Details

ISBN-10: 1477315551
ISBN-13: 9781477315552
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publish Date: 07/02/2018
Dimensions: 9.00" L, 6.00" W, 1.00" H

The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz

Editor: Murray Pomerance

Paperback

Price: $29.95

Overview

Director Michael Curtiz was the mastermind behind some of the most iconic films of classical Hollywood–Casablanca, Yankee Doodle Dandy, The Sea Hawk, White Christmas, and Mildred Pierce, to name only a few. The most prolific and consistently successful Hollywood generalist with an all-embracing interest in different forms of narrative and spectacle, Curtiz made around a hundred films in an astonishing range of genres: action, biopics, melodramas/film noir, musicals, and westerns. But his important contributions to the history of American film have been overlooked because his broadly varied oeuvre does not present the unified vision of filmmaking that canonical criticism demands for the category of “auteur.”

Exploring his films and artistic practice from a variety of angles, including politics, gender, and genre, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz sheds new light on this underappreciated cinematic genius. Leading film studies scholars offer fresh appraisals of many of Curtiz’s most popular films, while also paying attention to neglected releases of substantial historical interest, such as Noah’s Ark, Night and Day, Virginia City, Black Fury, Mystery of the Wax Museum, and Female. Because Curtiz worked for so long and in so many genres, this analysis of his work becomes more than an author study of a notable director. Instead, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz effectively adds a major chapter to the history of Hollywood’s studio era, including its internationalism and the significant contributions of European émigrés.

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Reviews
2018 brings an aptly titled essay collection, The Many Cinemas of Michael Curtiz. . . Perhaps pointedly, none of the essayists focus on Casablanca (1942). Instead, The Many Cinemas examine genres Curtiz worked in, his handling of political messages and his relations with actors.– "Shepherd Express" (8/23/2018 12:00:00 AM)
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Details

ISBN-10: 1477315551
ISBN-13: 9781477315552
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Publish Date: 07/02/2018
Dimensions: 9.00" L, 6.00" W, 1.00" H
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