Claire Monk
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638246
- eISBN:
- 9780748651238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638246.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores Heritage Audience Survey respondents' conceptions of ‘quality’ in relation to the period films they watched, and their positioning in relation to the ‘literary’ pleasures ...
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This chapter explores Heritage Audience Survey respondents' conceptions of ‘quality’ in relation to the period films they watched, and their positioning in relation to the ‘literary’ pleasures offered by many period films (including, but not solely with reference to, literary adaptations), as well as attitudes and expectations in relation to adaptation itself. The function of period films as a substitute for reading classic novels or factual history, or going to the theatre, was given as a (or the) primary reason why the respondent enjoyed them. In addition to the ‘British cinema’ attitude statement, the questionnaire had pre-suggested two pleasures: ‘seeing leading British actors/actresses at their best’ and ‘pride in seeing British cinema at its best’ — which conflated the notions of ‘quality’ with ‘Britishness’. Many respondents associated American cinema with an inauthenticity not confined to period detail. National Trust subsamples' self-worded replies confirmed that at least some of them did indeed believe that recent, particularly post-1980, British period films and television dramas were superior to those of earlier decades, centrally due to their scrupulous ‘authenticity’.Less
This chapter explores Heritage Audience Survey respondents' conceptions of ‘quality’ in relation to the period films they watched, and their positioning in relation to the ‘literary’ pleasures offered by many period films (including, but not solely with reference to, literary adaptations), as well as attitudes and expectations in relation to adaptation itself. The function of period films as a substitute for reading classic novels or factual history, or going to the theatre, was given as a (or the) primary reason why the respondent enjoyed them. In addition to the ‘British cinema’ attitude statement, the questionnaire had pre-suggested two pleasures: ‘seeing leading British actors/actresses at their best’ and ‘pride in seeing British cinema at its best’ — which conflated the notions of ‘quality’ with ‘Britishness’. Many respondents associated American cinema with an inauthenticity not confined to period detail. National Trust subsamples' self-worded replies confirmed that at least some of them did indeed believe that recent, particularly post-1980, British period films and television dramas were superior to those of earlier decades, centrally due to their scrupulous ‘authenticity’.
Viola Shafik
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789774160653
- eISBN:
- 9781936190096
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- American University in Cairo Press
- DOI:
- 10.5743/cairo/9789774160653.003.0004
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Middle Eastern Studies
This chapter analyzes certain common genres and their relation to prevailing sociopolitical and cultural conditions in the Arab countries. From the conventions and subjects of the respective film ...
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This chapter analyzes certain common genres and their relation to prevailing sociopolitical and cultural conditions in the Arab countries. From the conventions and subjects of the respective film genres, it is possible to gather information about the refusal or rehabilitation of indigenous culture, about myths and symbols contributing to the formation of identity, as well as about attitudes toward Western ideology and ideas such as socialism, materialism, laicism, and individualism. For this purpose some of the genres—precisely, literary adaptations, realist and historical films, and cinéma d'auteur—that seem to contribute notably to the construction, or deconstruction, of certain effective political discourses are examined. The close relation between literature and cinema is not an Arab peculiarity, but an international phenomenon.Less
This chapter analyzes certain common genres and their relation to prevailing sociopolitical and cultural conditions in the Arab countries. From the conventions and subjects of the respective film genres, it is possible to gather information about the refusal or rehabilitation of indigenous culture, about myths and symbols contributing to the formation of identity, as well as about attitudes toward Western ideology and ideas such as socialism, materialism, laicism, and individualism. For this purpose some of the genres—precisely, literary adaptations, realist and historical films, and cinéma d'auteur—that seem to contribute notably to the construction, or deconstruction, of certain effective political discourses are examined. The close relation between literature and cinema is not an Arab peculiarity, but an international phenomenon.
Claire Monk
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638246
- eISBN:
- 9780748651238
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638246.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
The concept of ‘heritage cinema’ is now firmly established as an influential — as well as much-debated and contested — critical framework for the discussion of period or historical representation in ...
