David Pratten
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748625536
- eISBN:
- 9780748670659
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748625536.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, African Studies
This book is an account of murder and politics in Africa, and a historical ethnography of southern Annang communities during the colonial period. Its narrative leads to events between 1945 and 1948, ...
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This book is an account of murder and politics in Africa, and a historical ethnography of southern Annang communities during the colonial period. Its narrative leads to events between 1945 and 1948, when the imperial gaze of police, press and politicians was focused on a series of mysterious deaths in south-eastern Nigeria attributed to the ‘man-leopard society’. These murder mysteries, reported as the ‘biggest, strangest murder hunt in the world’, were not just forensic but also related to the broad historical impact of commercial, Christian and colonial aid relations on Annang society.Less
This book is an account of murder and politics in Africa, and a historical ethnography of southern Annang communities during the colonial period. Its narrative leads to events between 1945 and 1948, when the imperial gaze of police, press and politicians was focused on a series of mysterious deaths in south-eastern Nigeria attributed to the ‘man-leopard society’. These murder mysteries, reported as the ‘biggest, strangest murder hunt in the world’, were not just forensic but also related to the broad historical impact of commercial, Christian and colonial aid relations on Annang society.
Ailsa Wallace
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572113
- eISBN:
- 9780191721984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572113.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century and Contemporary Literature, European Literature
Zur Mühlen identified crime fiction as a booming genre during the Weimar Republic and attempted to respond to it with socialist Krimis. She was aware of the formulaic nature of crime fiction, and ...
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Zur Mühlen identified crime fiction as a booming genre during the Weimar Republic and attempted to respond to it with socialist Krimis. She was aware of the formulaic nature of crime fiction, and capitalised on its familiar plot devices and motifs in order to open up a discussion of the injustices perpetrated by the wealthy, property-owning classes in a flawed society. She used the pseudonym Lawrence H. Desberry to appeal to readers of Anglo-American crime literature, and modelled her novels varyingly on the English murder mystery and the ‘hard-boiled’ US novel. It discusses the tensions that arise from appropriating a bourgeois form whose detective hero champions the preservation of law and order, and the restoration of well-being. Zur Mühlen's Krimis were rejected at the time by Communist intellectuals such as Johannes R. Becher, but ultimately prefigured the BPRS's attempt to appeal to a mass audience of Trivialliteratur with their own series.Less
Zur Mühlen identified crime fiction as a booming genre during the Weimar Republic and attempted to respond to it with socialist Krimis. She was aware of the formulaic nature of crime fiction, and capitalised on its familiar plot devices and motifs in order to open up a discussion of the injustices perpetrated by the wealthy, property-owning classes in a flawed society. She used the pseudonym Lawrence H. Desberry to appeal to readers of Anglo-American crime literature, and modelled her novels varyingly on the English murder mystery and the ‘hard-boiled’ US novel. It discusses the tensions that arise from appropriating a bourgeois form whose detective hero champions the preservation of law and order, and the restoration of well-being. Zur Mühlen's Krimis were rejected at the time by Communist intellectuals such as Johannes R. Becher, but ultimately prefigured the BPRS's attempt to appeal to a mass audience of Trivialliteratur with their own series.
Jason Jacobs
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198742340
- eISBN:
- 9780191695018
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198742340.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Television drama in the late 1940s seemed to have a continuing uncertainty about the themes, form, and style it was taking. This brings to fore the ways in which the television service during this ...
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Television drama in the late 1940s seemed to have a continuing uncertainty about the themes, form, and style it was taking. This brings to fore the ways in which the television service during this period was reddening itself with a prominent aid from television drama. Even though the post-war period saw an increase in the amount of drama on screen, repeat telecast of the plays was still considerable more reliable. The fact that mystery-murder and ‘horror’ productions were preferred during the post-war period along with drama with wartime themes, is exemplified by the late 1940s drama schedules of producing plays of the Gothic, supernatural, or thriller genres, generically known by television management as ‘Horror Plays’. The reopening of post-war service saw technical and stylistic changes such as those regarding camera movements, along with changes in programme content and scheduling.Less
Television drama in the late 1940s seemed to have a continuing uncertainty about the themes, form, and style it was taking. This brings to fore the ways in which the television service during this period was reddening itself with a prominent aid from television drama. Even though the post-war period saw an increase in the amount of drama on screen, repeat telecast of the plays was still considerable more reliable. The fact that mystery-murder and ‘horror’ productions were preferred during the post-war period along with drama with wartime themes, is exemplified by the late 1940s drama schedules of producing plays of the Gothic, supernatural, or thriller genres, generically known by television management as ‘Horror Plays’. The reopening of post-war service saw technical and stylistic changes such as those regarding camera movements, along with changes in programme content and scheduling.
