Search

"All the President's Men" is a film analyzed by Christian Keathley and Robert B. Ray in their book. The authors argue that the film focuses on the experience of disorientation and uncertainty rather than the outcome of the investigation. The film, which follows the reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they investigate the Watergate scandal, recreates the feeling of being lost in a maze of clues and information. The book provides a close reading of the film's narrative structure, mise-en-scène, and cinematography, and argues for its status as an American classic. The authors also discuss the blend of art movie, classical studio-era, and New Hollywood elements in the film, as well as the deliberate choice to obscure and omit relevant story information. The book offers valuable insights for students of close reading methods and scholars of Hollywood history and style. [Extracted from the article]

Barry Keith Grant's book, "100 American Horror Films," explores the enduring presence of the horror genre throughout film history. The book features a selection of one hundred American horror films spanning from the 1910s to 2019, including notable examples such as "Colour out of Space," "Midsommar," and "The Wind." Grant's introduction defines the genre as addressing universal fears while also responding to historically and culturally specific anxieties. Each film entry in the book provides a concise summary of the plot, credits, an image from the film, and insights into its significance within the horror genre and its historical-cultural context. While some readers may disagree with certain omissions, the book offers a comprehensive overview of American horror films. Additionally, Anne Billson's book, "The Thing," provides an authoritative analysis of the film's subversive and uncompromising approach to horror. Both books serve as valuable resources for those interested in exploring the genre further. [Extracted from the article]

From episode one to the final credits, whether the audience saw threatened heroes and heroines, or impossible villains, serials of the 1910s were episodic cinematic entertainment known as 'cliffhangers.' Born of sensational melodrama and dime novels, the film serial and the 'thrills' it attempted to inspire was a complicated genre, a convergence of narrative forms. Such serials include The Exploits of Elaine (1914), Lucille Love, the Girl of Mystery (1914), The Perils of Pauline (1914), Zudora (1914), The Black Box (1915), The Crimson Stain Mystery (1916), The Iron Claw (1916), The Mysteries of Myra (1916), The House of Hate (1918), and The Trail of the Octopus (1919), among many others. Drawing upon trade publications and industry discourse, this essay explores the extensive influence of these serials on the horror film genre of the 1930s and beyond, examining codes and conventions that range from the supernatural to mad science/scientist, uncanny paintings to secret panels, poisonous concoctions to torture devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An examination of 'horror' in the silent period, one of many genres that is only supposed to have emerged in the 1930s. Through an analysis of press coverage, the article examines a clear vocabulary that was used to describe a specific 'type' of film at the time. It also illustrates that 'horror' was explicitly used as a generic noun to name this 'type' but that, given that 'horror' was also a negative term used in censorship campaigns, this term was often avoided, except when 'horror' was clearly understood as a 'hot' genre. Consequently, this genre was more commonly described as 'mystery,' a term that included both 'horror' and 'detective stories,' terms that were largely seen to be indistinguishable in the period, when both were understood as featuring investigations into the 'mysterious,' 'strange' and 'eerie.' In other words, 'mystery' staged a confrontation between rationality and irrationality and in a way that negotiated the perceived transitions from Victorianism to Modernity at the time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the imagination of disaster associated with the classic science-fiction films of the 1950s. Furthermore, it is concerned with an alternative perception of the potential atomic future in motion pictures. The motion picture industry has found it easy to inject atomic themes into their adaptations due to the dependency of humans in technology as well as the pursuit of scientific invention. Furthermore, the article compare the disaster plots of several motion pictures including "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "On The Beach," and "The War of the Worlds."