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The concept of ‘heritage cinema’ is now firmly established as an influential — as well as much-debated and contested — critical framework for the discussion of period or historical representation in film, most prominently with reference to British heritage and ‘post-heritage’ film successes since the 1980s, but also to comparable examples from Europe, North America, and beyond. These successes have ranged from Merchant Ivory's A Room with a View, Maurice, Howards End and The Remains of the Day, via Jane Austen adaptations such as Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility to post-heritage adaptations such as Sally Potter's Orlando. Yet the very idea of the heritage film has rested on untested assumptions about its audiences. This book aims to break new ground in the scholarship on contemporary period films, and makes a new contribution to the growing field of film-audience studies, by presenting the first empirically based study of the audiences for quality period films. It engages directly with two highly contrasting sections of these film audiences, surveyed in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, to explore their identities, their wider patterns of film taste, and above all their attitudes and pleasures — in relation to the period films they enjoy, and on issues central to debates around the heritage film, literary adaptation and cultural value — with unpredicted results.Less
The concept of ‘heritage cinema’ is now firmly established as an influential — as well as much-debated and contested — critical framework for the discussion of period or historical representation in film, most prominently with reference to British heritage and ‘post-heritage’ film successes since the 1980s, but also to comparable examples from Europe, North America, and beyond. These successes have ranged from Merchant Ivory's A Room with a View, Maurice, Howards End and The Remains of the Day, via Jane Austen adaptations such as Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility to post-heritage adaptations such as Sally Potter's Orlando. Yet the very idea of the heritage film has rested on untested assumptions about its audiences. This book aims to break new ground in the scholarship on contemporary period films, and makes a new contribution to the growing field of film-audience studies, by presenting the first empirically based study of the audiences for quality period films. It engages directly with two highly contrasting sections of these film audiences, surveyed in the United Kingdom in the late 1990s, to explore their identities, their wider patterns of film taste, and above all their attitudes and pleasures — in relation to the period films they enjoy, and on issues central to debates around the heritage film, literary adaptation and cultural value — with unpredicted results.
Claire Monk
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638246
- eISBN:
- 9780748651238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638246.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter looks at Heritage Audience Survey respondents' self-worded testimonies to explore what these — and wider survey evidence — revealed about their viewing positions, film tastes, attitudes ...
More
This chapter looks at Heritage Audience Survey respondents' self-worded testimonies to explore what these — and wider survey evidence — revealed about their viewing positions, film tastes, attitudes and expectations in relation to period films (including heritage films), as well as their dispositions and orientations in relation to a variety of critical questions around ‘heritage film’. Respondents were invited to express their views in their own words in response to open questions asking what they most enjoyed, or did not enjoy, about the period films they watched. This analysis also draws upon two multiple-choice elements in the survey questionnaire: a list of twenty-eight pre-suggested ‘pleasures’ (visual pleasures and pleasures of narrative), which respondents might hypothetically find in period films, and a list of seventy-four attitude statements, expressing a range of views, opinions or positions in relation to period films, ‘quality’ literary adaptations, and the suppositions of existing discourses around these. Finally, the chapter discusses the discourse of authenticity as well as pleasures of engagement and disengagement.Less
This chapter looks at Heritage Audience Survey respondents' self-worded testimonies to explore what these — and wider survey evidence — revealed about their viewing positions, film tastes, attitudes and expectations in relation to period films (including heritage films), as well as their dispositions and orientations in relation to a variety of critical questions around ‘heritage film’. Respondents were invited to express their views in their own words in response to open questions asking what they most enjoyed, or did not enjoy, about the period films they watched. This analysis also draws upon two multiple-choice elements in the survey questionnaire: a list of twenty-eight pre-suggested ‘pleasures’ (visual pleasures and pleasures of narrative), which respondents might hypothetically find in period films, and a list of seventy-four attitude statements, expressing a range of views, opinions or positions in relation to period films, ‘quality’ literary adaptations, and the suppositions of existing discourses around these. Finally, the chapter discusses the discourse of authenticity as well as pleasures of engagement and disengagement.
