Aubrey Malone - Böcker

This book offers a history of films with Biblical, spiritual, and supernatural themes.This volume follows the evolution of one of the Hollywood’s longest running thematic concerns. From the silent era to the present, Sacred Profanity: Spirituality at the Movies examines the rich diversity of films with spiritual themes—films that reflect our own fascination with the divine and supernatural, while evoking the specific times in which they were created.From Birth of a Nation to Angels and Demons, Sacred Profanity discusses over 180 films with an insightful, movie lover’s approach. Coverage encompasses Biblical stories like King of Kings; films about spiritual characters, such as The Nun’s Story; foreign masterpieces like The Seventh Seal; movies that incorporate spiritual symbolism, such as Taxi Driver and Cool Hand Luke; horrifying visions of the Satanic like The Exorcist, and controversial works like The Last Temptation of Christ. The book also looks at the history of Hollywood’s attempt to maintain moral order through censorship, as well as the growing influence of filmmakers’ own spiritual beliefs on the movies we see.Comprises discussions of 184 films with religious, spiritual, or supernatural themesIncludes quotes from over 100 actors, producers, directors, and criticsPresents 22 seminal images from Biblical epics, films featuring priests and nuns and also films dealing with symbolic sacramental themesOffers an extensive bibliography of print and online sources for further readingProvides a comprehensive filmography of all movies discussed in the book

Censorship has been an ongoing issue from the early days of filmmaking. One hundred years of film censorship, encompassing the entire 20th century, are chronicled in this work. The freewheeling nature of films in the early decades was profoundly affected by Prohibition, the Depression and the formation of the Legion of Decency--culminating in a new age of restrictiveness in the movies.Such powerful arbiters of public taste as Will H. Hays of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America and Joseph Breen of the Production Code Association fomented an era whereby films with contentious material were severely censored or even condemned. This held sway until rebellious filmmakers like Otto Preminger challenged the system in the 1950s, eventually resulting in the abandonment of the old regime in favor of the contemporary "G" through "NC-17" ratings system.

This new biography contains excerpts from interviews and articles by and about Curtis all the way from his teens in the Bronx to his death at 85 in 2010. Many of these are little known and provide insights into his complex relationship with fame, family and females, the three obsessions of his life. The book also documents his many struggles with substance abuse, his disenchantment with Hollywood when it failed to take him seriously, the violent deaths of his two brothers, the failure of four of his marriages, a heart attack, the death of a son from a drug overdose and, most importantly, the manner in which his resilient spirit saw him through these challenges and tragedies. It's a revisionist biography which adds significantly to the received wisdom on his life and times, not only through personal interviews but also revelations from two recent books not yet available in English, one written by his daughter Allegra and the other by his ex-wife Christine Kaufmann.

"Women stars in Hollywood were invariably in two categories," said director Otto Preminger. "One group was of women who were exploited by men, and the other, much smaller group was of women who survived by acting like men."Beginning with silent film vamp Theda Bara and continuing with icons like Greta Garbo, Marilyn Monroe and Raquel Welch, this study of film industry misogyny describes how female stars were maltreated by a sexist studio system--until women like Katharine Hepburn and Bette Davis fought for parity.The careers of Doris Day, Brigitte Bardot, Carole Landis, Frances Farmer, Dorothy Dandridge, Inger Stevens and many others are examined, along with more recent actresses like Demi Moore and Sharon Stone. Women who worked behind the scenes, writing screenplays, producing and directing without due credit, are also covered.

Explore queer cinema over time with this comprehensive encyclopedia, helping readers understand films, directors, actors, themes, and other topics related to LGBTQ cinema history.Just as American society has changed dramatically from decade to decade, so has queer cinema. Taking us from a time when LGBTQ characters were often represented as either caricatures or figures of farce, this lively yet authoritative reference explores the sea change ushered in by such stars as Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich in the 1930s and '40s, androgynous figures such as Montgomery Clift, James Dean, and Marlon Brando in the '50s, and closeted gay men such as Rock Hudson and Liberace, whose double lives were exposed by the scourge of AIDS.Included are alphabetically arranged entries on stars, directors, films, themes, and other topics related to queer cinema in America, including films and persons from outside the U.S. who nonetheless figured prominently in America popular culture. Entries cite works for further reading, sidebars provide snippets of interesting trivia, a timeline highlights key events, and a selected, general, end-of-work bibliography cites the most important major works on the topic.

Writers and alcohol have long been associated--for some, the association becomes unmanageable. Drawing on rare sources, this collection of brief biographies traces the lives of 13 well known literary drinkers, examining how their relationship with alcohol developed and how it affected their work, for better or worse.Focusing on examples like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Charles Bukowski and Raymond Carver, the combined biographies present a study of the classic figure of the over-indulging author.

Punctilious to a fault, Sidney Lumet favored intense rehearsal, which enabled him to bring in most of his films under budget and under schedule. An energized director who captured the heart of New York like no other, he created a vast canon of work that stands as a testament to his passionate concern for justice and his great empathy for the hundreds of people with whom he collaborated during a career that spanned more than five decades. This is the first full-scale biography of a man who is generally regarded as one of the most affable directors of his time. Using the oral testimonies of those who worked with him both behind and in front of the camera, this book explores Lumet's personality and working methods.

This bumper collection of Irish humour covers topics such as Absenteeism and Zoos and everything in between. It would be disappointing should such a large collection not include the best of famous Irish wits such as Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw, but the emphasis is very much on contemporary Irish humour from the likes of Tommy Tiernan, Dylan Moran, Ardal O'Hanlon and Dara O'Briain, to name just a few. Lunatic, iconoclastic and, as Spike Milligan might have put it, involving 'sideways thinking', this is Irish humour at its very best.

Ernest Hemingway created a style of writing that captivated a generation. Owing as much to music as it did to literature, it had a tonality that resonated like a drumbeat. Its hypnotic, incantatory nature was birthed under the mentoring eyes of Gertrude Stein and James Joyce during his literary apprenticeship and buffeted with the journalistic machismo of the hard-living, hard-drinking man of action he became afterwards. Despite the acres of words that have been written by and about him, Hemingway continues to elude biographers with his complexity. His first wife, Hadley Richardson, said he was more complex than geometry. Aubrey Malone captures him in all his guises here—from boxer to braggart, hunter to hero, fisherman to ‘dangerous’ friend. In the end, when he bagged his last trophy with a self-administered bullet to the head, he went against the ‘grace under pressure’ credo that had defined him for so much of his life. Ernest Hemingway: Flawed Genius investigates the man behind the myth, a writer who was a mystery even to himself.