Peter J. Steinberger
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780231163545
- eISBN:
- 9780231535205
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Columbia University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7312/columbia/9780231163545.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, Philosophy of Religion
This chapter considers the idea that God is a mystery and argues that it is not an idea at all. Basically, a mystery is something to be solved. Think, for example, about the murder mysteries of ...
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This chapter considers the idea that God is a mystery and argues that it is not an idea at all. Basically, a mystery is something to be solved. Think, for example, about the murder mysteries of Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple or Sam Spade. Every murder mystery is a whodunit. A murder mystery—like any other mystery—presupposes the logic of cause and effect. The logic of cause and effect poses no problem for the detective; it is actually wonderful for the detective—it's the detective's best friend—because it means that every effect absolutely must be the result of some preceding cause. What makes a murder mystery mysterious is not Conceptual Impossibility or Physical Impossibility, but the fact that, for the moment, we don't have enough information. The problem with God is virtually the opposite. The problem with God is not that we don't have enough facts. The problem is that we don't have an idea at all, and so we can't even know what kind of facts we should be looking for.Less
This chapter considers the idea that God is a mystery and argues that it is not an idea at all. Basically, a mystery is something to be solved. Think, for example, about the murder mysteries of Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple or Sam Spade. Every murder mystery is a whodunit. A murder mystery—like any other mystery—presupposes the logic of cause and effect. The logic of cause and effect poses no problem for the detective; it is actually wonderful for the detective—it's the detective's best friend—because it means that every effect absolutely must be the result of some preceding cause. What makes a murder mystery mysterious is not Conceptual Impossibility or Physical Impossibility, but the fact that, for the moment, we don't have enough information. The problem with God is virtually the opposite. The problem with God is not that we don't have enough facts. The problem is that we don't have an idea at all, and so we can't even know what kind of facts we should be looking for.
Carol Bonomo Jennngs and Christine Palamidessi Moore
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780823231751
- eISBN:
- 9780823241286
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823231751.003.0025
- Subject:
- Literature, American, 20th Century Literature
In some murder mysteries, the amateur sleuth created by Camilla T. Crespi is Simona Griffo. She wears no fedora, nor does she talk out of the corner of her mouth. She is a transplanted Italian ...
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In some murder mysteries, the amateur sleuth created by Camilla T. Crespi is Simona Griffo. She wears no fedora, nor does she talk out of the corner of her mouth. She is a transplanted Italian employed by a small New York advertising agency. From the first volume, Simona's Italian identity is built up through her zest for good food, preference for espresso, intuitive bonding with other Italian characters, experience in dubbing films in Italy, reversion to Italian speech when upset and especially through recollections of Rome — as when she sees a knife-sharpened little pencil and “remembered the Roman greengrocers, spare stubs safely secured behind their ears, adding up the bill on rough, wheat-yellow paper.” For Simona Griffo, freelancing amateur beset by “troublems,” to probe criminal acts and intents is not only a matter of answering questions and abetting justice.Less
In some murder mysteries, the amateur sleuth created by Camilla T. Crespi is Simona Griffo. She wears no fedora, nor does she talk out of the corner of her mouth. She is a transplanted Italian employed by a small New York advertising agency. From the first volume, Simona's Italian identity is built up through her zest for good food, preference for espresso, intuitive bonding with other Italian characters, experience in dubbing films in Italy, reversion to Italian speech when upset and especially through recollections of Rome — as when she sees a knife-sharpened little pencil and “remembered the Roman greengrocers, spare stubs safely secured behind their ears, adding up the bill on rough, wheat-yellow paper.” For Simona Griffo, freelancing amateur beset by “troublems,” to probe criminal acts and intents is not only a matter of answering questions and abetting justice.
Roberto Curti and Roberto Curti
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781911325932
- eISBN:
- 9781800342538
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325932.003.0003
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
This chapter explores the significance of German participation in the film Blood and Black Lace. It discusses how Italy had signed a co-production agreement with West Germany in 1962 that started the ...
