Saturday, 5 September 2009

'Billy Liar' Studies (in Memory of Keith Waterhouse)


Film Studies For Free was saddened to hear that novelist, journalist, and screenwriter Keith Waterhouse has died, albeit after a long and rich life. He was author of the novel Billy Liar and wrote the critically acclaimed screenplay for John Schlesinger's brilliant 1963 film of the same name, one of FSFF's favourites from the British New Wave. He also worked on other great screenplays, including Whistle Down the Wind (1961), A Kind of Loving (1962) and Alfred Hitchcock's Torn Curtain (1966, uncredited).

Below, in memory of Keith Waterhouse's great British cinematic imagination, are some links to online and openly accessible Billy Liar and British New Wave cinema resources:
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Thursday, 3 September 2009

Screening the Past Issue 25 Out Now

Film Studies For Free rushes you the hot-off-the-press news that there's new issue out today of one of its favourite open access online film journals, Screening the Past. It's a hugely valuable special issue devoted to the subject of 'Colonial Africa on the Silent Screen'. The website describes the issue thus:

The Rose of Rhodesia (1918) by Harold M. Shaw is one of the earliest remaining feature films shot in Africa. Issue #25 of Screening the Past offers the first critical assessment of the film that until recently was thought lost. Essays by specialists in an array of fields situate the film in the context of South African cinema history, silent film conventions, performance styles, popular literature, imperialism, and political struggle in Zimbabwe today. Guest-edited by Stephen Donovan and Vreni Hockenjos, and in collaboration with the Nederlands Filmmuseum, this special issue includes a streamed version of the restored print of The Rose of Rhodesia.

FSFF would also like to flag up Robert Burgoyne's brilliant essay on The New World, Sam Rohdie's four essays (on Painlevé, Jennings, Vigo, and Ford), and Bill Routt's great feature review Ford At Fox: Part Two (b).

Below is the full table of contents:


Foreword: Terence Ranger

Introduction: Stephen Donovan and Vreni Hockenjos

The Rose of Rhodesia—click here to view the film

Acknowledgements

Film Information

Part I: Production and Reception

Neil Parsons: Investigating the Origins of The Rose of Rhodesia, Part I: African Film Productions

Neil Parsons: Investigating the Origins of The Rose of Rhodesia, Part II: Harold Shaw Film Productions Ltd.

James Burns: Cape Town Bioscope Culture and The Rose of Rhodesia

Part II: Cinematic Perspectives

Vreni Hockenjos: Featured Attractions: The Rose of Rhodesia and Silent Cinema

Ylva Habel: Hollywood Histrionics: Performing “Africa” in The Rose of Rhodesia

Jacqueline Maingard: The Rose of Rhodesia: Colonial Cinema as Narrative Fiction and Ethnographic Spectacle

Part III: Political Perspectives

Bernard Porter: Race, Empire, and The Rose of Rhodesia

Nhamo Anthony Mhiripiri: Blood Diamonds and State Repression: From The Rose of Rhodesia to Zimbabwe’s Chiadzwa Diamond Fields

Ashleigh Harris: “Until time make him white”: Race, Land, and Insurrection in The Rose of Rhodesia

Part IV: Literary Perspectives

Stefan Helgesson: The Rose of Rhodesia as Colonial Romance

Stephen Donovan: Guns and Roses: Reading for Gender in The Rose of Rhodesia

Commentary

Peter Davis: In Africa, Diamonds Are Forever: From The Great Kimberley Diamond Robbery to Blood Diamond

Scoring The Rose of Rhodesia: An Interview with Matti Bye

Appendices

A. Plot summary
B. Intertitles with English translation
C. Press cuttings
D. Cast and crew biographies
E. Harold Shaw filmography
F. Maps of Rhodesia and Southern Africa
G. Early Rhodesian ephemera

Contributors

First release

Sam Rohdie, Four Essays: Painlevé; Jennings; Vigo; Ford.

Robert Burgoyne, The Columbian Exchange: Pocahontas and The New World.

Reviews

Feature Review: Bill Routt reviews Ford At Fox: Part Two (b).

Ina Bertrand reviews Catherine Lumby, Alvin Purple, and Henry Reynolds, The chant of Jimmie Blacksmith.

Yvette Biro reviews Lorraine Mortimer, “Terror and Joy”. The Films of Dusan Makavejev.

Dean Brandum reviews Michael Deeley and Matthew Field, Blade Runner, Deer Hunters & Blowing The Bloody Doors Off: My Life in Cult Movies.

Wheeler Winston Dixon reviews Peter Gidal, Andy Warhol’s Blow Job.

