For five decades, no American filmmaker has been as prolific -- or as paradoxical -- as Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) to Midnight in Paris (2011) and Blue Jasmine (2013), Allen has produced an average of one film a year; yet in many of these movies Allen reveals a progressively skeptical attitude toward both the value of art and the cultural contributions of artists. In this second edition Peter J. Bailey extends his classic study to consider Allen's work during the twenty-first century. He illuminates how the director's decision to leave New York to shoot in European cities such as London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona has affected his craft. He also explores Allen's shift toward younger actors and interprets the evolving critical reaction to his films -- authoritatively demonstrating why the director's lifelong project of moviemaking remains endlessly deserving of careful attention.

For five decades, no American filmmaker has been as prolific—or as paradoxical—as Woody Allen. From Play It Again, Sam (1972) to Midnight in Paris (2011) and Blue Jasmine (2013), Allen has produced an average of one film a year; yet in many of these movies Allen reveals a progressively skeptical attitude toward both the value of art and the cultural contributions of artists. In this second edition Peter J. Bailey extends his classic study to consider Allen's work during the twenty-first century. He illuminates how the director's decision to leave New York to shoot in European cities such as London, Paris, Rome, and Barcelona has affected his craft. He also explores Allen's shift toward younger actors and interprets the evolving critical reaction to his films—authoritatively demonstrating why the director's lifelong project of moviemaking remains endlessly deserving of careful attention.

From What's Up, Tiger Lily? to Match Point, Woody Allen's work has generated substantial interest among scholars and professionals who have written extensively about the director. In The Films of Woody Allen: Critical Essays, Charles L.P. Silet brings together two-dozen scholarly articles that address the core of Allen's work from a variety of cultural and theoretical perspectives. With a special emphasis on his films of the 1980s, this collection includes both general essays that examine various themes and issues encompassed in Allen's repertoire, as well as discussions that focus on one or two specific films. General essays explore Allen's Jewish background as a religious and cultural facet, his apparent love affair with New York City, and his relation to various strains of humor_particularly American film humor, but also Allen's broad use of such traditional comic tropes as irony and parody. The essays on individual films include examinations of some of Allen's most significant work including Love and Death, Annie Hall, Interiors, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Hannah and Her Sisters, Manhattan, and Shadows and Fog. A number of the articles collected here were originally published in now hard to locate places, while others were selected from journals not usually associated with film studies. The result is an anthology of essays that presents an overview of the central issues raised by Allen's body of work as well as a close examination of fourteen individual films that convey these larger themes. A wide-ranging exploration of one of America's most innovative and productive modern directors, this book should appeal to both professionals and students of contemporary film comedy.

In this book, Tueth looks at some of the most enduring comic movies of all time. Beginning with the anarchic romp Duck Soup (1933), each chapter explores a specific sub-genre by examining a representative film. Tueth delves into the background of each film's production and discusses their audience reception and critical appraisal.

In 'The Ultimate Woody Allen Film Companion', film writer Jason Bailey profiles every one of Allen's films through essays, behind-the-scenes interviews, full cast lists, production details, and full-color images and artwork

Edited by two renowned Allen experts, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of 26 original essays on the director’s films. Contributions offer a number of divergent critical perspectives while expanding the contexts in which his work is understood. A timely companion by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date Illuminates the films of Woody Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives Explores the contexts in which his work should be understood Assesses Allen’s remarkable filmmaking career from its early beginnings and investigates the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it Discusses Allen’s recognition as a global cinematic figure

The comic archetype of the Little Man--a "nobody" who stands up to unfairness--is central to the films of Woody Allen and Charlie Chaplin. Portraying the alienation of life in an indifferent world with a mix of pathos, irony and slapstick, both adopted absurdist personas--Chaplin's bumbling yet clever Tramp with his shabby clothes, and Allen's fool with his metaphysical witticisms and proclivity to fall in love too quickly. Both men were auteurs who managed to retain creative control of their work and achieve worldwide popularity. Both suffered from scandals regarding their attraction to younger women. Drawing on psychoanalysis and gender studies, this book explores their films as barometers of their respective historical moments, marking cultural shifts from modernism to postmodernism.