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"What Has My Union Done For Me?".
Like any other unions, the three American actor's unions, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), and Actors' Equity Association (AEA) are expected to fight for the rights of their members, whether for better benefits, wages, or working conditions. In the 1950s they were forced into a new and challenging battle. The different methods these unions chose to face and fight the onslaught brought on by the blacklisting of their members are the focus of this article.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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'Fixing for eternity': Cabriel Aubray's 'Devant le Cinématographe' (1897).
The translation of, an essay by Gabriel Aubray published in France in early 1897. The essay is a philosophical reflection on how the recently invented cinematograph can record human actions and preserve them for all time. In this way, Aubray suggests, the new device symbolises the omniscience of a greater being or God. With an introduction by Stephen Bottomore.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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'The Old Bogey': The Hollywood Blacklist in Europe.
During the post-war period a group of American filmmakers moved to Europe to resume careers cut short by the Hollywood blacklist. Although welcomed by the European film community, which was both sympathetic to their plight and eager to capitalize on their talents, job opportunities were scarce. The essay concentrates on the experiences of Joseph Losey and Jules Dassin in Italy, France and Britain. It discusses Losey's Stranger on the Prowl (1952), produced in Italy by Riviera Films, a company organized by blacklistees; the difficulties encountered by Jules Dassin in Paris; and the fate of various blacklisted filmmakers in London, many of whom worked without credit on the American producer Hannah Weinstein's television swashbucklers.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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'TWU ON TV!' - The Transport Workers' Union and television in the early 1950s and 1960s.
One of the first American labor unions to make significant use of the television medium was Transport Workers Union Local 100, based in New York. Under the leadership of its aggressive president, Michael J. Quill, the TWU was a familiar presence on New York television from 1950 to the time of Quill's death in 1966. The extensive TWU collection at the Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives reveals the scope of the union's highly successful media campaign during this period.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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A neglected genre: James Sibley Watson's avant-garde industrial films.
Much industrial film production, whether involving amateur avant-gardists or professionals, remains terra incognita, despite the fact that audiences for industrials at certain times in the twentieth century rivalled and even surpassed those of Hollywood films, whether shown theatrically or non-theatrically. While not all industrials can be read as avant-garde, certain industrials at the very least mimic the kind of formal play that has defined the avant-garde, including James Sibley Watson's The Eyes of Science (1931) and Highlights and Shadows (1937). This article details the production and reception of these films by drawing on previously unavailable corporate and archival material.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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AGFA, Kullmann, Singer &Co. and early cine-film stock.
An important aspect of early film production which has remained largely unexplored is that related to the manufacture and marketing of cine-film stock. During the international expansion of industrialised cinematography - from 1905 to 1912 - the Parisian film production companies struggled against the norms dictated by the Eastman Kodak Company, which held a virtual world-wide monopoly on the manufacture of cine film. The first part of this essay presents some aspects of the development of cine-film manufacturing and marketing in Europe with particular regard to Franco-German co-operation. The second half focuses on the growth of AGFA's cine-film manufacturing facilities, the Filmfabrik, during the First World War.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Albany Ward and the development of cinema exhibition in England.
Prior to 1914, Albany Ward (1879-1956) was the operator of the largest cinema circuit in England. He had entered the film business with Birt Acres in 1896, but soon branched out on his own as a traveling exhibitor, eventually acquiring 29 theatres in the western part of England and Wales. Using newly available materials in the collection of the Albany Ward family, this paper documents the pre-war career of one of Britain's most significant early motion picture showmen.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Bette Davis made over in wartime: The feminisation of an androgynous star in Now, Voyager (1942).
Bette Davis had become a top Hollywood star while playing a series of hard, almost masculine, characters, and projected a similarly androgynous appeal off screen as well. But when the United States entered the Second World War Warner Bros. did not emphasize this persona, but instead worked to feminise her screen image. The article describes the reasons for this with special attention to the production and distribution of Now, Voyager (1942). Noting the effects of the Office of War Information's discourse on women, it examines connections between the themes of this film and the editorial content of popular women's magazines of the period.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Book review.
The article reviews the book "Carmontelle's Landscape Transparencies: Cinema of the Enlightenment," by Laurence Chatel de Brancion.
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Brassbound G-Men and celluloid reds: the FBI's search for communist propaganda in wartime Hollywood.