Charles Drazin reviews Brian McFarlane, Screen Adaptations: Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations: The Relationship Between Text and Film.

Seyda Aylin Gurses reviews Nurith Gertz and George Khleifi, Palestinian Cinema: Landscape, Trauma and Memory.

Jan-Christopher Horak reviews Lee Grieveson and Haidee Wasson (eds), Inventing Film Studies.

D.B. Jones reviews Wheeler Winston Dixon, Film Noir and the Cinema of Paranoia.

Lorraine Mortimer reviews Esther Romeyn, Street Scenes: Staging the Self in Immigrant New York 1880-1924.

Geoffrey Nowell-Smith reviews Christopher Wagstaff, Italian Neorealist Cinema: an aesthetic approach.

Daniel Ross reviews Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosopher: Reflections on His Creativity and Irving Singer, Cinematic Mythmaking: Philosophy in Film.

Thomas Salek reviews James Walters, Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema: Resonance Between Realms.

Brian Shoesmith reviews Sangita Gopal and Sujata Moorti (eds), Global Bollywood: Travels of Hindi Song and Dance.

Matt Wanat reviews Nitzan Ben-Shaul, Film: The Key Concepts.

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Wednesday, 2 September 2009

On Stardom/Celebrity and Film Acting/Performance


Image of Barbara Stanwyck, 1907-1990

Film Studies For Free is star-studies-struck today, but it has opted to combine those glitzy fascinations with its deep interest in film acting and performance studies. The result is a broad search-topic which has brought forth yet another rich vein of online and openly accessible film and media studies, as the multiple links below -- to wonderful new work as well as to some classic research -- should testify.
  • Elizabeth Abele, '"The Glory of Cary Grant and Other Girlish Delights', Images Journal, Issue 5, November 9
  • Richard Armstrong, 'Modernity and the Maniac: The Fall of Janet Leigh', Images Journal, 2004: Page One: Introduction | Page Two: Janet Leigh in Touch of Evil | Page Three: Janet Leigh in Psycho Page Four: The Shower Scene | Page Five: Janet Leigh as Icon
  • Guy Austin, '"In Fear and Pain": Stardom and the Body in Two French Ghost Films', Scope, Issue 7, February 2007
  • Serafina K. Bathrick, 'The new star - A beauty and a buddy [Review of Patricia Erens, The Films of Shirley MacLaine (NY: A.S. Barnes, 1978)], Jump Cut, no. 21, Nov. 1979
  • Sylvie Blum-Reid, 'Review of Lisa Downing & Sue Harris, eds. From Perversion to Purity: The Stardom of Catherine Deneuve. Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press, 2007', H-France Review Vol. 9 (April 2009), No. 47
  • Lisa Bode: ‘Grave Robbing’ or ‘Career Comeback’? On the Digital Resurrection of Dead Screen Stars in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Laure Bouquerel, 'Bob Dylan, the Ordinary Star [in Don't Look Back]', Oral Tradition, 22/1 (2007): 151-161
  • 'Cinema and the Female Star - A Symposium Part 1', Senses of Cinema, 2002: Arletty by Bernard Hemingway; Stéphane Audran by Ray Young; Halle Berry by Charlie Kanganis; Louise Brooks by Tina Marie Camilleri; Geneviève Bujold by Girish Shambu; Bess Flowers by Joe McElhaney; Setsuko Hara by Dan Harper
  • 'Cinema and the Female Star - A Symposium Part 2', Senses of Cinema, 2002: Kate Hudson by Peter Tonguette; Anna Karina by Christa Fuller; Ling, Po by Feng-ying Ming; Melina Mercouri by Charlie Kanganis; Samantha Morton by Maximilian Le Cain; Cathy O'Donnell by Brian Frye; Bulle Ogier by Jit Phokaew
  • 'Cinema and the Female Star - A Symposium Part 3', Senses of Cinema, 2002: Elizabeth Taylor by Liz Burke; Lili Taylor by Anna Daly; Fay Tincher by Andrew Grossman; Mari Töröcsik by Dina Iordanova; Natalie Wood by Angela Costi; Xiao, Fangfang by Feng-ying Ming; Tsetsiliya Zervudaki by Jorge Didaco
  • Jamil Dakhlia, 'From the Olympians to the Ordinary Heroes: Stars in the French Popular Press' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Robert E Davis, 'Anita Page: Stardom in Transition', in Film and Television Stardom, ed by K-P R Hart (Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008) long excerpt
  • Jeannette Delamoir, 'Eyes Wide Shut: Tom, Nicole, Stardom and Visual Memory', Transformations, No. 3 (May 2002)
  • Rayna Denison, 'Disembodied Stars and the Cultural Meanings of Princess Mononoke's Soundscape', Scope, Portals Special Issue
