today's international capital markets. The existence and use of diverse international accounting procedures poses one such challenge: How can analysts determine the true investment value of global firms?" "This issue and related concerns are thoroughly examined in International Capital Markets in a World of Accounting Differences. Inside this thought-provoking volume, financial practitioners and scholars debate the impact of international accounting differences (accounting measurement rules, financial disclosure requirements, and/or differences in auditing standards) on decision-making in today's capital markets." "You'll find insightful analyses of such topics as international GAAP differences and their effects on firms; accounting differences and securities markets regulations; international regulatory initiatives; and policy alternatives and strategic options for minimizing global accounting diversity." "Concerns about the effect of accounting diversity on capital markets have sparked a renewed interest in harmonizing accounting and reporting standards worldwide. International Capital Markets in a World of Accounting Differences challenges and analyzes the validity of these concerns and offers strategic alternatives for making more informed decisions in the world's capital markets."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved