Filmboeken

The first two chapters define the genre and describe the use of pragmatic aesthetics (when filmmakers put technical and budgetary compromises to artistic effect). Subsequent chapters cover mise-en-scène, framing, photography, lighting, editing and sound, and a final chapter is devoted to the aesthetic appeals of horror cinema.

Published by McFarland in 2010

ISBN: 9780786458349

English, 288 pages

Retail epub

David Pirie's acclaimed history of British gothic film and television has long been regarded as a foundational study of the roots of British horror, identifying it as 'the only staple cinematic myth which Britain can properly claim as its own.'

This edition has been revised and updated to include discussion of films and TV dramas that have been newly discovered, restored or released since publication of the previous edition in 2007, as well as addressing newly-emergent screenwriters, directors and genres.

Drawing on insider accounts and archival sources, David Pirie investigates the notion of horror versus realism in popular fiction, and analyses the horror boom that developed around films including The Others and 28 Days Later. He chronicles British horror cinema from its origins in Gothic literature traces the rise of Hammer Films, its key directors and films as well as its battles with the censors, explores major horror sub genres including comedy horror and sci-fi, and brings the story up to the present day, where horror is flourishing in new ways, with films such as Shaun of the Dead, Under the Skin and Censor; the rise of genres such as folk horror and films that tackle questions of race and gender, and the emergence of a new generation of writers and directors including Prano Bailey-Bond, Ben Wheatley and Edgar Wright.

Great films are born of great collaborations, and Sunset Boulevard represents one of the most extraordinary confluences of cinematic talent in film history - but its production was surprisingly fraught, filled with unexpected twists.

Why was William Holden, who had never caught fire as a leading man, hired to play Joe Gillis after the fastest-rising star in the business dropped out at the last minute? After Mae West and Mary Pickford turned down the now iconic role of Norma Desmond, how did Billy Wilder convince Gloria Swanson, who had long been absent from Hollywood at this point, to leave her low-paying job as a TV talk show host to join the cast? From the writers' room during Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's final collaboration to the moment when the film won three Academy Awards, scholar and former Rolling Stone staffer David M. Lubin takes readers on a fascinating journey through film history that proves, once and for all, why Sunset Boulevard is one of the most iconic films in cinematic history.

Just in time for the film's 75th anniversary, Ready for My Closeup breathes life into a beloved masterpiece of American cinema.

Contents

Prologue: The Early Hours

1: The Man in the Pool

2: Glorious Gloria

3: Writers in Wonderland

4: “The Happiest Couple in Hollywood”

5: Adultery, Addiction, and Mass Murder

6: “The Foolishness of This Foolish Town”

7: Finding Norma

8: The Man You Love to Hate

9: “Hello, Young Fellow”

10: “Do You Know Bill Holden?”

11: Locations: Real and Imagined

12: A New Monkey for Norma

13: Out with the Old, In with the New

14: Getting Ready for Her Close-Up

15: Reactions to Sunset

16: What Became of…?

Epilogue: The Legacy Of Sunset Boulevard