Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood

Description

 

With its sprawling celebrity homes, the Walk of Fame, and the iconic sign on the hill, Hollywood is truly the land of stars. Glamorous and larger than life, many of the most memorable motion pictures of all time have emanated from its multimillion-dollar film industry, which exports more films per capita than that of any other nation.

Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood lays out the cinematic history of Tinseltown—the industry, the audiences, and, of course, the stars—highlighting important thematic and cultural elements throughout. Profiles and analyses of many of the industry’s most talented and prolific directors give insights into their impact on Hollywood and beyond. A slate of blockbuster successes—and notable flops—are here discussed, providing insight into the ever-shifting aesthetic of Hollywood’s enormous global audience.

User-friendly and concise yet containing an astonishing amount of information, Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood shows how truly indispensable the Hollywood film industry is and provides a fascinating account of its cultural and artistic significance as it marks its centennial.

Introduction by the editor

Hollywood: A history?

The Hollywood film industry

Stardom

Directors

Clint Eastwood

John Ford

DW Griffith

Steven Spielberg

Westerns

Crime film

Science fiction

Horror

Comedy

Historical films

Musicals

War films

Dramas

Romance

Animation

Blockbusters

Sujets

• Directories
• Película fotográfica
• América del Norte
• Reference
• Directory
• North America
• California
• Film
• Hollywood

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781841505206
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Volume 5
DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA
AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD
Edited by Lincoln Geraghty

