Almost all the CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD MOVIES discussed in this book are currently available on DVD. Many are sold by specialist stores such as Oldies. And now that vintage titles are being pressed on demand, theoretically they will never go out of print! However, an attempt has been made to include some of the classics that are not so well-known, as well as those that are more frequently aired on TV or are prominently featured in retail and mail order stores. Here, for example, are a few of the movie titles that begin with the letter "S" Seven Keys to Baldpate (1917), Seven Keys to Baldpate (1947), She Goes To War (1929), the Shining Adventure (1925), the Ship of Lost Men (1929), Show-Off (1926), Silent Enemy (1930), Sky Bride (1932), Sky High (1922), Slums of New York (1932), the Smart Set (1928), Son of the Gods (1930), Speedway (1929), Spite Marriage (1929), the Squall (1929), Square Shoulders (1929), Stranger in Town (1932), Strictly Unconventional (1930), Sunset Trail (1932), Svengali (1931).

Thanks to DVD, a great number of silent films and early talkies are now available for home viewing. In fact, so many of these wonderful movies can now be purchased, rented or borrowed by classic motion picture fans that an up-to-date reference work to the best (and the middling and the worst) has become essential. In this comprehensive guide, fans and enthusiasts will find not only familiar titles like Lon Chaney's "Phantom of the Opera" or Douglas Fairbanks' "Thief of Bagdad" or Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last"; but the less familiar "Down to the Sea in Ships" (starring a young Clara Bow), "Evangeline" (Dolores Del Rio), "Stella Dallas" (Belle Bennett), "Monsieur Beaucaire" (Rudolph Valentino), Ford Sterling's "The Show-Off," and Al Jolson's "Big Boy," to mention just a few of the many hundreds of titles detailed in this massive book. 440 pages of insightful text! Over 110 wonderful photos!

A guide to 178 classic Hollywood movies from the 1920s and early 1930s, now available on DVD releases from both major and independent USA companies. These films feature both stars like Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, Lon Chaney, Louise Brooks, Charles Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Colleen Moore, Harold Lloyd, Gary Cooper, William Powell, Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Norma Shearer, Buster Keaton, Shirley Temple, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Colman, Lillian Gish, Marion Davies, and Wallace Beery, who are still top favorites with movie fans, as well as players like Laura La Plante, Charles Ray, Alice Terry, Pola Negri, Mary Miles Minter, Rod La Rocque, and Mabel Poulton who were also extraordinarily popular in their day. The book is illustrated with 105 well-chosen black-and-white photos from the author's private collection.

In this accessible introduction to early and silent cinema, which is currently enjoying a renaissance, both academically and in the popular imagination thanks to The Artist, Keith Withall provides both a comprehensive chronology of the period until the birth of sound and also a series of detailed case studies on the key films from the period – some well known (including Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, Eisenstein's Strike and Chaplin's The Kid), some perhaps less well familiar (including Murnau's The Last Laugh and Oscar Micheaux's Within Our Gates). As well as covering in detail the major film-making figures and nations of the period, the author also provides insights into the industry in less well documented areas. Throughout, the films and film-makers are placed in the context of rapid worldwide industrial change. (Please note this book is a revised and expanded version of Early and Silent Cinema: A Teacher's Guide, published by Auteur in 2007.)

The 1950's saw a major revolution on the movie front. In order to combat TV, the size of movies screens was changed forever. Unfortunately, there was no standard agreement as to what dimensions, the preferred new sized screen should be.

Taken as a whole, the sixteen remarkable films discussed in this provocative new volume of essays represent the brilliant creativity that flourished in the name of German cinema between the wars. Encompassing early gangster pictures and science fiction, avant-garde and fantasy films, sexual intrigues and love stories, the classics of silent cinema and Germany's first talkies, each chapter illuminates, among other things: the technological advancements of a given film, its detailed production history, its critical reception over time, and the place it occupies within the larger history of the German studio and of Weimar cinema in general. Readers can revisit the careers of such acclaimed directors as F. W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, and G. W. Pabst and examine the debuts of such international stars as Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks, and Marlene Dietrich. Training a keen eye on Weimer cinema's unusual richness and formal innovation, this anthology is an essential guide to the revolutionary styles, genres, and aesthetics that continue to fascinate us today.

A camp lipsynched routine by three air stewards distracts unsuspecting passengers from the fact that their plane is to make a crash landing. Performance functions as a diversion from unsavoury realities. In this way, Pedro Almodóvar's 2013 film I'm So Excited adopts a strategy of subversive anti-establishment censor-evading filmmaking practices under Franco. Contemporary cinematic performance in Spain intersects with politics to provide a platform for views and voices that do not conform to the dominant political narrative. An essential text for scholars, students and aficionados of Spanish cinema, Subversive Spanish Cinema: The Politics of Performance is the first single-authored monograph to focus on performance in this context. The book analyses interactions between performance and politics in technical and conceptual terms considering, for example, performance styles, the narrative role of performance and political interventions by actors such as Javier Bardem and Juan Diego Botto. Ultimately, Subversive Spanish Cinema: The Politics of Performance posits performance, within the specific context of contemporary Spanish cinema, as a politically-potent device and proposes that it is precisely for this reason that the arts have borne the brunt of aggressive austerity measures enforced by Spain's conservative government in recent years.

This book is a critical encyclopedia of silent European films currently available on DVD, laser disc, and VHS. It provides concise and accurate summaries of the films, evaluates the quality of the prints, discusses the changing reputations of both films and filmmakers, and considers how the techniques developed during the silent period continue to influence filmmaking today. The book cites contemporary and recent criticism of the films and includes an extensive bibliography as well as a list of films by director. Numerous photos are also included.

THE ITALIAN CINEMA BOOK is an essential guide to the most important historical, aesthetic and cultural aspects of Italian cinema, from 1895 to the present day. With contributions from 39 leading international scholars, the book is structured around six chronologically organised sections: THE SILENT ERA (1895–22) THE BIRTH OF THE TALKIES AND THE FASCIST ERA (1922–45) POSTWAR CINEMATIC CULTURE (1945–59) THE GOLDEN AGE OF ITALIAN CINEMA (1960–80) AN AGE OF CRISIS, TRANSITION AND CONSOLIDATION (1981 TO THE PRESENT) NEW DIRECTIONS IN CRITICAL APPROACHES TO ITALIAN CINEMA Acutely aware of the contemporary 'rethinking' of Italian cinema history, Peter Bondanella has brought together a diverse range of essays which represent the cutting edge of Italian film theory and criticism. This provocative collection will provide the film student, scholar or enthusiast with a comprehensive understanding of the major developments in what might be called twentieth-century Italy's greatest and most original art form.