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This chapter explores the significance of German participation in the film Blood and Black Lace. It discusses how Italy had signed a co-production agreement with West Germany in 1962 that started the passage from period Gothic to a thriller set in the present day. It also explains the Italian film makers' intention of joining the successful thread of the German so-called “krimis,” the murder mysteries inspired by the works of Edgar Wallace and produced by Preben Philipsen's Rialto film company in 1959. The chapter focuses on the distinct and well-defined tradition of mystery in Italy. It describes the genre known as “giallo,” which had been very popular since 1929 when the Italian publishing house, Mondadori launched a new editorial series called the Yellow Books (I Libri Gialli).Less
This chapter explores the significance of German participation in the film Blood and Black Lace. It discusses how Italy had signed a co-production agreement with West Germany in 1962 that started the passage from period Gothic to a thriller set in the present day. It also explains the Italian film makers' intention of joining the successful thread of the German so-called “krimis,” the murder mysteries inspired by the works of Edgar Wallace and produced by Preben Philipsen's Rialto film company in 1959. The chapter focuses on the distinct and well-defined tradition of mystery in Italy. It describes the genre known as “giallo,” which had been very popular since 1929 when the Italian publishing house, Mondadori launched a new editorial series called the Yellow Books (I Libri Gialli).
Roberto Curti
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781911325932
- eISBN:
- 9781800342538
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3828/liverpool/9781911325932.001.0001
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (1964) is a legendary title, and is commonly considered as the archetypal giallo. A murder mystery about a faceless and menacing killer stalking the premises of a ...
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Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (1964) is a legendary title, and is commonly considered as the archetypal giallo. A murder mystery about a faceless and menacing killer stalking the premises of a luxurious fashion house in Rome, Blood and Black Lace set the rules for the genre: a masked, black-gloved killer, an emphasis on graphic violence, elaborate and suspenseful murder sequences. But Blood and Black Lace is first and foremost an exquisitely stylish film, full of gorgeous color schemes, elegant camerawork, and surrealistic imagery, testimony of Bava's mastery and his status as an innovator within popular cinema. This book recollects Blood and Black Lace's production history, putting it within the context of the Italian film industry of the period and includes plenty of previously unheard-of data. It analyzes the film's main narrative and stylistic aspects, including the groundbreaking prominence of violence and sadism and its use of color and lighting, as well as Bava's irreverent approach to genre filmmaking and clever handling of the audience's expectations by way of irony and pitch-black humor. The book also analyzes Blood and Black Lace's place within Bava's oeuvre, its historical impact on the giallo genre, and its influential status on future filmmakers.Less
Mario Bava's Blood and Black Lace (1964) is a legendary title, and is commonly considered as the archetypal giallo. A murder mystery about a faceless and menacing killer stalking the premises of a luxurious fashion house in Rome, Blood and Black Lace set the rules for the genre: a masked, black-gloved killer, an emphasis on graphic violence, elaborate and suspenseful murder sequences. But Blood and Black Lace is first and foremost an exquisitely stylish film, full of gorgeous color schemes, elegant camerawork, and surrealistic imagery, testimony of Bava's mastery and his status as an innovator within popular cinema. This book recollects Blood and Black Lace's production history, putting it within the context of the Italian film industry of the period and includes plenty of previously unheard-of data. It analyzes the film's main narrative and stylistic aspects, including the groundbreaking prominence of violence and sadism and its use of color and lighting, as well as Bava's irreverent approach to genre filmmaking and clever handling of the audience's expectations by way of irony and pitch-black humor. The book also analyzes Blood and Black Lace's place within Bava's oeuvre, its historical impact on the giallo genre, and its influential status on future filmmakers.
Ethan Mordden
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195140583
- eISBN:
- 9780199848867
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195140583.003.0014
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
The story behind this show starts in the mid-1940s, when Dorothy and Herbert Fields got interested in Madame Tussaud's waxworks in London. They thought it would prove a dandy setting for a musical ...
