Lighting performs essential functions in Hollywood films, enhancing the glamour, clarifying the action, and intensifying the mood. Examining every facet of this understated art form, from the glowing backlights of the silent period to the shaded alleys of film noir, Patrick Keating affirms the role of Hollywood lighting as a distinct, compositional force. Closely analyzing Girl Shy (1924), Anna Karenina (1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and T-Men (1947), along with other brilliant classics, Keating describes the unique problems posed by these films and the innovative ways cinematographers handled the challenge. Once dismissed as crank-turning laborers, these early cinematographers became skillful professional artists by carefully balancing the competing demands of story, studio, and star. Enhanced by more than one hundred illustrations, this volume counters the notion that style took a backseat to storytelling in Hollywood film, proving that the lighting practices of the studio era were anything but neutral, uniform, and invisible. Cinematographers were masters of multifunctionality and negotiation, honing their craft to achieve not only realistic fantasy but also pictorial artistry.

Lighting performs essential functions in Hollywood films, enhancing the glamour, clarifying the action, and intensifying the mood. Examining every facet of this understated art form, from the glowing backlights of the silent period to the shaded alleys of film noir, Patrick Keating affirms the role of Hollywood lighting as a distinct, compositional force. Closely analyzing Girl Shy (1924), Anna Karenina (1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and T-Men (1947), along with other brilliant classics, Keating describes the unique problems posed by.

1940 to 1950 was the heyday of Film Noir, that elusive mixture of stark film lighting and even starker emotions. Many films of that period explored the dark side of society - gangsters, hoodlums, prostitutes and killers - and showed how it corrupted the good and the beautiful. Even worse, sometimes the so called good and the beautiful revealed themselves to be even sicker than the dregs of society.

This text identifies a handful of plot elements that consistently recur within film noir and analyses in depth the memorable pictures that, while being vivid prototypes of certain cinematics themes, bend and break their moulds to find new ways to enthral and frighten us.

Interviews with six photographers in Paris in 1972:- Nestor Almendros - Ghislain Cloquet - Henri Decae - Willy Kurant - Jean Rabier - Edmond Richard.

"Hollywood from A to Z--over 700 entries; the history of filmmaking; behind-the-scenes information; the stars, the films, the studios; tinsel town terminology and anecdotes; plus 150 outstanding photos" -- Cover.

A comprehensive guide to Los Angeles, this text features accounts of all the attractions of the region, critical reviews of restaurants and accommodation for every price range, lively discussion of the city's history, and detailed neighbourhood and transport maps.