Part One of this entertaining exploration of screwball comedies and their later offspring begins in the mid-1930s discussing the careers of popular stars such as Cary Grant and Carole Lombard and well-known supporting players like Walter Connally and Ralph Bellamy (also Asta the dog, top animal star of the 1930s!). Writers and directors are given their due: Frank Capra, Howard Hawks and Preston Sturges, just to name a few. Part Two, the meat of the book, takes an in depth look at the films, from the genre's inception (1934's It Happened One Night) to the recent 2003 Down with Love, and the stars that appear in them--Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Julia Roberts, Richard Gere--ending with some thoughts about the future.

Love at first sight, whirlwind marriages, break-ups, divorces, remarriage... What accounts for the enduring success of the Hollywood madcap comedies of the 1930s? Directed by masters of comedy (Hawks, LaCava, Leisen, Ruggles...) and featuring the decade's most iconic stars (Colbert, Dunne, Grant, Hepburn...), these films set romantic comedy standards for decades to come. Screwball comedy embarked on two challenging missions: to poke fun at established social norms and to undermine stereotypical depictions of gender roles, putting forward a discourse that postulated the possibility of equality between men and women. Grégoire Halbout's reexamination of screwball comedy provides a comprehensive overview of this (sub)genre, eschewing the auteurist approach and including “minor” works never before analyzed through the screwball lens. His book explains how these screwball stories met the expectations of a booming American middle class eager for the liberalization of morals, with daring plots, verbal humor and slapstick techniques. Building on the work of Cavell, Altman and Gehring, as well as international and French scholarship, Halbout's investigation unfolds in three parts. He first establishes a definition of Hollywood screwball comedy through a cross-sectional analysis of its socio-historical context and an in-depth examination of the genre. He then situates screwball comedy in relation to its institutional context. An exclusive study of archival material explains the emergence of a screwball aesthetic meant to subvert the prohibitions of the 1934 Hollywood Production Code through a verbal and visual rhetoric of diversion and mitigation. Finally, Halbout explores the social function of the genre's placement of romantic intimacy at the center of the public sphere and the democratic debate, confirming that screwball eccentricity upholds America's founding values: freedom of speech, free consent, and contractual engagement.

Movie is considered to be an important art form; films entertain, educate, enlighten and inspire audiences. Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as — in metonymy — the field in general. The origin of the name comes from the fact that photographic film (also called filmstock) has historically been the primary medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist — motion pictures (or just pictures or "picture"), the silver screen, photoplays, the cinema, picture shows, flicks — and commonly movies.

This is a comprehensive comparative analysis of the screwball comedy and film noir genres--two popular Hollywood staples that emerged around the same time. Despite their contrast in tone and theme, "Screwball" and "Noir" have many narrative elements in common. The author defines the two genres, discusses their historical development and inter-related conventions, and offers detailed comparative analyses of a number of films, among them The Lady Eve and His Girl Friday (screwballs), and Gilda and Sunset Blvd. (noirs).

During the 1930s, Austrian film production companies developed a process to navigate the competing demands of audiences in Nazi Germany and those found in broader Western markets. In Screening Transcendence, film historian Robert Dassanowsky explores how Austrian filmmakers during the Austrofascist period (1933–1938) developed two overlapping industries: "Aryanized" films for distribution in Germany, its largest market, and "Emigrantenfilm," which employed émigré and Jewish talent that appealed to international audiences. Through detailed archival research in both Vienna and the United States, Dassanowsky reveals what was culturally, socially, and politically at stake in these two simultaneous and overlapping film industries. Influenced by French auteurism, admired by Italian cinephiles, and ardently remade by Hollywood, these period Austrian films demonstrate a distinctive regional style mixed with transnational influences. Combining brilliant close readings of individual films with thoroughly informed historical and cultural observations, Dassanowsky presents the story of a nation and an industry mired in politics, power, and intrigue on the brink of Nazi occupation.

This book analyzes the evolution of film and television comedy from the 1930s through the present, defining five distinct periods and discussing the dominant comedic trends of each. Chapters cover the period spanning 1934 to 1942, defined by screwball comedies that offered distraction from the Great Depression; the suspense comedy, reflecting America's darker worldview during World War II; the 1950s battle-of-the-sexes comedy; the shift from the physical, exaggerated comedy of the 1950s to more realistic plotlines; and the new suspense comedy of the 1970s and 1980s, focusing on the popular "dumb cop" or "dumb spy" series along with modern remakes including 2006's The Pink Panther and 2008's Get Smart.

This guide for screenwriters and those interested in the screenwriting process has important information on every facet of the screenwriter's trade. Introductory chapters discuss skills essential for all screenwriters. The second part covers various options available to screenwriters (such as different genres, indie films, adaptation) with important methods for each. Part Three is a collection of revealing interviews by the author with several established and seasoned professionals. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Novelist, comics writer, scriptwriter, poet, occasional artist - a master of several genres and inadvertent leader of many cults - there are few creative avenues Neil Gaiman hasn't ventured down. From unforgettable books like The Ocean at the End of the Lane and American Gods to ground-breaking comics and graphic novels like The Sandman and Violent Cases; from big screen fantasies like Coraline to small screen epics like Doctor Who; and from short stories to songwriting, stage plays to radio plays, journalism to filmmaking, and all points in-between, The Art of Neil Gaiman is the first comprehensive, full-colour examination of Gaiman's work to date. Author Hayley Campbell, a close friend of Neil's since she was a small child, spent many months rummaging through Neil's attic to source the never-before-seen manuscripts, notes, cartoons, drawings and personal photographs for this book; these are complemented by artwork and sketches from all of his major works and his own intimate recollections. Each project is examined in turn, from genesis to fruition, and positioned in the wider narrative of Gaiman's creative life, affording unparalleled access to the inner workings of the writer's mind. Utterly comprehensive, lavishly illustrated, The Art of Neil Gaiman is the fully authorised account of the life and work of one of the greatest storytellers of all time.

Modern screen acting in English is dominated by two key figures: Method acting guru Lee Strasberg--who taught the "the art of experiencing" over "the art of representing"--and English theater titan Laurence Olivier, who once said of the Method's immersive approach, "try acting, it's so much easier." This book explores in detail the work of such method actors as Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn, Jack Nicholson and Jane Fonda, and charts the shift away from the more internally focused Strasberg-based acting of the 1970s, and towards the more "external" way of working, exemplified by the career of Meryl Streep in the 1980s.