This is the second volume of Thomas Cripps's definitive history of African-Americans in Hollywood. It covers the period from World War II through the civil rights movement of the 1960s, examining this period through the prism of popular culture. Making Movies Black shows how movies anticipated and helped form America's changing ideas about race. Cripps contends that from the liberal rhetoric of the war years--marked as it was by the propaganda catchwords brotherhood and tolerance--came movies that defined a new African-American presence both in film and in American society at large. He argues that the war years, more than any previous era, gave African-American activists access to centers of cultural influence and power in both Washington and Hollywood. Among the results were an expanded black imagery on the screen during the war--in combat movies such as Bataan, Crash Dive, and Sahara; musicals such as Stormy Weather and Cabin in the Sky; and government propaganda films such as The Negro Soldier and Wings for this Man (narrated by Ronald Reagan!). After the war, the ideologies of both black activism and integrationism persisted, resulting in the 'message movie' era of Pinky, Home of the Brave, and No Way Out, a form of racial politics that anticipated the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. Delving into previously inaccessible records of major Hollywood studios, among them Warner Bros., RKO, and 20th Century-Fox, as well as records of the Office of War Information in the National Archives, and records of the NAACP, and interviews with survivors of the era, Cripps reveals the struggle of both lesser known black filmmakers like Carlton Moss and major figures such as Sidney Poitier. More than a narrative history, Making Movies Black reaches beyond the screen itself with sixty photographs, many never before published, which illustrate the mood of the time. Revealing the social impact of the classical Hollywood film, Making Movies Black is the perfect book for those interested in the changing racial climate in post-World War II American life.

The aim of this study of contemporary German cinema is to set the significant films and film-makers in their proper context. The author explains the nature of the German film industry, the cultural inheritance of its film-makers, and the social and political climate within which they work.

"The most revealing, penetrating book on filmmaking I know of . . ."--King Vidor David O. Selznick was a unique figure in the golden Hollywood studio era. He produced some of the greatest and most memorable American films ever made--notably, Rebecca, A Star Is Born, Anna Karenina, A Farewell to Arms, and, above all, Gone With the Wind. Selznick's absolute power and artistic control are evidenced in his impassioned, eloquent, witty, and sometimes rageful memos to directors, writers, stars and studio executives, writings that have become almost as famous as his films. Newsweek wrote,"I can't imagine how a book on the American movie business could be more illuminating, more riveting or more fun to read than this collection of David Selznick's memos.

For the casual film fan, Henry Hathaway is not a household name. But in a career that spanned five decades, Hathaway directed an impressive number of films and guided many actors and actresses to some their most acclaimed performances. He also helped launch the Hollywood careers of numerous actors such as Randolph Scott, Lee Marvin, Karl Malden, and Charles Bronson. His work on Niagara established Marilyn Monroe as a major star. Hathaway also guided John Wayne to his Academy Award-winning performance in the original version of True Grit. In Henry Hathaway: The Lives of a Hollywood Director, Harold N. Pomainville looks at the life and work of this Hollywood maverick. The author charts Hathaway’s career from his first low budget Western in the early 1930s through his last film in 1974. In between, he focuses his attention of the films that brought the director acclaim, including The Lives of Bengal Lancer (1935)—for which Hathaway received an Oscar nomination—noir thrillers The House on 92nd Street and Kiss of Death, and his documentary-like production of Call Northside 777 with Jimmy Stewart. In this book, the author captures Hathaway’s extroverted personality and keen intellect. He befriended some of the best known celebrities of his generationand was known for his loyalty, generosity, and integrity. He was also notorious in Hollywood for his powerful ego, explosive temper, and his dictatorial style on the set. Henry Hathaway: The Lives of a Hollywood Director is a must-read for anyone interested in the enduring work of this unheralded, but no-less-noteworthy, master of American cinema.

(Applause Books). This the first book to examine the films of the acclaimed and popular Indian-born and Harvard educated filmmaker, Mira Nair. A unique voice in cinema today, she is one of the few female directors who made it to the top of a male-dominated profession. Her films feature an incomparably sensuous visual style yet at the same time often record the injustice of the disenfranchised and the cross-pollination of East and West. Her twin themes of realism and romance make for dazzling cinema. John Kenneth Muir analyzes all of Nair's work, including: Salaam Bombay! (1988), the groundbreaking story of a young boy abandoned by his family on the streets of Bombay; Mississippi Masala (1991), an interracial small town romance between an Indian woman (Sarita Choudhury) and an African American businessman (Denzel Washington); Monsoon Wedding (2001), featuring a Bollywood carnival atmosphere, one of the most successful foreign films ever released in the United States; Hysterical Blindness (2002), the HBO film featuring Uma Thurman and Juliette Lewis, looking for love in all the wrong places; The big-budget Hollywood adaptation of the Thackery novel Vanity Fair (2004), starring Reese Witherspoon, Gabriel Byrne, and Eileen Atkins.

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(Applause Books). Best in Show is the first in-depth look at the method behind film director and actor Christopher Guest's madness and genius. John Kenneth Muir focuses his attention on the acclaimed Guest-directed trilogy of what some call "mockumentaries": Waiting for Guffman , Best in Show and A Mighty Wind . In these films Guest has escorted rapt audiences into the purportedly real worlds of a small-town theatrical company, dog show competition, and folk music festival. Muir also details the events that lead to Rob Reiner's influential and legendary This Is Spinal Tap , which Rolling Stone called the best rock and roll movie of all time, and in which Guest played the part of guitarist Nigel Tufnel. Much of Best in Show exemplifies the unique process by which Guest directs films. He employs a common repertory company, improvises scenes often without any rehearsal, and does not use any screenplay with dialogue, instead following a detailed outline often co-authored with his ace actor/writer Eugene Levy. Company members that have been interviewed for this book include Fred Willard, Harry Shearer, Bob Balaban and Michael Hitchcock. Guest's influences Saturday Night Live , National Lampoon as well as his more conventional comedies, such as The Big Picture and Almost Heroes , are studied. Best in Show is general enough to bring new fans to the table, yet detailed enough to satisfy the most in-the-know Guest fan and film student. A complete filmography with Guest's directing, acting and writing credits is included, as is the appendix, "You Know You're in a Christopher Guest Film When ..." Guest once commented, "I am drawn to people who have dreams that are slightly out of reach." Now, thanks to John Kenneth Muir, the fascinating world of Christopher Guest and company is substantially more within reach.