Author: Douglas Brode Publisher: ISBN: Category : Juvenile Nonfiction Languages : en Pages : 292
Book Description
"'How do you define forgotten?' ...A 'lost film,' to my mind , is a movie that has yet to evolve as a cult film, but which has the potential to... One rule of thumb in compiling the hundred films I write about here (and the selection process was a long, painful one) was that I would severely limit the number of films featuring big stars... I put a high priority on emphasizing movies that ought to be anthologized but which probably never would unless I included them here"--from Introduction.
Author: Publisher: SIU Press ISBN: 9780809388448 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 240
Book Description
Wheeler Dixon examines the lost films and directors of the 1950s. Contrasting traditional themes of love, marriage, and family, the author's 1950s film world unveils once-taboo issues and television shows such as 'Captain Midnight' are juxtaposed with the cheerful world of 'I Love Lucy'.
Author: Phil Hall Publisher: ISBN: 9781593939380 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 206
Book Description
It is one of the most astonishing facts of cinema history: an extraordinary number of important films are believed to be lost forever. Spanning from the early days of the silent movies to as late as the 1970s and touching all corners of the global film experience, groundbreaking works of significant historical and artistic importance are gone. Cinema icons including Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Alfred Hitchcock, Oscar Micheaux and Vincente Minnelli are among those impacted by this tragedy, and pioneering technological achievements in color cinematography, sound film technology, animation and widescreen projection are among the lost treasures. How could this happen? And is it possible to recover these missing gems? In this book, noted film critic and journalist Phil Hall details circumstances that resulted in these productions being erased from view. For anyone with a passion for the big screen, In Search of Lost Films provides an unforgettable consideration of a cultural tragedy.
Author: Melvin E. Matthews Publisher: Algora Publishing ISBN: 0875864996 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 180
Book Description
1950s Cold War-era monsters meet 21st century terrorists: this exploration of sci-fi movies examines the similarities and differences between the political environment and popular culture of two eras. This examination and appreciation of 1950s science fiction films includes behind-the-scenes tales about their production and many quotes from those who produced and starred in the films. The author draws parallels between the Cold War fears of the 1950s and 60s and the constant "terrorism alerts" of the September 11th era, exploring how the politics and the psychological climate of the times influences and is reflected in this vehicle of popular culture. This book is the first of its kind, studying the pop culture genre in the wake of the September 11th tragedy. It shows that, whatever the era and whatever the challenges and crises confronting America, many entertainment themes remain the same, reflecting their respective times and the relevant issues. For instance, Godzilla, the only Fifties-era monster to remain a "movie star" beyond that era, could be fashioned to reflect whatever issues dominate the times, be they nuclear war in the Fifties when Godzilla originated to a Seventies Godzilla film about environmental pollution. Conceivably a Godzilla for the age of terrorism is possible. "Them"! the 1954 atomic mutation classic, is the spiritual ancestor of the 2002 film "Eight Legged Freaks." The alien invaders of the Fifties signified a Russian invasion of America, while other films of the genre, such as "Invaders from Mars," depicted aliens utilizing mind control to manipulate humans to commit acts of sabotage, signifying Communist enslavement. If such a film were made now, such invaders could be seen as terrorist masterminds using human slaves to commit terrorist acts. Finally, several Fifties films depicted the end of the world at a time when Americans expected a nuclear war with Russia. The immediate pre-September 11th era witnessed films presenting galactic threats to mankind's existence ("Independence Day," "Deep Impact," "Armageddon"), while the early 2000s witnessed the popularity of the "Left Behind" Christian films dramatizing the Tribulation period in the Book of Revelation.
Author: Melvin E. Matthews, Jr. Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786488506 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 232
Book Description
During the 1950s and early 1960s, school air-raid drills, bomb shelters, and unnerving civil defense films served as constant reminders of the looming threat of nuclear war. Throughout America, a widespread civil defense effort used town meetings, public school educational programs, and the mass media--television, radio, and especially, motion pictures--to mobilize every citizen for a protracted Cold War. This volume explores how American popular culture has portrayed civil defense from mid-twentieth century to the immediate post-September 11 era. With analysis of everything from early government propaganda films and 1950s science fiction films to Happy Days, the Reagan-era TV movie The Day After, and the small-screen nostalgia trend after 9/11, it shows how popular culture reflects American fears and the hope of preparedness.
