The American Movie E-Book

William K. Everson

• Herausgeber: Edizioni Savine
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION (1963) - One hundred years ago, seventy-five even, there were no movies at all. Today, they are accepted as a part of life, whether they are viewed in the movie theater or at home on the television screen.What happened to make movies accepted so quickly? The answer can be found, at least in part, in this broad survey of American film history and film art. Here is a discussion of the great film pioneers and great film landmarks, a look at technological changes, trends and cycles in movie making, a glance at the present and ahead to see where movies may be going.Beyond this, the book is also a guide, based on history and on a knowledge of what makes great films, to what a knowing movie viewer looks for when he watches a picture.It is a discussion of “film grammar,” of technique and of style in movie production, that makes the viewing of all movies, both old and new, a new adventure for the reader.

Leseprobe

THE AMERICAN MOVIE

written by William K. Everson

designed by Everett Aison

To BETTY BRONSON. One of the loveliest stars of the movies’ gentlest years.

New digital edition of:

THE AMERICAN MOVIE

by William K. Everson

© 1963 by William K. Everson

Copyright © 2016 - Edizioni Savine

email: [email protected]

ISBN 978-88-96365-82-3

CONTENTS

The American Movie

colophon

INTRODUCTION

A BEGINNING

The Great Train Robbery

THE FORMULATIVE YEARS

THE FIRST MASTERPIECES

The Birth of a Nation

Intolerance

THE INNOCENT YEARS

Griffith goes to France to make Hearts of the World

Broken Blossoms

Hell's Hinges: starring and directed by William S. Hart

THE TWENTIES

Greed (Director: Erich von Stroheim) With Gibson Gowland, Zasu Pitts, Jean Hersholt

Phantom of the Opera (Director: Rupert Julien) With Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry

The Big Parade (Director: King Vidor) With John Gilbert, Renee Adoree, Karl Dane

The Lost World (Directors: Harry Hoyt and Willis O’Brien) With Lewis Stone, Bessie Love, Wallace Beery

COMEDY IN THE 20’S

Buster Keaton in The General

The Navigator

The General

The Strong Man

Why Worry?

Hot Water

The Gold Rush

THE COMING OF SOUND

The Crowd: James Murray and Eleanor Boardman

All Quiet on the Western Front (Director: Lewis Milestone) With Lew Ayres Louis Wolheim, Raymond Griffith

THE THIRTIES

On With the Show: A Busby Berkeley musical

City Lights

Gone With the Wind: Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

King Kong

Scarface (Director: Howard Hawks) With Paul Muni, Karen Morley, George Raft, Osgood Perkins

Mutiny on the Bounty (Director: Frank Lloyd) With Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, Franchot Tone

THE FORTIES

The Best Years of Our Lives (Director: William Wyler) With Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews

Of Mice and Men (Director: Lewis Milestone) With Burgess Meredith, Betty Field, Lon Chaney Jr.

The Grapes of Wrath (Director: John Ford) With Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, John Carradine

Citizen Kane (Director: Orson Welles) With Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Ruth Warwick, George Colouris

The Treasure of Sierra Madre (Director: John Huston) With Humphrey Bogart, Walter Huston, Tim Holt

THE FIFTIES AND EARLY SIXTIES

99 River Street

Night of the Hunter (Director: Charles Laughton) With Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish, Shelley Winters, Peter Graves

Limelight (Director: Charles Chaplin) With Charles Chaplin, Claire Bloom, Sidney Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Snub Pollard

INTRODUCTION

This book is in no way intended as a comprehensive history of the movies. It is instead an introductory survey of American film history, dealing in general terms with the film pioneers, the great film landmarks, the technological changes through the years, and the different trends and cycles the movies have undergone.

Those interested in film history and/or film art today have a great advantage over those seeking information only ten years ago. Today there is a renewed interest in, and availability of, films of the past. Almost all of the films of the thirties are to be seen again, either in the theater or on television. Even many of the great silents have been revived. Most of the pictures mentioned in this book can be seen again today; not always easily it’s true; but they are there.

However, be forewarned. Television can offer a distorted view of films of the past. Many are so badly cut to fit into preplanned time slots that they are hardly representative of their original versions. Too, television is a great leveller—the good films seem much less good, and the bad films often seem much better than they are. A very talkative, static stage adaptation may seem good just because it is by its very nature well suited to the television screen. And a cheaply made film can have its cheapness hidden by the small screen. Conversely, the merits of a huge spectacle film, or one noted for its camera work, may be almost lost when the small television screen distorts and changes the original image. Certain comedies which depend on the steadily building laughter of a large audience and are paced to allow time for that laughter, seem curiously flat and unfunny on television. Participating audience reaction is often quite as important an ingredient as a key performance or outstanding photography.

So, if you study films on television, form your own opinions, but if a much praised film disappoints you, be prepared to withhold a final judgment until you can see it on a movie screen.