Claire Monk
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748638246
- eISBN:
- 9780748651238
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748638246.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter analyses the demographic backgrounds of respondents of the Heritage Audience Survey and a wider range of indicators of identity, with some comparative reference to the demographics of ...
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This chapter analyses the demographic backgrounds of respondents of the Heritage Audience Survey and a wider range of indicators of identity, with some comparative reference to the demographics of the wider cinema audience in the 1990s (and the thinner existing evidence on the demographics of film audiences in the United Kingdom for specific period films) as established in the limited publicly available industry sources. The chapter identifies the distinguishing features of the two subsamples, highlighting those most resonant in relation to the heritage-film debate, and those of likely relevance in interpreting and understanding respondents' particular tastes, orientations and attitudes in relation to period films. Mindful of the very specific links between class fraction, class identity and educational capital on the one hand, and ‘cultural capital’, cultural preferences and formation of film tastes on the other, this chapter takes an interest in a varied range of indicators of respondents' identities — from self-reported sexual orientation to minutiae of schooling, university types, literary adaptations and heritage films, and occupational cultures.Less
This chapter analyses the demographic backgrounds of respondents of the Heritage Audience Survey and a wider range of indicators of identity, with some comparative reference to the demographics of the wider cinema audience in the 1990s (and the thinner existing evidence on the demographics of film audiences in the United Kingdom for specific period films) as established in the limited publicly available industry sources. The chapter identifies the distinguishing features of the two subsamples, highlighting those most resonant in relation to the heritage-film debate, and those of likely relevance in interpreting and understanding respondents' particular tastes, orientations and attitudes in relation to period films. Mindful of the very specific links between class fraction, class identity and educational capital on the one hand, and ‘cultural capital’, cultural preferences and formation of film tastes on the other, this chapter takes an interest in a varied range of indicators of respondents' identities — from self-reported sexual orientation to minutiae of schooling, university types, literary adaptations and heritage films, and occupational cultures.
Hsiu-Chuang Deppman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833732
- eISBN:
- 9780824870782
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833732.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
Contemporary Chinese films are popular with audiences worldwide, but a key reason for their success has gone unnoticed: many of the films are adapted from brilliant literary works. This book is the ...
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Contemporary Chinese films are popular with audiences worldwide, but a key reason for their success has gone unnoticed: many of the films are adapted from brilliant literary works. This book is the first to put these landmark films in the context of their literary origins and explore how the best Chinese directors adapt fictional narratives and styles for film. The book argues that the rise of cinema in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in the late 1980s was partly fueled by burgeoning literary movements. Fifth Generation director Zhang Yimou’s highly acclaimed films Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, and To Live are built on the experimental works of Mo Yan, Su Tong, and Yu Hua, respectively. Hong Kong new wave’s Ann Hui and Stanley Kwan capitalized on the irresistible visual metaphors of Eileen Chang’s postrealism. Hou Xiaoxian’s new Taiwan cinema turned to fiction by Huang Chunming and Zhu Tianwen for fine-grained perspectives on class and gender relations. The seven in-depth studies include a diverse array of forms (cinematic adaptation of literature, literary adaptation of film, auto-adaptation, and non-narrative adaptation) and a variety of genres (martial arts, melodrama, romance, autobiography, documentary drama). Complementing this formal diversity is a geographical range that far exceeds the cultural, linguistic, and physical boundaries of China. The directors represented here also work in the United States and Europe and reflect the growing international resources of Chinese-language cinema.Less
Contemporary Chinese films are popular with audiences worldwide, but a key reason for their success has gone unnoticed: many of the films are adapted from brilliant literary works. This book is the first to put these landmark films in the context of their literary origins and explore how the best Chinese directors adapt fictional narratives and styles for film. The book argues that the rise of cinema in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in the late 1980s was partly fueled by burgeoning literary movements. Fifth Generation director Zhang Yimou’s highly acclaimed films Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, and To Live are built on the experimental works of Mo Yan, Su Tong, and Yu Hua, respectively. Hong Kong new wave’s Ann Hui and Stanley Kwan capitalized on the irresistible visual metaphors of Eileen Chang’s postrealism. Hou Xiaoxian’s new Taiwan cinema turned to fiction by Huang Chunming and Zhu Tianwen for fine-grained perspectives on class and gender relations. The seven in-depth studies include a diverse array of forms (cinematic adaptation of literature, literary adaptation of film, auto-adaptation, and non-narrative adaptation) and a variety of genres (martial arts, melodrama, romance, autobiography, documentary drama). Complementing this formal diversity is a geographical range that far exceeds the cultural, linguistic, and physical boundaries of China. The directors represented here also work in the United States and Europe and reflect the growing international resources of Chinese-language cinema.
