Film History

Warner Bros charts the rise of an unpromising film studio from its shaky beginnings in the early 20th century through its ascent to the pinnacle of Hollywood influence and popularity. The Warner Brothers - Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack - arrived in America as unschooled Jewish immigrants, yet they founded a studio that became the smartest, toughest, and most radical in all of Hollywood.

The Ultimate History of the '80s Teen Movie goes behind the scenes of a genre where cult hits mingled with studio blockbusters, where giants like Spielberg and Coppola rubbed shoulders with baby-faced first-timers, and where future superstars Sean, Demi, and Tom all got their big break. Music, comedy, and politics all play a part in the surprisingly complex history of the '80s teen movie. And while the films might have been aimed primarily at adolescents, the best tackle universal issues and remain relevant to all ages.

Walt Disney left behind big dreams when he died in 1966. Perhaps none was greater than the hope that his son-in-law, Ron Miller, would someday run his studio. Under Miller’s leadership, Disney expanded into new frontiers: global theme parks, computer animation, cable television, home video, and video games. Despite these innovations, Ron struggled to expand the Disney brand beyond its midcentury image of wholesome family entertainment, even as times and tastes evolved.

As the 100th anniversary of the fateful night approaches, Palmer follows up innumerable conflicting stories and theories that still, to this day, surround the doomed liner. Charles Herbert Lightoller, Palmer’s great uncle, was the highest-ranking surviving officer from the disaster. It was only after the great man’s death in 1952 that his sister, Gertrude, Palmer’s eccentric grandmother, began to hint to her young grandson of the contradictory accounts of both her brother’s supposed heroism and his suspect testimonies at the investigations into the sinking.

From King Kong to Candyman, the boundary-pushing genre of horror film has always been a site for provocative explorations of race in American popular culture. This book offers a comprehensive chronological survey of Black horror from the 1890s to present day. In this second edition, Robin R. Means Coleman expands upon the history of notable characterizations of Blackness in horror cinema, with new chapters spanning the 1960s, 2000s, and 2010s to the present, and examines key levels of Black participation on screen and behind the camera. The book addresses a full range of Black horror films.

There is a common belief that we live in unprecedented times, that people are too sensitive today, that nobody objected to the actions of actors, comedians, and filmmakers in the past. Modern pundits would have us believe that Americans of a previous generation had tougher skin and seldom complained. But does this argument hold up to scrutiny? In Outrageous, celebrated cultural historian Kliph Nesteroff demonstrates that Americans have been objecting to entertainment for nearly two hundred years, sometimes rationally, often irrationally.

Robert Altman—visionary director, hard-partying hedonist, eccentric family man, Hollywood legend—comes roaring to life in this rollicking cinematic biography, told in a chorus of voices that can only be called Altmanesque. His outsized life and unique career are revealed as never before...

It's one of the greatest movie romances of all time. Yet the friction and controversy surrounding The Way We Were was so enormous, the movie was nearly never made at all. Drawing on Laurents's and Pollack's unpublished writings, as well as interviews with Streisand, Redford, and other key players, this is the definitive account of a film that changed the rules of moviemaking and defined romance ever since.

Lust For Life is Irving Stone's biographical novel about the life of the Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh...

From cinema’s most distinguished historian and critic comes a masterful one volume look at the whole sweep of movie history—perfect for fans of iconic films and modern classics, from Citizen Kane to Anora. There are few greater film lovers than David Thomson who, over the course of fifty...

"What Do You Mean, Murder?" dives deep into the making of Clue and walks fans through the movie they know and love. From producer Debra Hill's original idea of Detective Parker bumbling around a mansion to Carrie Fisher's casting as Miss Scarlet, from Madeline Kahn's iconic "flames" ad-lib to the legendary deleted fourth ending, it's all here.

On December 26, 1973, The Exorcist was released. Within days it had become legend. Moviegoers braved hours-long lines in winter weather to see it. Some audience members famously fainted or vomited. Half a century later, the movie that both inspired and transcends the modern horror genre has lost none of its power to terrify and unsettle. The Exorcist Legacy reveals the complete story of this cultural phenomenon, from the real-life exorcism in 1949 Maryland that inspired William Peter Blatty's bestselling novel on which the movie is based, to its many sequels, prequels, TV series, and homages.

John Ford and John Wayne, two titans of classic film, made some of the most enduring movies of all time. The genre they defined—the Western—and the heroic archetype they built still matter today. For more than twenty years John Ford and John Wayne were a blockbuster Hollywood team...

Der große Erzähler Werner Herzog fragt nach der seltsamsten aller Erzählungen: der von der Wahrheit. Was ist wahr? In einer Welt, die durch Fake News, politische Manipulation und künstliche Intelligenz verunsichert ist, die auf kalte Fakten setzt und doch die Poesie und den Film erfunden hat, muss Wahrheit mehr als bloß stumpfe Empirie bedeuten. Von einem erfundenen Schlachtensieg des Pharao Ramses bis zum modernen Mythos der Entführung durch Außerirdische, von ekstatischen Momenten am Filmset bis zu seinen Begegnungen mit der Wirklichkeit durch tagelanges Gehen reiht Werner Herzog auf einmalige Weise faszinierende Überlegungen und Erinnerungen aneinander. Ein Hörbuch für alle, die sich wundern können.

In this concise, crisply written guide, Patricia Aufderheide takes listeners along the diverse paths of documentary history and charts the lively, often fierce debates among filmmakers and scholars about the best ways to represent reality and to tell the truths worth telling.

David Bordwell argues that the principles of visual storytelling created in the studio era are alive and well, even in today's bloated blockbusters. American filmmakers have created a durable tradition - one that we should not be ashamed to call artistic, and one that survives in both mainstream entertainment and niche-marketed indie cinema. Bordwell traces the continuity of this tradition in a wide array of films made since 1960.

This new edition of Bill Nichols' best-selling text provides an up-to-date introduction to the most important issues in documentary history and criticism. Designed for students in any field that makes use of visual evidence and persuasive strategies, Introduction to Documentary identifies the distinguishing qualities of documentary and teaches the viewer how to read documentary film. Each chapter takes up a discrete question, from "how did documentary filmmaking get started?" to "why are ethical issues central to documentary filmmaking?"

Here is the epic human drama behind the making of the five movies nominated for Best Picture in 1967 - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, The Graduate, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Dolittle, and Bonnie and Clyde - and through them, the larger story of the cultural revolution that transformed Hollywood and America forever.

Lovers of old-time radio hold a special place in their heart for Agnes Moorehead. She was one of the busiest and most definitive actresses of that medium. The bottom line is that Agnes Moorehead is one of the few actresses who succeeded in every realm of show business: stage, radio, film, and television. This impressive biography proves to listeners and scholars alike that she was much more than the witch of Endor! This is the second edition of the best-selling book, with new material!

The eye-opening true story of Tom Cruise, from #1 New York Times bestselling biographer Andrew Morton. Everyone knows Tom Cruise--or at least what he wants us to know. We know that he overcame a difficult childhood to star in astonishing array of blockbusters: Top Gun, Rain Man, Born on the...