This article traces the development of the FBI's investigation of Hollywood during World War II. Motivated by a fear of Communist propaganda, the FBI initiated this surveillance before the onset of the Cold War. The Bureau conflated the cultural struggle over film with national security concerns. Justifying its investigation as a defense of democracy, the FBI data collected and formulated during these years would soon contribute to the stifling of the freedom of the screen.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Collectors' tales: a personal overview of Film Fiction at Bill Douglas Centre.
This article offers a personal view of the film fiction (fiction about cinema) collected by Bill Douglas and Peter Jewell and now at the Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture, University of Exeter. It also offers some anecdotes about how some items in the collection were acquired during a lifetime of collecting, and briefly deals with books-of-the-film and fiction by film personalities in the Collection.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Creating an audience for the cinématographe: two Lumiére agents in Mexico, 1896.
The exhibition of cinematographic views in Mexico City and Guadalajara by Fernand Bon Bernard and Gabriel Veyre, Lumière agents active in Mexico between July 1896 and January 1897, is examined. Drawing on newspaper announcements and reports, the article charts the process by which the cinématographe became an established attraction in Mexico City's elite public sphere, and briefly discusses the exhibition of the device in Guadalajara. The discourse that circulated in newspapers wherein cinematographic views were associated with nineteenth-century engravings, photographs and lantern slide projections is also considered.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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First encounters: French literature and the cinematograph.
This paper discusses early French fiction about the cinematograph, prior to the publication of the first history of cinema in French, specifically examining the figurative force of reference to the new medium in literature.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Histories of the future: mapping the avant-garde.
The history of avant-garde film in the twentieth century can be defined by a widely accepted canon of major works and artists, although the function of this canon changed between the pre-World War II pioneer period and the 1960s, when avant-garde film emerged as a challenge to conventional narrative. A more dialectical conception of the avant-garde, proposed by Peter Wollen, has since served to unite different traditions, until recent concerns have emerged about the very idea of a film-based canon. New studies have emphasised the importance of networks and of contexts of presentation as perhaps greater than the film-texts themselves. More varied contemporary forms of access to avant-garde film may eventually supersede the traditional Modernist canon.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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I am also a camera: John Heygate and Talking Picture.
In 1932, during the death throes of the Weimar Republic, the British writer John Heygate was hired to work as a supervisor in Berlin on English-language versions of Ufa films, produced in collaboration with the Gaumont-British Picture Corporation. In 1934 he published a novel, Talking Picture, principally based on his experiences making Early to Bed (1933). The essay unearths the real film personnel, German and English, lurking behind Heygate's characters, and draws comparisons with the 'camera eye' writings of his Berlin contemporary, Christopher Isherwood.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Introduction: Experiment in Film Before World War II.
The article presents an introduction to this issue of "Film History," which focuses on experimental films made before World War II. The article discusses the history of avant-garde film, British cinema, and James Sibley Watson's avant-garde industrial films. Other articles in the issue consider innovation, experimentation and creativity in motion pictures.
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Introduction: Moving Picture Fiction.
A preface to articles about film fiction from the beginning of cinema to the 1930s is presented.
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Introduction: Politics and Film.
The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Sarah Kozloff on political compromises made by filmmaker William Wyler in his films and another by Grant B. Stillman on influences behind the film "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb."
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Introduction: Studio Systems.
This article presents an introduction to this issue, which focuses on film distribution and the studio system from various eras of motion picture history.
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José Nepomuceno and the creation of a Filipino national consciousness.
The essay examines the contribution made by José Nepomuceno to the Philippine quest for independence and the raising of national consciousness. By portraying Filipino views, lives and traditions, Nepomuceno was instrumental in creating an imagined community in a colonial society. He created a national consciousness by writing the history of the national with his camera; films that were viewed by people from all social strata across the Islands. The films of Nepomuceno spread Tagalog language and culture, and gradually made Filipino national culture converge with Tagalog culture.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Lawyers, Bibliographies, and the Klan: Griffith's resources in the censorship battle over The Birth of a Nation in Ohio.
Except for one brief period, D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation was banned in the state of Ohio from the time of its original release until the collapse of motion picture censorship in that state in 1954. Drawing on records in the collection of the Ohio State Archives, this paper examines several of the unsuccessful legal appeals undertaken by Griffith and his distributor, the Epoch Producing Corporation. A lengthy historical bibliography justifying the film's version of reconstruction, prepared by Griffith's attorneys, is analyzed in detail.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Motion pictures' greatest year (1938): public relations and the American film industry.