  • Patricia Erens, 'Critical dialogue - In defense of stars [response to Bathrick]', Jump Cut, no. 21, Nov. 1979
  • Rebecca Feasey, 'Stardom and Distinction: Sharon Stone and the Problem of Legitimacy', Scope, May 2004
  • John Flaus, '''Thanks for your heart, Bart" [film acting theory]', Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 5 no 2 (1990)
  • Brian Gallagher, 'Stars: Some Historical Reflections on the Paradoxes of Stardom in the American Film Industry, 1910-1960', Images Journal, Issue 3
  • Christine Geraghty, 'Paris, Hollywood and Kay Kendall', in Rachel Moseley (ed), Fashioning Film Stars: Dress, Culture, Identity, (Chap 10) pp. 121-133.
  • Tim Groves, 'The Un/forgiven Director', Screening the Past, March 2001
  • Tom Gunning, 'Chaplin and the body of modernity', Paper, The bfi Charles Chaplin Conference July 2005
  • Outi Hakola, 'On-screen and Off-screen Monstrosity of Béla Lugosi and Boris Karloff' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Michael Hammond, 'Charlie [Chaplin] as a Searchlight', Introduction, The bfi Charles Chaplin Conference July 2005
  • Kylo-Patrick R. Hart, 'Introduction', Film and Television Stardom, ed by K-P R Hart (Newcastle Upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2008)
  • Joan Hawkins, 'All the World's a Stage', Film-Philosophy, vol. 2 no. 1, January 1998
  • Susan Hayward, 'Stardom: Beyond Desire?' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Stephen Heath, 'Film Performance', CineTracts, Vol. 1, No. 2, Summer 1977
  • Su Holmes, ‘Starring... Dyer?’: Re-visiting Star Studies and Contemporary Celebrity Culture', Westminster Papers in Communication and Culture © 2005 (University of Westminster, London), Vol. 2(2): 6-21
  • Ian Huffer, ''I wanted to be Rocky, but I also wanted to be his wife!': Heterosexuality and the (Re)construction of Gender in Female Film Audiences' Consumption of Sylvester Stallone', Particip@tions Volume 4, Issue 2 (November 2007)
  • Ian Huffer, "'New Man", Old Worlds: Re-articulating Masculinity in the Star Persona of Orlando Bloom', Scope, Issue 9, 2007
  • Ono Hiroyuki, 'From Chaplin to Kabuki', Paper, The bfi Charles Chaplin Conference July 2005
  • Jerry R Ivins, 'The Training of Stage Actors in Film/Video Acting Techniques: An Interdisciplinary Approach', PhD thesis, Texas Tech University, August 1993
  • Hanna Järvinen, 'Fans, Fawns and Fauns: Ballet Stardom, Dancing Genius and the Queer Afterlife of Vaslav Nijinsky' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Tamar Jeffers, "Should I surrender?": performing and interrogating female virginity in Hollywood films 1957-64', PhD thesis, University of Warwick
  • Gary Johnson and Grant Tracey, 'Hollywood Stars of the '30s, featuring James Cagney, Joan Crawford, and Barbara Stanwyck', Images Journal, Issue 1
  • Sun Jung, 'Bae Yong-Joon, Hybrid Masculinity & the Counter-coeval Desire of Japanese Female Fans', Particip@tions Volume 3, Issue 2 Special Edition (November 2006)
  • Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi, 'Introduction: Stars, History, and the Media' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Kimi Kärki, 'Cutting the Moss with Laser Beams: The Uses of History in The Rolling Stones Bridges To Babylon Stadium Tour' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Andrew Klevan, 'A Reply to Adrian Martin['s review of Film Performance: From Achievement to Appreciation (London: Wallflower Press, 2006)]', Fipresci, Issue 4, 2008
  • Barbara Klinger, 'Say It Again, Sam: Movie Quotation, Performance and Masculinity',Particip@tions Volume 5, Issue 2 (November 2008)
  • Sven-Erik Klinkmann, 'Retro Icons and Anachronistic Artists' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Margia Kramer and Renee Shafrensky, 'Character assassination — Jean Seberg and information control', Jump Cut, no. 28, April 1983
  • Anneli Lehtisalo, '“Oh, My Sweet Hero!” The Filmstar Leif Wager as Emperor Alexander I in Tanssi yli hautojen (1950)' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Wing-Fai Leung, 'Discursive Stardom in Hong Kong and the Missing Referents' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Victoria Lowe, 'Performing Hitchcock': Robert Donat, Film Acting and The 39 Steps (1935)', Scope, Issue 14, June 2009
