Film Studies

The Encyclopedia of the Documentary Filmis a fully international reference work on the history of the documentary film from the Lumière brothers' WorkersLeaving the Lumière Factory(1885) to Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911(2004).

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Ranging from Little Caesar (1930) to Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Shadoian guides the reader through twenty classic movies of the genre. Moving chronologically, he offers plot synopses and close readings of such definitive examples as Bonnie and Clyde, The Public Enemy, D.O.A. and The Godfather, each accompanied by photographs, author's critiques, and a compenendia of facts.

Mob Culture offers a long-awaited, fresh look at the American gangster film, exposing its hidden histories from the Black Hand gangs of the early twentieth century to The Sopranos.

In this study of Hollywood gangster films, Jonathan Munby examines their controversial content and how it was subjected to continual moral and political censure.

Alfred Hitchcock called the silent the purest form of cinema, and the ten silent films he directed between 1925 and 1929 reveal the young director's mature artistry. This book delves deep into what made them so popular and how they changed the cinema world forever.

The book looks at the technology of early film, the use of color photography, and the restoration work being spearheaded by some of Hollywood's most important directors, such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

Provides plot summary and information on over three hundred film noir films and also discusses the details of film noir.

Film noir evokes memories of stylish, cynical, black and white movies from the 1940s and 1950s. This text discusses these pictures and the central term of film noir claiming it is more complex and paradoxical than we realize.

Film critics and academics examine American Westerns during the period 1939 to the present, analyzing classic films and discussing issues such as masculinity and machismo in Westerns; the Westerns of Marlene Dietrich; class structure in the Western; and the way Westerns have shaped and have been shaped by the world.

It is a common assertion that the history of America is written in its Westerns, but how true is this? This guidebook discusses the evolution of the Western through history and looks at theoretical and critical approaches to Westerns such as genre analysis, semiotics, representation, ideology, discourse analysis, narrative, and realism.

Beginning in 1927 with The Jazz Singer--the first part-sound motion picture--the film entries provide brief plot outlines, behind-the-scenes information, all the songs from the particular film with the names of the singers (including songs ultimately cut from the film), roles played by the particular actors and actresses, plus names of composers, lyricists, directors, and collaborators, and much more.

In Dangerous Rhythm: Why Movie Musicals Matter, award winning historian Richard Barrios explores movie musicals from those first hits, The Jazz Singer and Broadway Melody, to present-day Oscar winners Chicago and Les Misérables.

This richly informed study analyzes how various cinematic tools and techniques have been used to create horror on screen--the aesthetic elements, sometimes not consciously noticed, that help to unnerve, frighten, shock or entertain an audience.

Music in Horror Film is a collection of essays that examine the effects of music and its ability to provoke or intensify fear in this particular genre of film.

Men, Women, and Chain Saws investigated the appeal of horror cinema, in particular the phenomenal popularity of those "low" genres that feature female heroes and play to male audiences: slasher, occult, and rape-revenge films.

The contributors to this volume consider intermedia adaptation, using science fiction television programs and films as their starting point.

Going beyond a textual exploration of these films, this study places them within a larger network of influences that includes studio politics and promotional discourses. The book also challenges the perceived limits of the genre - it includes a wide range of films, from canonical SF, such as Le voyage dans la lune, Star Wars and Blade Runner, to films that stretch and reshape the definition of the genre.

Covering titles ranging from Rocketship X-M (1950) to Wall-E (2008), these insightful essays measure the relationship between music and science fiction film from a variety of academic perspectives. Thematic sections survey specific compositions utilized in science fiction movies; Broadway's relationship with the genre; science fiction elements in popular songs; the conveyance of subjectivity and identity through music; and such individual composers as Richard Strauss (2001: A Space Odyssey) and Bernard Herrmann (The Day the Earth Stood Still). Available in the Fine Arts library.

The Animated Bestiary critically evaluates the depiction of animals in cartoons and animation more generally. Paul Wells argues that artists use animals to engage with issues that would be more difficult to address directly because of political, religious, or social taboos.

An expert in Japanese culture provides the first in-depth look in English at the deeper significance behind Japan's hottest contemporary export, animation.

Shadow of a Mouse proposes performance as the common touchstone for understanding the principles underlying the construction, execution, and reception of cartoons. Donald Crafton’s interdisciplinary methods draw on film and theater studies, art history, aesthetics, cultural studies, and performance studies to outline a personal view of animated cinema that illuminates its systems of belief and world making.

Running the gamut of film history from City Lights to Knocked Up, Another Fine Mess retells the story of American film from the perspective of its unwanted stepbrother--the comedy. In 30 long chapters and 100 shorter entries, each devoted primarily to a single performer or director, Another Fine Mess retraces the steps of the American comedy film, filling in the gaps and following the connections that link Mae West to Doris Day, or W. C. Fields to Will Ferrell. 

The many routines and gags cited in this illustrated history are lovingly deconstructed to show how they have been shaped to suit different eras and performers.These tried and true laugh-provokers are indestructible. Through all the remakes, revivals, recycles and revamps, they have survived robustly to the present day.

This reader of key writing on action cinema from the silent period to the 21st century is divided into thematic sections addressing major areas such as defining the genre, film history and style, action and spectacle, genres and meaning, stars and bodies, action auteurs and the film industry.

Looks at how violent women characters disrupt cinematic narrative and challenge cultural ideals. (Also available online.)