Global Film Studios – serie

Since its inception more than a century ago, Hong Kong cinema has been a pre-eminent form of local entertainment and a site of ideological contentions propelled by colonial, national and international politics at different historical junctures. The Other Side of Glamour is a study of the historical development of the left-wing film establishment in Hong Kong. The interplay between the macro-politics of the Cold War and the micro-politics of a regionalised/localised ideological warfare lends itself to a critical mapping of the general contours of the ‘cultural Cold War’ between the KMT and the CCP as it materialised in the so-called ‘left–right divide’ in the filmmaking world. Using the major studios as the main axis of analysis, this study traces the footprints of the other collaborating cultural agents which made up the left-wing film network in Hong Kong. It argues that the left-wing’s institutional character and corporate strategies in the making of a ‘popular left-wing cinema’ are indispensable to an understanding of their nuanced legacy in Hong Kong cinema today.

Provides the first scholarly examination of Finnish studio systemProvides an approach that is both sensitive to the specific characteristics of Finnish studio system and applicable to small nation cinema industries in generalConsiders practically the whole output of Finnish film companies over the studio era; this is a benefit of analysing a small nation cinema with c. 600 feature films made between the 1930s and early 1960sExplores films such as Stolen Death (1938), The Way You Wanted Me (1944), The White Reindeer (1952), The Glass Heart (1959)Finnish Film Studios provides a thorough examination of Finnish film industry through the core decades of the studio era, from the early 1920s to the early 1960s. Laine analyses the contributions of fully integrated major companies, Suomi-Filmi, Suomen Filmiteollisuus and Fennada-Filmi, in addition to minor companies and independent producers that were responsible for some of the canonized work of the studio era, including the films of Teuvo Tulio and Nyrki Tapiovaara.This study approaches Finnish studio cinema as both typical and particular: it is a typical European small nation cinema with its industrial structures, reliance on hierarchical organisation of labour and love-hate relationship with Hollywood; yet, it is particular, not only in its genres, cycles and hugely popular domestic stars, but also because films were made in the constant presence of geopolitical realities, at times under the influence of Germany and the Soviet Union.

Global Film Studios is a series of books devoted to examining international film studios and their global influence. Each volume will address several studios representing an era (New Hollywood Studios), a regional intersection of production (Nordic Film Studios), a nation cinema (French Film Studios), a genre (Hong Kong Action Film Studios) or a style (Bollywood Studios). The series offers interdisciplinary interpretations of international film studios. Particular attention will emphasize the signature features of these studios, such as their distinctive style, look, design, and genres, as well as principal figures who created and sustained those definable studio elements. Technological advancements and innovations associated with or promoted by studios will also be examined. Additionally, these volumes will address studios' market strategies, their core competencies and core rigidities, and their reliance upon and shifts from film cycles in terms of re-evaluating box office and audience appeal. Detailed analysis of specific film productions that transformed studios will conclude each volume. Because of its multifaceted analysis and international scope, this series intends to open up the field of global studiography.