Looking Past the Screen

The ability of this collection to move outside of formalist analysis, and towards a more socially inclusive mode of criticism, pays multiple dividends: in particular, it provides a rich sense of the classical Hollywood films unparalleled social importance. - Tim Roberts, M/C Reviews This is a very useful book. It has an introduction which states simply and clearly what it intends to do, and why; then twelve essays which exemplify those aims. . . . Looking Past the Screen is a book worth having. It is of course aimed primarily at researchers into American film, but the principles outlined in the introduction and illustrated in the essays can equally well be applied to any other national cinema. - Colin Crisp, Screening the Past [An] intelligent and entertaining anthology. . . . - Scott McKinnon, Media International Australia [E]ssays in Looking Past the Screen are exciting and informative examples of the type of scholarly work that explores the non-filmic evidence that broadens our understanding of film history. . . . Overall, Looking Past the Screen is an informative contribution to the study of film history. . . - Shayne D. Pepper, Film Criticism I am not aware of another anthology on US film history that illustrates such a wide range of subjects and methodologies. . . . [M]ost of the essays in this volume are well worth reading and assigning as examples of thoughtfully conceived research. - James Steffen, Film International From university classrooms in 1915 and adult films in the 1930s to secretary-producers and dish night at the movies, this compelling collection reminds us that the power, importance, and complexity of films and film studies reside in the vibrant details of the mediums extraordinary cultural history.Timothy Corrigan, author of New German Film and A Cinema without Walls The ace editors and A-list film historians Jon Lewis and Eric Smoodin have assembled a stellar cast of critics and scholars to illuminate the mutually enabling relationship between film and history. The provocative essays in this marvelous collection might be likened to a must-see motion picture program with a choice marquee entry for every taste, a bill whose featured attractions encompass the forgotten pioneers of the silent screen, the CGI-laden blockbusters of Planet Hollywood, the kid-centric fare of the Saturday matinee, and the proto-porn of the classic adult film market, with excursions into the noir, the star, the auteur, the Oriental, and the queer. Throughout, the screenings are cinema-smart, culturally savvy, andappropriatelyhighly entertaining.Thomas Doherty, Brandeis University [An] intelligent and entertaining anthology. . . . -- Scott McKinnon * Media International Australia * [E]ssays in Looking Past the Screen are exciting and informative examples of the type of scholarly work that explores the non-filmic evidence that broadens our understanding of film history. . . . Overall, Looking Past the Screen is an informative contribution to the study of film history. . . -- Shayne D. Pepper * Film Criticism * I am not aware of another anthology on US film history that illustrates such a wide range of subjects and methodologies. . . . [M]ost of the essays in this volume are well worth reading and assigning as examples of thoughtfully conceived research. -- James Steffen * Film International * The ability of this collection to move outside of formalist analysis, and towards a more socially inclusive mode of criticism, pays multiple dividends: in particular, it provides a rich sense of the classical Hollywood films unparalleled social importance. -- Tim Roberts * M/C Reviews * This is a very useful book. It has an introduction which states simply and clearly what it intends to do, and why; then twelve essays which exemplify those aims. . . . Looking Past the Screen is a book worth having. It is of course aimed primarily at researchers into Ameri

Jon Lewis is a professor in the English department at Oregon State University. His books include Hollywood v. Hard-Core: How the Struggle over Censorship Saved the Modern Film Industry as well as Whom God Wishes to Destroy: Francis Ford Coppola and the New Hollywood and The New American Cinema, both also published by Duke University Press. Eric Smoodin is a professor of American studies and director of film studies at the University of California, Davis. He is the author of Regarding Frank Capra: Audience, Celebrity, and American Film Studies, 19301960, also published by Duke University Press, and Animating Culture: Hollywood Cartoons from the Sound Era.

Acknowledgments ix Introduction: The History of Film History / Eric Smoodin 1 I. Institutional Histories 35 The Beginning of American Film Study / Dana Polan 37 The Perfect Money Machine(s): George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, and Auteurism in the New Hollywood / Jon Lewis 61 II. Star Studies 87 Lois Weber and the Celebrity of Matronly Respectability / Shelley Stamp 89 Tempting Fate: Clara Smith Hamon, or, The Secretary as Producer / Mark Lynn Anderson 117 The Crafting of a Political Icon: Lola Lola on Paper / Andrea Slane 151 III. Regulation 167 Going Hollywood Sooner or Later: Chinese Censorship and The Bitter Tea of General Yen / Eric Smoodin 169 Plain Brown Wrapper: Adult Films for the Home Market, 1930-1969 / Eric Schaefer 201 IV. Reception 227 Ethnography and Exhibition: The Child Audience, The Hays Office, and Saturday Matinees / Richard deCordova 229 Dish Night at the Movies: Exhibitor Promotions and Female Audiences during the Great Depression / Kathryn H. Fuller-Seeley 246 A Treatise on Decay: Liberal and Leftist Critics and Their Queer Readings of Depression-Era U.S. Film / David M. Lugowski 276 V. Production 301 Murnau in America: Chronicle of Lost Films (4 Devils, City Girl) / Janet Bergstrom 303 The American Origins of Film Noir: Realism in Urban Art and The Naked City / Sumiko Higashi 353 Bibliography 381 Contributors 397 Index 401