Maria Vinogradova
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- September 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780748656349
- eISBN:
- 9780748684274
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748656349.003.0007
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Amateur film studio “Yug-Film” existed in the remote Russian town of Buguruslan for about four decades from 1957. During the years of its existence Yug-Film produced over 15 films, eight of them ...
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Amateur film studio “Yug-Film” existed in the remote Russian town of Buguruslan for about four decades from 1957. During the years of its existence Yug-Film produced over 15 films, eight of them feature-length. These films were mainly screen adaptation of Russian classical literature - Chekhov, Paustovsky and Pushkin. Far from the ambitious world of major studio cinema, or from the cultural institutions of Moscow and Leningrad, the community of Buguruslan created their films to express their affection for the classics - a naïve and selfless pursuit that demonstrates the strong presence of the two “most important arts,” literature and cinema, at all the levels of Russian culture. The work of “Yug-Film” is unusual in that the studio did not rely on trade-unions for funding at the time when amateur cinema in the Soviet Union existed on the balance of the huge state-run machine developed to promote amateur arts and filmmaking in particular.Less
Amateur film studio “Yug-Film” existed in the remote Russian town of Buguruslan for about four decades from 1957. During the years of its existence Yug-Film produced over 15 films, eight of them feature-length. These films were mainly screen adaptation of Russian classical literature - Chekhov, Paustovsky and Pushkin. Far from the ambitious world of major studio cinema, or from the cultural institutions of Moscow and Leningrad, the community of Buguruslan created their films to express their affection for the classics - a naïve and selfless pursuit that demonstrates the strong presence of the two “most important arts,” literature and cinema, at all the levels of Russian culture. The work of “Yug-Film” is unusual in that the studio did not rely on trade-unions for funding at the time when amateur cinema in the Soviet Union existed on the balance of the huge state-run machine developed to promote amateur arts and filmmaking in particular.
Ben McCann
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719091148
- eISBN:
- 9781526124111
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719091148.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This book is the first ever English-language study of Julien Duvivier (1896-1967), once considered one of the world’s great film filmmakers. It provides new contextual and analytical readings of his ...
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This book is the first ever English-language study of Julien Duvivier (1896-1967), once considered one of the world’s great film filmmakers. It provides new contextual and analytical readings of his films that identify his key themes and techniques, trace patterns of continuity and change, and explore critical assessments of his work over time. Throughout a five-decade career, Duvivier zigzagged between multiple genres – film noir, comedy, literary adaptation – and made over sixty films. His career intersects with important historical moments in French cinema, like the arrival of sound film, the development of the ‘poetic realism’, the exodus to America during the German Occupation, the working within the Hollywood studio system in the 1940s, and the return to France and to a much-changed film landscape in the 1950s.