Author: David C. Tucker Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 0786455829 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 249
Book Description
Originally broadcast on American television between 1952 and 1969, the 30 situation comedies in this work are seldom seen today and receive only brief and often incomplete and inaccurate mentions in most reference sources. Yet these sitcoms (including Angel, The Governor and J.J., It's a Great Life, I'm Dickens ... He's Fenster and Wendy and Me), and the stories of the talented people who made them, are an integral part of television history. With a complete list of production credits and rare publicity stills, this volume, based on multiple screenings of episodes, corrects other sources and expand our knowledge of television history.
Author: Robert A Rodriguez Publisher: Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN: 1574887157 Category : Reference Languages : en Pages : 369
Book Description
Journey back fifty years to explore the decade of baby boomers, the Red scare, and the birth of rock and roll with Robert Rodriguez’s The 1950s’ Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels, Cold War Crises, and All-American Oddities. America was revving its engines when the fifties came along, and its citizens more than ready for everything the historic decade had to offer. Rodriguez takes you on a spin down memory lane with dozens of top-ten lists filled with amazing, amusing, and even astonishing trivia from the 1950s. Television exploded into the mainstream in the 1950s, and in this book you’ll find kids’ television, shows that were immensely popular then but forgotten now, and potential series that never got off the ground. Film and music history are also well represented, with lists highlighting the fathers of rock and roll and some unlikely recording artists, plus catchphrases from contemporary films and first roles of future stars. Relive the most notorious crimes of the decade, such as the one that inspired the TV show and film The Fugitive, and its big scandals, such as the quiz show debacle and the deportation of Charlie Chaplin. You’ll read about politicians, celebrities, fashion, toys, fads, and disasters. Relearn the hip slang of the time while finding out which tales from the fifties were really tall tales or urban legends that are now debunked. Rodriguez gives you a whole decade’s worth of fun, facts, and all-important memories. It may have been half a century ago, but with The 1950s’ Most Wanted™, it’ll seem like just yesterday.
Author: Carolyn McGivern Publisher: Cumberland House Publishing ISBN: 9781581825671 Category : Biography & Autobiography Languages : en Pages : 136
Book Description
In a career of more than fifty years'spanning the Golden Era from 1926 to 1976?Hollywood icon John Wayne created a treasure trove of movies. Today, scarcely an hour goes by without one of them appearing on television somewhere in the world. With most of the Wayne films available to his fans today, just a few of them remain unavailable in this era of remastered miracles. Of all the movies he made beyond the 1939 'Stagecoach' age, only two have been kept from the public: 'Island in the Sky' and 'The High and the Mighty.' Many reasons have been suggested for why the two films have been unavailable until the summer of 2005, from the thought that the original films were damaged and the copies were not good enough for additional distribution to the theory that they have been withheld for a future grand release. Whatever the reasons may be, 'The Lost Films of John Wayne' honors his work in both films and servesa as a loving portrayal of some fo the lesser-known images he left behind.
Author: Foster Hirsch Publisher: Knopf ISBN: 0307958930 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 702
Book Description
A fascinating look at Hollywood’s most turbulent decade and the demise of the studio system—set against the boom of the post–World War II years, the Cold War, and the atomic age—and the movies that reflected the seismic shifts Hollywood in the 1950s was a period when the film industry both set conventions and broke norms and traditions—from Cinerama, CinemaScope, and VistaVision to the epic film and lavish musical. It was a decade that saw the rise of the anti-hero; the smoldering, the hidden, and the unspoken; teenagers gone wild in the streets; the sacred and the profane; the revolution of the Method; the socially conscious; the implosion of the studios; the end of the production code; and the invasion of the ultimate body snatcher: the “small screen” television. Here is Eisenhower’s America—seemingly complacent, conformity-ridden revealed in Vincente Minnelli’s Father of the Bride, Walt Disney’s Cinderella, and Brigadoon, among others. And here is its darkening, resonant landscape, beset by conflict, discontent, and anxiety (The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Asphalt Jungle, A Place in the Sun, Touch of Evil, It Came From Outer Space) . . . an America on the verge of cultural, political and sexual revolt, busting up and breaking out (East of Eden, From Here to Eternity, On the Waterfront, Sweet Smell of Success, The Wild One, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Jailhouse Rock). An important, riveting look at our nation at its peak as a world power and at the political, cultural, sexual upheavals it endured, reflected and explored in the quintessential American art form.
Author: Douglas Brode
Author: 
Author: Douglas Brode
Author: Phil Hall
Author: Melvin E. Matthews
Author: Melvin E. Matthews, Jr.
Author: David C. Tucker
Author: Robert A Rodriguez
Author: Carolyn McGivern
Author: Foster Hirsch