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The story behind this show starts in the mid-1940s, when Dorothy and Herbert Fields got interested in Madame Tussaud's waxworks in London. They thought it would prove a dandy setting for a musical murder mystery, with a spinster heroine who at last finds romance. Robert Fryer and Lawrence Carr optioned it, and sought a star for the lead, such as Ethel Merman, Bea Lillie, Celeste Holm, or Gisele MacKenzie. Each one would have tilted composition in a different direction, so all the show was at this point was an idea, a script that knew it was doomed to be rewritten, and a title, The Works. In any case, everybody turned it down. Not until Gwen Verdon was consulted and her husband, Bob Fosse, invited to direct it in a package deal was the show finally set.Less
The story behind this show starts in the mid-1940s, when Dorothy and Herbert Fields got interested in Madame Tussaud's waxworks in London. They thought it would prove a dandy setting for a musical murder mystery, with a spinster heroine who at last finds romance. Robert Fryer and Lawrence Carr optioned it, and sought a star for the lead, such as Ethel Merman, Bea Lillie, Celeste Holm, or Gisele MacKenzie. Each one would have tilted composition in a different direction, so all the show was at this point was an idea, a script that knew it was doomed to be rewritten, and a title, The Works. In any case, everybody turned it down. Not until Gwen Verdon was consulted and her husband, Bob Fosse, invited to direct it in a package deal was the show finally set.
Peter J. Bailey
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780813167190
- eISBN:
- 9780813167862
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Kentucky
- DOI:
- 10.5810/kentucky/9780813167190.003.0013
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
An overview of Allen’s 1990s films, this chapter also summarizes the book’s recurring argument about Allen’s ambivalent attitude toward the art that he obsessively creates and the issue of cynicism ...
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An overview of Allen’s 1990s films, this chapter also summarizes the book’s recurring argument about Allen’s ambivalent attitude toward the art that he obsessively creates and the issue of cynicism that often arises from that conflict. Because the contrived endings of the American films he grew up watching reinforce rather than resolve the human existential bind, many of Allen’s ’90s films tend toward elliptical endings in imitation of the irresolvability of that condition, although there are also films like Manhattan Murder Mystery, in which he cleaves to the structures and emotional tenors of 1940s popular film. What makes Allen’s films significant even when they are less than perfect artworks is their incessant interrogation of the value of art to human lives, their questioning of the necessity of illusions to human psychic equilibrium. This chapter largely attempts to lay the thematic groundwork that existed before the watershed moment of the Soon-Yi scandal and the release of Husbands and Wives.Less
An overview of Allen’s 1990s films, this chapter also summarizes the book’s recurring argument about Allen’s ambivalent attitude toward the art that he obsessively creates and the issue of cynicism that often arises from that conflict. Because the contrived endings of the American films he grew up watching reinforce rather than resolve the human existential bind, many of Allen’s ’90s films tend toward elliptical endings in imitation of the irresolvability of that condition, although there are also films like Manhattan Murder Mystery, in which he cleaves to the structures and emotional tenors of 1940s popular film. What makes Allen’s films significant even when they are less than perfect artworks is their incessant interrogation of the value of art to human lives, their questioning of the necessity of illusions to human psychic equilibrium. This chapter largely attempts to lay the thematic groundwork that existed before the watershed moment of the Soon-Yi scandal and the release of Husbands and Wives.
James Naremore
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520285521
- eISBN:
- 9780520960954
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520285521.003.0013
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Film
Burnett is a complete filmmaker who has not only directed but also photographed, edited, and written many films. This chapter puts emphasis on his talent as a screenwriter, using two very different ...
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Burnett is a complete filmmaker who has not only directed but also photographed, edited, and written many films. This chapter puts emphasis on his talent as a screenwriter, using two very different projects as examples. Bless Their Little Hearts was written for director Billy Woodbury and is similar in many ways to Burnett’s Killer of Sheep. It tells the story of an unemployed black man in Watts who suffers a crisis of masculinity while he tries to find a job and keep his family together. Man in a Basket is an adaptation of Crazy Kill by noir novelist Chester Himes. Set in 1950s Harlem, Burnett describes it as Himes’s only love story. Burnett has long wanted to direct this film and is still trying to find backers.
Less
Burnett is a complete filmmaker who has not only directed but also photographed, edited, and written many films. This chapter puts emphasis on his talent as a screenwriter, using two very different projects as examples. Bless Their Little Hearts was written for director Billy Woodbury and is similar in many ways to Burnett’s Killer of Sheep. It tells the story of an unemployed black man in Watts who suffers a crisis of masculinity while he tries to find a job and keep his family together. Man in a Basket is an adaptation of Crazy Kill by noir novelist Chester Himes. Set in 1950s Harlem, Burnett describes it as Himes’s only love story. Burnett has long wanted to direct this film and is still trying to find backers.