Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema , No 5) |
Buy Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema , No 5) here, one of 749 Media History books offered for sale at discount prices here in the history books section at R bookshop. There are currently 83508 history books in our history books section, and over 1,000,000 books listed in our book store. We greatly appreciate your patronage at R bookshop and look forward to offering you a large selection of great books at discount prices now and in the future. Thank you for shopping at R Bookshop!
|
You Are Here: Home > History Books > Media History > Item 176
|
Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema , No 5)
|
by Tino Balio
Sales Rank: 368149
|
$25.95
At Amazon
on 8-2-2008.
|
|
|
|
Features
Cover Type: Paperback with 483 pages
Published by: University of California Press January 29, 1996
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0520203348
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0520203341
Book Dimensions:
9.9 x 6.8 x 1.3 inches
Weighs: 2.5 pounds
From Booklist
This fifth volume in the History of the American Cinema series sketches a broad-ranging history of American movies during the Great Depression years. It emphasizes how the social and political backdrop of the 1930s was reflected in film and how Hollywood adapted technologically and economically to the cinematic trends of the decade--the talkies, the rise of individual stars, the public cry for censorship, and the development of B films, avant-garde film, and documentaries.
Each of the ten chapters begins with a short overview of the subject later covered in detail, and each ends with a summary of the thesis of the chapter. Some were written by Balio, a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin, and others were contributed by other film scholars. The book is illustrated with striking, large black-and-white photographs of film scenes and of actors and studio executives referred to in the text.
Although a great number of films are mentioned in each chapter, the purpose of the book is not to provide criticism. The authors are more concerned with how the American public reacted to a film than with analyzing it critically. There is considerable discussion about how the great film studios developed during this formative decade.
Appendixes include a list of the top-grossing films of the 1930s (compiled by Variety), an Academy Award list by year, and Film Daily's "Ten Best Films" for each year of the decade. An extensive bibliography, a general index, and an index of films conclude the book.
There are many histories of American film that cover the films of this period with more critical attention, but this is the most comprehensive treatment of the film industry during the thirties. It will be most useful in the circulating collections of public and academic libraries supporting film-studies and business-history programs. Large research libraries may also find it valuable to include a copy of Grand Design (as well as the other books in this series) in their film reference collections.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Dana Polan, Film Quarterly
"A work of major importance for the serious study of American film."
Reader Reviews
I had high hopes for this book. The volumes in this series on the origins of cinema, the Twenties and the Forties are very good. This book, however, proved a chore to get through. The big problem for me was that Balio seemed more interested in the movie companies as organizations and less interested in the films themselves. Compounding this was the fact that he sees the Thirties as a unit, and believes that the division of the decade's films into pre-Code and post-Code, with 1934 as the turning point, is a myth. Thus, to him, the "fallen women" films, Mae West comedies, classic gangster films, and horror films all died out because the public was tired, not because of censorship problems. Balio sees filmmaking in the Thirties as dominated by the studios and with directors being hired guns. Hence there is no real discussion of any directors. Ernst Lubitsch, Frank Capra and Josef von Sternberg are barely mentioned, except when Balio complains that their films didn't make enough money. Indeed, he seems to have no view of his own about the films. Instead, he views FILM DAILY and VARIETY as the voice of God. If they put the film on their ten best list, it is good, and if they didn't, it isn't worth talking about. The idea that some films popular in the Thirties are no longer highly regarded or that some films despised at the time have become viewed as classics seems not to interest him at all. If someone who had no idea about the history of American film read this book, he would come away thinking that the "Golden Age of Hollywood" was a myth and these films were artifacts not worth seeing.
Comment | |
(Report this)
Back To Top
|
Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema , No 5)
Available from Amazon
Price: $25.95
Updated on 8-2-2008.
|
NOTICE: All prices, availability, and specifications
are subject to verification by their respective retailers.
| We offer Grand Design: Hollywood as a Modern Business Enterprise, 1930-1939 (History of the American Cinema , No 5) and other related Media History Books here at Rbookshop.com. To view more books about Media History please use the previous and next buttons near the top of this page.
|
|
Search for books at