In an effort to combat declining attendance, perceived public disinterest, and the threat of government antitrust action, the exhibition and distribution arms of the American motion picture industry organized the 'Motion Pictures' Greatest Year' public relations campaign in 1938. The focal point of the campaign was a heavily-promoted quiz contest which required entrants to attend 30 feature films at participating theaters. Despite initial enthusiasm, the campaign fell short of its goals due to structural inequities in the distribution system, friction between independent theater owners and those affiliated with the major producer-distributors, and poor films.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Moving picture fiction of the silent era, 1895-1928.
This annotated bibliography is the first to survey moving picture fiction of all lengths and types in the United Kingdom, France Italy, Germany, Spain, America and elsewhere during the silent era. Previous attempts to document film-related fiction have mainly limited themselves to American fiction from 1912 onward and are primarily limited to novels. Many of the fiction works in this bibliography are described for the first time. Includes illustrations.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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North and South: two early texts about cinema-going by Louis Couperus.
This paper reprints and puts into historical context two contrasting reports of cinema-going by the Dutch writer, dandy and Italophile, Louis Couperus. While Couperus in 1911 wrote in denigrating terms about visiting an Italian cinema, five years later he praised Italian film shows in comparison with Dutch cinema-going. The two texts indicate Couperus' strong opinions on cultural differences between northern and southern Europe, but also show how quickly ideas on movie-going changed over this time.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Play as experiment in 1920s British cinema.
This essay explores a space in British filmmaking in the interwar years that is neither formally avant-garde, nor alternative in any politically radical sense, nor, very often, self-consciously experimental. It argues instead that cinema in Britain offered a space of transition within both its historical moment and cultural context, a space characterised by 'play'. Precisely because the 'playful' strategies of much 1920s British filmmaking emerged from culturally ingrained practices, their engagement with cinematic form indirectly registered processes of cultural change, suggesting the encounter with the 'new' which cinema offered to certain actors, writers and would-be cineastes of the time.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Protecting Protestantism: The Ku Klux Klan vs. The Motion Picture Industry.
In the spring of 1923 the Ku Klux Klan launched a series of protests against Charlie Chaplin's The Pilgrim and the Pola Negri film, Bella Donna. This article considers how and why the Klan opposed these films. Drawing on extensive research in Klan newspapers, the article suggests that the Klan sought to promote and define itself through its discourses with the film industry and repositions the Klan as a hugely influential and overlooked social reform group, pressurising the industry during the 1920s.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Shadows in the glasshouse: Film novels in Imperial Germany, 1913-1917.
This paper discusses six of the first film novels to appear in Germany, during the period 1913 to 1917. The novels present various attitudes to the film business, especially in its relationship to art and commerce, and also deal with: issues of illusion and reality.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The 'Reol' Story: Race Authorship and Consciousness in Robert Levy's Reol Productions, 1921-1926.
Robert Levy, manager of Harlem's Lafayette Players, founded Reol Productions in 1921. One of the earliest race film producers, Reol attempted to differentiate itself in this market by specializing in 'high class' productions featuring well-known actors from the Lafayette company and adaptations of work by Paul Laurence Dunbar, Wallace Johnson, and other noted race authors. The paper focuses on Levy's medial position as a Jewish entrepreneur operating in an African American market, with particular attention to The Call of His People (1921), Levy's adaptation of Aubrey Bowser's passing narrative, The Man Who Would Be White.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The film industry's battle against left-wing influences, from the Russian Revolution to the Blacklist.
Anti-radicalism in the United States has a long history. During World War I, it was transformed into anti-communism and became embedded in the political culture of the United States for the next seventy-plus years. There were many varieties of anti-communism, but it can be divided into two main categories: official or governmental, and unofficial or nongovernmental. This article traces the development of those varieties that most impacted the motion picture industry, led to the blacklisting of hundreds of employees, and cast a pall of censorship over moviemaking.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The Girl and Her Trust: film into fiction.
A comparison of the short fiction version of D.W. Griffith's The Girl and Her Trust (1912) with the completed film. Did the authors of such short stories work from the actual film, or did deadline pressure force them to depend mainly on printed scenarios and similar publicity material? Includes a reproduction of the story version as published in The Motion Picture Story Magazine, April 1912.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The Kinamo movie camera, Emanuel Goldberg and Joris Ivens.
