With no formal training as an actor, Welsh-born Ray Milland (1907-1986), a former trooper in the British Army's Household Cavalry, enjoyed a half-century career working alongside some of the great directors and stars from the Golden Age of cinema.
In the era of Hollywood now considered its Golden Age, there was no shortage of hard-luck stories--movie stars succumbed to mental illness, addiction, accidents, suicide, early death and more.
The period in film history between the regimentation of the Edison Trust and the vertical integration of the Studio System--roughly 1916 through 1920--was a time of structural and artistic experimentation for the American film industry.
Considered one of the finest performers in world cinema, Japanese actor Takashi Shimura (1905-1982) appeared in more than 300 stage, film and television roles during his five-decade career.
In sharp contrast to many 1960s science fiction films, with idealized views of space exploration, Ridley Scott's Alien (1979) terrified audiences, depicting a harrowing and doomed deep-space mission.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe--comprised of films, broadcast television and streaming series and digital shorts--has generated considerable fan engagement with its emphasis on socially relevant characters and plots.
Set in the American Southwest, "e;desert terror"e; films combine elements from horror, film noir and road movies to tell stories of isolation and violence.
Andy Clyde starred in the second-longest series of shorts at Columbia Pictures (after the Three Stooges), with nearly 80 productions from 1934 to 1956.
"e;Egyptomania,"e; the West's obsession with the strange and magnificent world of Ancient Egypt, has for centuries been reflected in architecture, literature and the performing arts.
Beginning with early Arab American playwright, poet and novelist Kahlil Gibran and concluding with contemporary playwright Yussef El Guindi, this book provides an historical overview and critical analysis of the plays, films and performances of self-identified Arab Americans.
This detailed chronological analysis of British World War II movies from 1939 until the present explores how films projected recognizable stereotypes of British national character and how the times in which a film was made shaped its perspectives.
Beloved, controversial, influential, the creator of such fascinating and award-winning films as My Own Private Idaho, Good Will Hunting, Elephant, and Milk, Gus Van Sant stands among the great international directors, equally at home in Hollywood and the avant-garde.
This book pairs close readings of some of the classic writings of existentialist philosophers with interpretations of films that reveal striking parallels to each of those texts, demonstrating their respective philosophies in action.
This book pairs close readings of some of the classic writings of existentialist philosophers with interpretations of films that reveal striking parallels to each of those texts, demonstrating their respective philosophies in action.
In 1945, a year when American crime films were apparently moving out on to the streets of contemporary Los Angeles and New York, one reviewer noted the emergence of a 'cycle of mystery and horror pictures placed in the gaslight era of the turn of the century.