intellect Bristol, UK / Chicago, USA
First Published in the UK in 2011 by Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2011 by Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2011 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Publisher: May Yao
Publishing Assistant: Melanie Marshall
Cover photo: Warner Bros./DC Comics/The Kobal Collection
Cover Design: Holly Rose
Copy Editor: Heather Owen
Typesetting: Mac Style, Beverley, E. Yorkshire
Directory of World Cinema ISSN 2040-7971
Directory of World Cinema eISSN 2040-798X
Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood ISBN 978-1-84150-415-5
Directory of World Cinema: American Hollywood eISBN 978-1-84150-520-6
Printed and bound by Gutenberg Press, Malta.
CONTENTS
DIRECTORY OF WORLD CINEMA
AMERICAN HOLLYWOOD
Acknowledgements
Introduction by the Editor
Hollywood: A History?
The Hollywood Film Industry
Stardom
Directors
Clint Eastwood
John Ford
DW Griffith
Steven Spielberg
Westerns
Essay
Reviews
Crime Film
Essay
Reviews
Science Fiction
Essay
Reviews
Horror
Essay
Reviews
Comedy
Essay
Reviews
Historical Films
Essay
Reviews
Musicals
Essay
Reviews
War Films
Essay
Reviews
Drama
Essay
Reviews
Romance
Essay
Reviews
Animation
Essay
Reviews
Blockbusters
Essay
Reviews
Recommended Reading
Online Resources
Test Your Knowledge
Notes on Contributors
Filmography
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The completion of this book would not have been possible without the help and support of a number of individuals. First of all I must acknowledge my editor May Yao, who showed faith in me taking on and developing this project, Melanie Marshall and all those at Intellect who helped in the production of the finished work. I want to thank all of the contributors who got fully behind this project and endeavoured to meet tight deadlines and respond to editorial feedback with little hesitancy or complaint. Each contributor brings their own insight and approach to the essays and reviews contained within this volume and, as a result, the book is strengthened by their diversity and knowledge. To my colleagues in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media at the University of Portsmouth who wanted to be involved with the project I offer my gratitude for stepping forward, despite their busy schedules, and volunteering to write their essays and reviews. We routinely discuss and argue about Hollywood film in the classroom and corridor but to put fingers to keyboard and commit our ideas to print is a challenging thing which I must thank you for. Similarly, I want to thank the students I have taught over the years for continuing to make me enthusiastic about film, both teaching it and writing about it. Lastly, I must thank my partner Rebecca Janicker who, as ever, had to put up with me working long hours editing the volume but supported me when I might have lacked energy and faith in finishing it.
Lincoln Geraghty
INTRODUCTION
BY THE EDITOR
There is no doubt that Hollywood has been the most popular and successful producer of film throughout the history of cinema. As a result, America continues to be at the centre of global film production, whether directly making films within its borders or financing projects on all continents of the world. Yet, it is also commonplace to hear that Hollywood is under threat, that film is becoming less popular as a form of media entertainment and will soon lose out (if it has not already) to the lure and excitement of the Internet and video games. The recent rejuvenation of 3D cinema, with the likes of Disney and DreamWorks producing more and more films in 3D or converting older ones to be viewed with the aid of glasses, clearly signals that Hollywood is responding to developments in new media technology by returning to methods used when film was previously under threat from television. However, unlike the 1950s and 1970s when ramping up the special effects and increasing blockbuster budgets guaranteed studios success against poor box office receipts, in the last ten years Hollywood has had to concede that audience tastes and viewing habits are now different. To attract people to watch the latest cinema release means it now must look to competing media forms (TV, Internet, video games) for clues as to how people consume the media and it must utilize previously unfamiliar methods of production, distribution and exhibition to remain competitive in a congested entertainment market.
In many ways, Hollywood has met some of the challenges to it posed by international markets and technology. The growth of home cinema, VHS in the 1980s through to DVD and Blu-Ray in the 1990s and today, shows that Hollywood films are still consumed in enormous quantities. Sales of special edition boxsets and director s cut versions of cult classics are booming as cinema fans want to own a piece of Hollywood history and watch it in the comfort of their own living rooms. People are still clearly watching American film, Hollywood is still relevant and entertaining, but audiences now interact with films in so many different ways and forms that trying to gauge the popularity of one film over another is difficult. What bombed at the cinema may excite people on DVD after the extras are added and the director gets to finish the film the way they originally envisioned. However, perhaps what makes Hollywood film so resilient is not how it responds to industrial and technological trends but how it continues to react to and engage with the cultural contexts in which it is produced. Moments of political, national and historical significance in America and the world have provided Hollywood studios, producers and directors inspiration for hundreds of films that have since become barometers for changes in our own society. Hollywood may simply keep us entertained but it also acts as a measure for social and cultural development and as such this volume seeks to analyse and contextualize some of the most iconic examples of film.
The introductory essays featured in this volume look at Hollywood from a number of different perspectives: historical, industrial, and cultural. While the authors have each taken a particular position on how Hollywood has evolved, the essays in total clearly indicate the extent to which Hollywood as an idea, as a place, and as a phenomenon has had to adapt to meet the challenges of an ever-changing global film market. Competing with Asia, Europe, Latin America and Australasia, and indeed the growth in popularity of independent film, the major Hollywood studios are always looking for ways to recapture popular audiences and entice them into cinemas. With the increase in new technologies used for making its films today, advances in CGI and 3D being the latest, we can see how Hollywood continues to experiment with new techniques and returns to tried and tested methods of capturing the audience s imagination. Following insights on the industry and its history, essays on specific directors offer more detailed discussions of how films are made and personalities created in Hollywood. Fascinating essays on Clint Eastwood, John Ford, DW Griffith, and Steven Spielberg recognize that directors play a major part in the evolution of film-making in their own right, and that a focus on their production methodologies, recurring themes, and personal biographies can tell us an enormous amount about what makes Hollywood film so popular.
The rest of this book is primarily organized by genre. Film reviews are divided into sections, ten of which are recognizable cinematic genres: the Western, comedy, horror, etc. The final two sections of film reviews, animated features and blockbusters, are related more to form and the changing tastes of the movie-going audience and thus contain reviews of films that cross over a multitude of different genres and cinematic movements. All sections begin with an introductory essay that establishes the genre or group of films and highlights the most significant and influential moments in their respective histories. As can clearly be seen in the range of films chosen for inclusion in this first volume on Hollywood cinema, there is great diversity; some films that appear here may not be automatically considered the most popular or standout of their genre - indeed, some films could quite comfortably sit in more than one of the genre categories. However, what the contributors and I have tried to achieve is a more measured analysis of what makes Hollywood cinema still so prevalent and successful today by examining both the major blockbusters and some of the more dramatic and understated films produced over the past hundred years.
Lincoln Geraghty
Paramount Pictures , 1938, Paramount.
HOLLYWOOD:
A HISTORY?
The History of Hollywood is bound up with the history of America. As a nation growing to become an international superpower during the twentieth century, America took the lead in global politics, manufacturing and business. Likewise, as Hollywood grew to become the leading producer of films in the early part of the century, it defined what makes film popular: the story. Hollywood makes stories, it is after all dubbed the dream factory , and whether they be complex dramas or spectacular blockbusters, the story is what makes people go out to the cinema, go out and buy the DVD or watch a rerun on TV. A good story, the film s narrative, will always attract an audience. The following short history is about how making stories became the main aim