Often dismissed as a marginal figure in French film history, this groundbreaking book illustrates Duvivier’s eclecticism, technical efficiency and visual fluency in films such as Panique (1946) and Voici le temps des assassins (1956) alongside more familiar works like La Belle Equipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937). It will particularly appeal to scholars and students of French cinema looking for examples of a director who could comfortably straddle the realms of the popular and the auteur.Less
This book is the first ever English-language study of Julien Duvivier (1896-1967), once considered one of the world’s great film filmmakers. It provides new contextual and analytical readings of his films that identify his key themes and techniques, trace patterns of continuity and change, and explore critical assessments of his work over time. Throughout a five-decade career, Duvivier zigzagged between multiple genres – film noir, comedy, literary adaptation – and made over sixty films. His career intersects with important historical moments in French cinema, like the arrival of sound film, the development of the ‘poetic realism’, the exodus to America during the German Occupation, the working within the Hollywood studio system in the 1940s, and the return to France and to a much-changed film landscape in the 1950s.
Often dismissed as a marginal figure in French film history, this groundbreaking book illustrates Duvivier’s eclecticism, technical efficiency and visual fluency in films such as Panique (1946) and Voici le temps des assassins (1956) alongside more familiar works like La Belle Equipe (1936) and Pépé le Moko (1937). It will particularly appeal to scholars and students of French cinema looking for examples of a director who could comfortably straddle the realms of the popular and the auteur.
Ben McCann
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780719091148
- eISBN:
- 9781526124111
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719091148.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter will look at Duvivier’s first forays into filmmaking, and chart the development of the Duvivier ‘touch’ over a decade of working in silent film. It will explore the visual aspects of the ...
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This chapter will look at Duvivier’s first forays into filmmaking, and chart the development of the Duvivier ‘touch’ over a decade of working in silent film. It will explore the visual aspects of the silent films and allow continuities and consistencies to be traced between these early works to show a director developing a singular style and then refining it in the later, more technically accomplished films post-1930. In 1925, Duvivier joined the production company 'Film d’Art’, where he worked for nine years, and where he honed his expertise on collaborating groups of artists and technicians on a number of consecutive projects. Such collaborative working methods would serve him well throughout his career. The chapter also pay close attention to those silent films which had a religious subject - Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes (1924), L’Agonie de Jérusalem (1927) and La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin (1929) - a film about the Carmelite saint Thérèse of Lisieux. The chapter concludes with an in-depth look at Duvivier’s most famous silent film, Au Bonheur des dames (1930), an adaptation of Emile Zola’s classic novel, starring Dita Parlo.Less
This chapter will look at Duvivier’s first forays into filmmaking, and chart the development of the Duvivier ‘touch’ over a decade of working in silent film. It will explore the visual aspects of the silent films and allow continuities and consistencies to be traced between these early works to show a director developing a singular style and then refining it in the later, more technically accomplished films post-1930. In 1925, Duvivier joined the production company 'Film d’Art’, where he worked for nine years, and where he honed his expertise on collaborating groups of artists and technicians on a number of consecutive projects. Such collaborative working methods would serve him well throughout his career. The chapter also pay close attention to those silent films which had a religious subject - Credo ou la tragédie de Lourdes (1924), L’Agonie de Jérusalem (1927) and La Vie miraculeuse de Thérèse Martin (1929) - a film about the Carmelite saint Thérèse of Lisieux. The chapter concludes with an in-depth look at Duvivier’s most famous silent film, Au Bonheur des dames (1930), an adaptation of Emile Zola’s classic novel, starring Dita Parlo.
Ian Cornelius
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- March 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780199587230
- eISBN:
- 9780191820410
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587230.003.0014
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, Literary Studies: Classical, Early, and Medieval
Written on the cusp of antiquity and the Middle Ages, Boethius' treatise De consolatione philosophiae was among the most influential works in the literary culture of medieval Europe. This chapter ...