  • Rami Mähkä, 'Comedians as Stars: The Monty Python Troupe' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Charles Maland, 'Movies, Director/Performers, and Cultural History: Conceptualizing Chaplin and American Culture', Paper, The bfi Charles Chaplin Conference July 2005
  • Linda Marchant, 'Concentrated Vision: Celebrity Images from the 1930s and 1940s' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Adrian Martin, 'Secret Agents [ A review of Andrew Klevan, Film Performance: From Achievement to Appreciation (London: Wallflower Press, 2006)', Fipresci, Issue 4, 2007
  • Steve Master, 'A Review of Film Performance: From Achievement to Appreciation by Andrew Klevan [London: Wallflower, 2005]', Scope, Special Portals Issue
  • Anna Möttölä, 'Style Star – Admiring Audrey Hepburn in the 1950’s' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Thi Thanh Nga, 'The long march from Wong to Woo: Asians in Hollywood' (Race in Contemporary American Cinema: Part 5), Cineaste v21, n4 (Fall, 1995)
  • JaeYoon Park, 'Asia’s beloved sassy girl: Jun Ji-Hyun’s star image and her transnational stardom', Jump Cut, No. 51, spring 2009
  • Anne Helen Petersen,‘"We’re Making Our Own Paparazzi": Twitter and the Construction of Star Authenticity', Flow TV, May 28, 2009
  • Anne Petersen, 'Celebrity juice, not from concentrate: Perez Hilton, gossip blogs, and the new star production', Jump Cut, No. 49, spring 2007
  • Anne Helen Petersen, weblog: Celebrity Gossip, Academic Style - proto-scholastic musings on star studies 2.0
  • VI Pudovkin, Film Technique And Film Acting, Grove Press Inc, 1958
  • Zohar Altman Ravid, 'The star as a Creation and the Star as a creator: The Case of Barbra Streisand' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Martin Roth, 'Women in Hollywood musicals: Pulling the plug on Lina Lamont', Jump Cut, no. 35, April 1990
  • Ulrich Ruedel, 'Send in the Clones: Chaplin Imitators from Stage to Screen, from Circus to Cartoon', Paper, The bfi Charles Chaplin Conference July 2005
  • Daniel Sánchez Salas, 'The Two Spanish Lives Of "Charlot"’, Paper, The bfi Charles Chaplin Conference July 2005
  • Laura Saarenmaa, 'Female Stars and the Tricky Question of Drinking' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Amy Sargeant, 'Review of Alan Lovell and Peter Krämer (eds),Screen Acting, and Pamela Robertson Wojcik (ed.), Movie Acting: The Film Reader.(pp 170-176)', Film Studies, Vol. 8, Summer 2006 (scroll down)
  • Jaakko Seppälä, 'Love, Hate, and Suicidal Tendencies: The Construction of Rudolph Valentino's Stardom in Finland 1923-1927' in History of Stardom Reconsidered, edited by Kari Kallioniemi, Kimi Kärki, Janne Mäkelä and Hannu Salmi. Turku: International Institute for Popular Culture, 2007
  • Steven Shaviro, 'A Brief History of Celebrity (with special reference to Asia Argento)', The Pinocchio Theory, May 7, 2009
  • Joerg Sternagel, 'From Inside Us: Experiencing the Film Actor in Michael Haneke's Caché', Film International #39, vol. 7, no. 3
  • Ginette Vincendeau, 'The New Wave at 50: The star reborn', Sight & Sound, May 2009
  • Greg Wahl, 'Go ahead, Punk; Go ahead, Clint [Eastwood]!', Images Journal, Issue 4: July 97
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    Sad News



    "The first impulse of any good film critic, and [with] this I think you would agree, must be of love. To be moved enough to want to share their affection for a particular work or to relate their experience so that others may be curious. This is why criticism, teaching, and curating or programming, in an ideal sense, must all go hand in hand."
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    Tuesday, 1 September 2009

    More E-theses online: Doris Day, film spectacle, telefantasy, cinema & society, Korean film & TV


    Image from Lover Come Back (Delbert Mann, 1961),
    starring Doris Day and Rock Hudson

    Film Studies For Free had already reported that Douglas Morrey's excellent PhD thesis on the work of Jean-Luc Godard had now been posted online. Below are direct links to some equally wonderful pieces of graduate research on film and television from that very same, very rich Warwick University Research Archive:
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