The American moviegoers of the 1940s and the decades afterwards never really had to worry about a shortage of new films hitting their neighborhood cinemas. There were plenty of movie companies, studios, and distribution organizations. Some movie companies are still in business, while others just disappeared or were sold and sold and sold again, while […]
Lonesome Melodies: The Lives and Music of the Stanley Brothers by David W. Johnson (2014)
“… In constant sorrow, all through his days….” Now, if that passage sounds familiar to you, you will probably like David Johnson’s deep and solid book on The Stanley Brothers. For that chorus is from a recording of the song “Man of Constant Sorrow,” originally done by Ralph Stanley in 1951 and the composition (which […]
Gene D. Phillips. Gangsters and G-Men on Screen. Crime Cinema … (2014)
When the first (real) talking movie was introduced in 1928 (Lights of New York) it was a gangster movie. The use of gangster lingo, and the sound of gunshots made the genre even more successful. The short, brisk exchanges of the underground characters added more to the illusion of authenticity; the first full-length gangster movie […]
The Book Cover in the Weimar Republic by Jürgen Holstein (ed.) (2015)
Berlin between the wars was a prospering and innovative capital unlike any other in the world. In 1927 alone Berlin was home to 929 publishing houses and put out a fourth of Germany’s entire book production. Book printing was also promoted by the many local newspapers and their respective hardware; to tap the full potential […]
The Hard-Boiled Female Detective Novel: A Study of a Popular … by William R. Klink (2014)
The detective novel/mystery novel is by far not a strictly male genre, meaning that there are not just male authors writing detective fiction about male investigators. Some of the authors of the early British mystery novels were female; there would be no Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple without Agatha Christie; and Dorothy L. Sayers is […]
From Radio to the Big Screen. Hollywood Films Featuring … by Hal Erickson (2014)
When stars like Bob Hope or Bing Crosby started their careers in the movies, they actually started over, since they already were highly successful through their earlier work for radio shows, drama, mystery and comedy. These old shows, home of many superior actors and great voices, today are mostly forgotten, and the programs will only […]
Steaming Into a Victorian Future by Julie Anne Taddeo and Cynthia J. Miller (eds.) (2014)
After all, Steampunk as a genre of literature, fashion, film or even music is a truly young being, hardly older than 30 years, if we consider William Gibson’s and Bruce Sterling’s novel The Difference Engine (1990) as one of the very earliest works of fiction now considered part of the movement and probably its kick […]
Saying It With Songs: Popular Music and the Coming of Sound to Hollywood … by Katherine Spring (2013
It may be hard for us today to imagine what moviegoers in the 1920s must have felt when they watched their first talkies in the cinemas. By now, there have been a number of movies describing just this peculiar sensation. But what the audience must have experienced when suddenly their movie stars uttered words could […]
Dream West. Politics and Religion in Cowboy Movies by Douglas Brode (2013)
The myth and cultural legacy of one of the most powerful American symbols, the cowboy, is at the center of Douglas Brode’s volume Dream West. While it is not so much the cowboy itself that is analyzed and put in relation to other national icons, it is the set of values and the way the […]