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Written on the cusp of antiquity and the Middle Ages, Boethius' treatise De consolatione philosophiae was among the most influential works in the literary culture of medieval Europe. This chapter offers a narrative history of its reception in Old and Middle English, with contextualizing discussion of the medieval Latin and French traditions. The Consolatio first emerged into English literature around the turn of the tenth century, in a strikingly independent translation traditionally ascribed to King Alfred. A second great episode of Boethian literature began with Chaucer's writings late in the fourteenth century. Both early and late, the text was valued as a compendium of poetry and classical lore; an authoritative synthesis of ancient philosophy; a model of dialectical method; and an artfully crafted first-person narrative of embattled virtue. The focus of this chapter is on the textual forms of the Consolatio's reception—commentary, adaptation, and translation—and on reinterpretations of its ethical teaching.Less
Written on the cusp of antiquity and the Middle Ages, Boethius' treatise De consolatione philosophiae was among the most influential works in the literary culture of medieval Europe. This chapter offers a narrative history of its reception in Old and Middle English, with contextualizing discussion of the medieval Latin and French traditions. The Consolatio first emerged into English literature around the turn of the tenth century, in a strikingly independent translation traditionally ascribed to King Alfred. A second great episode of Boethian literature began with Chaucer's writings late in the fourteenth century. Both early and late, the text was valued as a compendium of poetry and classical lore; an authoritative synthesis of ancient philosophy; a model of dialectical method; and an artfully crafted first-person narrative of embattled virtue. The focus of this chapter is on the textual forms of the Consolatio's reception—commentary, adaptation, and translation—and on reinterpretations of its ethical teaching.
Nathan Platte
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199371112
- eISBN:
- 9780199371136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199371112.003.0004
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
After accepting an excellent offer from MGM in 1933, Selznick fostered a relationship with MGM composer Herbert Stothart. As with Steiner at RKO, Selznick’s penchant for longer scores helped ...
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After accepting an excellent offer from MGM in 1933, Selznick fostered a relationship with MGM composer Herbert Stothart. As with Steiner at RKO, Selznick’s penchant for longer scores helped jump-start the composer’s career. In contrast to Steiner’s drive for wholly “original” scores at RKO, however, Stothart preferred interweaving classical selections—a method born of the silent era that Selznick found attractive, even preferable. This chapter focuses on Stothart’s creative arranging of works by Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and others in a series of literary adaptations, including Night Flight (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), and A Tale of Two Cities (1935). Through these films, Selznick and Stothart fashioned a music model for the prestige film that Selznick carried forward in his independent productions.Less
After accepting an excellent offer from MGM in 1933, Selznick fostered a relationship with MGM composer Herbert Stothart. As with Steiner at RKO, Selznick’s penchant for longer scores helped jump-start the composer’s career. In contrast to Steiner’s drive for wholly “original” scores at RKO, however, Stothart preferred interweaving classical selections—a method born of the silent era that Selznick found attractive, even preferable. This chapter focuses on Stothart’s creative arranging of works by Beethoven, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and others in a series of literary adaptations, including Night Flight (1933), David Copperfield (1935), Vanessa: Her Love Story (1935), Anna Karenina (1935), and A Tale of Two Cities (1935). Through these films, Selznick and Stothart fashioned a music model for the prestige film that Selznick carried forward in his independent productions.
John Cunningham
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231171991
- eISBN:
- 9780231850704
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231171991.003.0006
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter focuses on Hungarian director István Szabó's so-called Mitteleuropa trilogy: Mephisto (1981), Colonel Redl (1985), and Hanussen (1988). Szabó has protested against the widely held ...
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This chapter focuses on Hungarian director István Szabó's so-called Mitteleuropa trilogy: Mephisto (1981), Colonel Redl (1985), and Hanussen (1988). Szabó has protested against the widely held assumption that Mephisto, Colonel Redl, and Hanussen make up a trilogy. They nevertheless share a number of important elements, thematically, historically, stylistically and in terms of personnel. Whether taken as a whole or considered separately, these three feature films constitute a major cinematic examination, treatment and engagement with the individual and his or her place within the troubled history of Central Europe. The films are also a consolidation and development of the shift away from a mode of filmmaking which worked within and sometimes experimented with various forms of New Wave and modernist practices, to a more transparent and linear style which hovers somewhere between classical Hollywood, commercial art cinema, literary adaptation and, at times, historical costume drama.Less
This chapter focuses on Hungarian director István Szabó's so-called Mitteleuropa trilogy: Mephisto (1981), Colonel Redl (1985), and Hanussen (1988). Szabó has protested against the widely held assumption that Mephisto, Colonel Redl, and Hanussen make up a trilogy. They nevertheless share a number of important elements, thematically, historically, stylistically and in terms of personnel. Whether taken as a whole or considered separately, these three feature films constitute a major cinematic examination, treatment and engagement with the individual and his or her place within the troubled history of Central Europe. The films are also a consolidation and development of the shift away from a mode of filmmaking which worked within and sometimes experimented with various forms of New Wave and modernist practices, to a more transparent and linear style which hovers somewhere between classical Hollywood, commercial art cinema, literary adaptation and, at times, historical costume drama.