The design and characteristics of the compact spring-driven Kinamo movie camera (1921) are explained. The career and achievements of its designer, Emanuel Goldberg (1881-1970), are summarised, including his efforts to promote and popularise film making. The avant-garde filmmaker Joris Ivens was significantly influenced by his experiments with the Kinamo camera and also by Goldberg personally. Ivens used the Kinamo camera to film De Brug, Regen, Borinage, Indonesia Calling, and other films. Other uses and users of the Kinamo are noted.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The motion picture story magazine and the origins of popular British film culture.
This article explores the reasons for the establishment of the first popular film magazines in 1911. It looks at the priorities underpinning the invention of their main contents - the 'motion picture story' - in the United States and the reasons for creating a UK version, and relates the emergence of this most vital aspect of a new, nationally uniform, popular film culture to the transformations in the British and American film industries that occurred between 1908 and 1911.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The novelist as Hollywood star: author royalties and studio income in the 1920s.
This article examines the significant financial rewards obtained by the English popular novelist Elinor Glyn as a result of the motion picture adaptations of her stories in the 1920s. It uses newly available archive materials to present detailed financial information on a number of Glyn adaptations (including Three Weeks and It), and discusses the narrative around these data in terms of the issue of contracts and the role of specific film companies such as MGM and Paramount. It also shows that conflict over royalties and the relevant accounting practices were significant elements of Glyn's experiences in Hollywood at this time. Comparing Glyn's status as a 'star' author and personality with other well-known authors of the period, the article concludes that she was in some ways a unique phenomenon in terms of the level of her artistic and financial success.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The paradoxes of film and the recovery of historical memory: Vicente Aranda's works on the Spanish Civil War.
This essay contrasts the popular and artistically-respected films of the Catalan director Vicente Aranda, who is considered friendly to the legacy of Spanish anarchism, with other recent and past films on the Spanish civil war of 1936-39. It describes and evaluates Aranda's 'war trilogy:' Si te dicen que caí, 1989, (The Fallen, re-released as Aventis), the TV serial Los jinetes del alba, 1990 (Riders of the Dawn), and Libertarias, 1996.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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The war of the accents: Spanish language Hollywood films in Mexican Los Angeles.
During the early years of sound, both major studios and independent producers were faced with a series of difficult issues involving foreign language distribution. Through an examination of the substantial coverage devoted to cinema in La opinión, a Spanish language newspaper published in Los Angeles, the author charts the major trends in local Spanish language film exhibition and provides an overview of the discursive environment that shaped the reception of such films. In this context, Spanish language Hollywood films are seen to have facilitated the decline of Spanish language theater in Los Angeles, challenging the authority of elite and middle class cultural authorities and their control over Spanish language entertainment in the city. The paper argues that cinema must be considered alongside a broader and more diverse array of cultural practices, particularly in terms of the relationship between mass culture and national and/or ethnic identity.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Two of the MADdest scientists: where Strangelove Meets Dr. No; or, unexpected roots for Kubrick's cold war classic.
Although the script of Stanley Kubrick's black comedy Dr. Strangelove (1964) was adapted from the cold-war thriller Red Alert, Kubrick and his writers were inspired by a wide range of cultural references in the course of their radical transformation of the original material. The essay shows how Kubrick's vision of nuclear brinksmanship drew on such sources as specific issues of the journals Foreign Affairs and Playboy, the recent film version of Ian Fleming's Dr. No, and the work of photo journalist Usher Fellig (Weegee).ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941.
This article reviews the book "Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941," produced by Cineric.
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Violent youth: the censoring and public reception of The Wild One and The Blackboard Jungle.
At a time of transition for the Production Code Administration, Hollywood's self-regulatory censor body, a number of films pushed permissible boundaries regarding profanity and violence. Drawing on material from Production Code files, this paper discusses problems involved in the production and release of two films notorious for their depiction of violence and delinquency, The Wild One (Columbia, 1953) and The Blackboard Jungle (MGM, 1955).ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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Wyler's Wars.
This essay concentrates on William Wyler's films made before, during, and after World War II. Using archival sources, it seeks to tell the full story of Wyler's political engagement and the ways in which his beliefs affected such films as Mrs. Miniver, Memphis Belle, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Big Country, and Ben Hur. The author shows that instead of passively accepting strictures from studio heads, censors, or pressure groups, Wyler relentlessly worked for his art to mirror his liberal beliefs.ABSTRACT FROM AUTHORCopyright of Film History is the property of Indiana University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.
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