Frank Noack
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167008
- eISBN:
- 9780813167794
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167008.003.0010
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter deals with Harlan’s switch from fast-paced comedies to high-minded, brooding art films. Maria, die Magd (Maria, the maid, 1936) is both a showcase for his wife Hilde Körber, who has ...
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This chapter deals with Harlan’s switch from fast-paced comedies to high-minded, brooding art films. Maria, die Magd (Maria, the maid, 1936) is both a showcase for his wife Hilde Körber, who has never acted in a film before, and an exploitation of her intense humorlessness that borders on hysteria. It also features a future Harlan trademark, a rescue operation at night on a lake, something Harlan himself experienced as a child. As expected, it is more an artistic than a commercial success, but it brings Harlan to the attention of two internationally famous stars, silent-screen legends Lil Dagover and Emil Jannings. Dagover, who enjoys a measure of independence as a producer-actress, chooses Harlan to direct an adaptation a Leo Tolstoy’s novel, Die Kreutzersonate (The Kreutzer Sonata, 1937), which despite its unremitting bleakness turns out to be a popular success and is distributed by UFA, Germany’s most prestigious film company.Less
This chapter deals with Harlan’s switch from fast-paced comedies to high-minded, brooding art films. Maria, die Magd (Maria, the maid, 1936) is both a showcase for his wife Hilde Körber, who has never acted in a film before, and an exploitation of her intense humorlessness that borders on hysteria. It also features a future Harlan trademark, a rescue operation at night on a lake, something Harlan himself experienced as a child. As expected, it is more an artistic than a commercial success, but it brings Harlan to the attention of two internationally famous stars, silent-screen legends Lil Dagover and Emil Jannings. Dagover, who enjoys a measure of independence as a producer-actress, chooses Harlan to direct an adaptation a Leo Tolstoy’s novel, Die Kreutzersonate (The Kreutzer Sonata, 1937), which despite its unremitting bleakness turns out to be a popular success and is distributed by UFA, Germany’s most prestigious film company.
Nathan Platte
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199371112
- eISBN:
- 9780199371136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199371112.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
In 1935, Selznick left MGM to become an independent producer. His company, Selznick International Pictures, was to specialize in prestige films like those he had produced at MGM. His first project as ...
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In 1935, Selznick left MGM to become an independent producer. His company, Selznick International Pictures, was to specialize in prestige films like those he had produced at MGM. His first project as an independent, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), emphasized this continuity. Like David Copperfield, one of his last films at MGM, Fauntleroy was a sentimental adaptation of a nineteenth-century novel depicting a boy’s coming of age. Selznick International Pictures, however, had to find a different composer. Because Herbert Stothart was contractually bound to MGM, Selznick borrowed previous collaborator Max Steiner from RKO as chief music director and composer for the new company. Selznick and Steiner worked well together on Fauntleroy and the exotically situated The Garden of Allah (1936). Mutual goodwill, however, dissolved on A Star Is Born (1937), for which Selznick rejected much of Steiner’s music. The resultant break forced Selznick to expand his circle of preferred composers.Less
In 1935, Selznick left MGM to become an independent producer. His company, Selznick International Pictures, was to specialize in prestige films like those he had produced at MGM. His first project as an independent, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936), emphasized this continuity. Like David Copperfield, one of his last films at MGM, Fauntleroy was a sentimental adaptation of a nineteenth-century novel depicting a boy’s coming of age. Selznick International Pictures, however, had to find a different composer. Because Herbert Stothart was contractually bound to MGM, Selznick borrowed previous collaborator Max Steiner from RKO as chief music director and composer for the new company. Selznick and Steiner worked well together on Fauntleroy and the exotically situated The Garden of Allah (1936). Mutual goodwill, however, dissolved on A Star Is Born (1937), for which Selznick rejected much of Steiner’s music. The resultant break forced Selznick to expand his circle of preferred composers.
Nathan Platte
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- November 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199371112
- eISBN:
- 9780199371136
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780199371112.003.0015
- Subject:
- Music, Popular, History, American
Understanding the musical collaboration behind Selznick’s films does not require embracing every one of the producer’s decisions—some missed their mark. But Selznick’s productions do invite a ...
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Understanding the musical collaboration behind Selznick’s films does not require embracing every one of the producer’s decisions—some missed their mark. But Selznick’s productions do invite a re-evaluation of dominant prejudices in film-music discourse regarding, the involvement of a non-musicians in the scoring process, the sharing of compositional duties among multiple personnel, and film music’s relationship to commercial interests. These factors are crucial to understanding music’s function in Selznick’s films and its success within films and beyond. Although Selznick’s emphasis on film music reflected priorities born of prestige filmmaking (and literary adaptations in particular), his musical ideas spread far beyond these categories in the hands of other filmmakers. A concluding section shows that the mosaic-like construction of scores for Selznick presents not a crisis of authorship, but rather an opportunity to assess the dynamic and messy collaborations that produced some of Hollywood’s most memorable scores.Less
Understanding the musical collaboration behind Selznick’s films does not require embracing every one of the producer’s decisions—some missed their mark. But Selznick’s productions do invite a re-evaluation of dominant prejudices in film-music discourse regarding, the involvement of a non-musicians in the scoring process, the sharing of compositional duties among multiple personnel, and film music’s relationship to commercial interests. These factors are crucial to understanding music’s function in Selznick’s films and its success within films and beyond. Although Selznick’s emphasis on film music reflected priorities born of prestige filmmaking (and literary adaptations in particular), his musical ideas spread far beyond these categories in the hands of other filmmakers. A concluding section shows that the mosaic-like construction of scores for Selznick presents not a crisis of authorship, but rather an opportunity to assess the dynamic and messy collaborations that produced some of Hollywood’s most memorable scores.
Vered Noam
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- April 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198811381
- eISBN:
- 9780191848414
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198811381.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion in the Ancient World
Preserved in Josephus, rabbinic literature, and the books of Maccabees, the story of Nicanor’s defeat involves the first generation of the Hasmonean dynasty. Its preservation in 1 Maccabees sheds ...
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Preserved in Josephus, rabbinic literature, and the books of Maccabees, the story of Nicanor’s defeat involves the first generation of the Hasmonean dynasty. Its preservation in 1 Maccabees sheds light on how each corpus adapted this story, for example how Josephus reworked what was originally a flowery Hebrew narrative, replete with biblical allusions. It also demonstrates a strong contrast between the treatment the hero of the campaign against Nicanor—Judas Maccabeus—in the different corpora: aggrandizement by Maccabees and Josephus and the surprising erasure of his name from rabbinic literature.Less
Preserved in Josephus, rabbinic literature, and the books of Maccabees, the story of Nicanor’s defeat involves the first generation of the Hasmonean dynasty. Its preservation in 1 Maccabees sheds light on how each corpus adapted this story, for example how Josephus reworked what was originally a flowery Hebrew narrative, replete with biblical allusions. It also demonstrates a strong contrast between the treatment the hero of the campaign against Nicanor—Judas Maccabeus—in the different corpora: aggrandizement by Maccabees and Josephus and the surprising erasure of his name from rabbinic literature.
