Jeanine Basinger

Jeanine BasingerFrom one of our leading film authorities, a rich, penetrating, amusing plum pudding of a book about the golden age of movies, full of Hollywood lore, anecdotes, and analysis. Jeanine Basinger gives us an immensely entertaining look into the star machine, examining how, at the height of the studio system, from the 1930s to the 1950s, the studios worked to manufacture star actors and actresses. With revelatory insights and delightful asides, she shows us how the machine worked when it worked, how it failed when it didnt, and how irrelevant it could sometimes be. She gives us the human factor, case studies focusing on big stars groomed into the system: the awesomely beautiful (and disillusioned) Tyrone Power; the seductive, disobedient Lana Turner; and a dazzling cast of othersLoretta Young, Errol Flynn, Irene Dunne, Deanna Durbin. She anatomizes their careers, showing how their fame happened, and what happened to them as a result. (Both Lana Turner and Errol Flynn, for instance, were involved in notorious court cases.) In her trenchantly observed conclusion, she explains what has become of the star machine and why the studios practice of making stars is no longer relevant. Deeply engrossing, full of energy, wit, and wisdom, The Star Machine is destined to become an invaluable part of the film canon.

Uno de los más distinguidos eruditos del cine nos ofrece un rico, penetrante y divertido libro sobre la edad de oro de las películas y cómo los estudios trabajaron para la fabricación de estrellas. Con penetrantes informaciones, Basinger nos revela casos centrados en grandes estrellas del sistema: el impresionantemente hermoso Tyrone Power o la desobediente Lara Turner, pasando por todo un deslumbrante elenco de estrellas. Profundamente fascinante, lleno de energia, ingenio y sabiduria, The Star Machine esta destinado a convertirse en un clasico del genero.

Hollywood: The Oral History covers the history of Hollywood from the Silent era up to the 21st century. What makes this book unique from any other survey of Hollywoods history is that it is the history of an art form through the words of those people who created it - from Harold Lloyd to Katharine Hepburn to Warren Beatty to Jane Fonda and beyond, including directors, writers, producers, editors, designers of sets and costumes. As such, the authenticity of the text is irrefutable. The material in the book - gathered over the decades by the American Film Institute - has never been published before, has never been heard before. It is comprehensive - a monument that will never age nor be surpassed.

ONE OF THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTERS 100 GREATEST FILM BOOKS OF ALL TIME From one of our most distinguished film scholars, comes a rich, penetrating, amusing book about the golden age of movies and how the studios worked to manufacture stars. With revelatory insights and delightful asides, Jeanine Basinger shows us how the studio star machine worked when it worked, how it failed when it didnt, and how irrelevant it could sometimes be. She gives us case studies focusing on big stars groomed into the system: the awesomely beautiful (and disillusioned) Tyrone Power; the seductive, disobedient Lana Turner; and a dazzling cast of others. She anatomizes their careers, showing how their fame happened, and what happened to them as a result. Deeply engrossing, full of energy, wit, and wisdom, The Star Machine is destined to become an classic of the film canon.

From one of Americas most renowned film scholars: a revelatory, perceptive, and highly readable look at the greatest silent film stars -- not those few who are fully appreciated and understood, like Chaplin, Keaton, Gish, and Garbo, but those who have been misperceived, unfairly dismissed, or forgotten. Here is Valentino, "the Sheik," who was hardly the effeminate lounge lizard hes been branded as; Mary Pickford, who couldnt have been further from the adorable little creature with golden ringlets that was her film persona; Marion Davies, unfairly pilloried in Citizen Kane; the original "Phantom" and "Hunchback," Lon Chaney; the beautiful Talmadge sisters, Norma and Constance. Here are the great divas, Pola Negri and Gloria Swanson; the great flappers, Colleen Moore and Clara Bow; the great cowboys, William S. Hart and Tom Mix; and the great lover, John Gilbert. Here, too, is the quintessential slapstick comedienne, Mabel Normand, with her Keystone Kops; the quintessential all-American hero, Douglas Fairbanks; and, of course, the quintessential all-American dog, Rin-Tin-Tin.This is the first book to anatomize the major silent players, reconstruct their careers, and give us a sense of what those films, those stars, and that Hollywood were all about. An absolutely essential text for anyone seriously interested in movies, and, with more than three hundred photographs, as much a treat to look at as it is to read.

Now, Voyager, Stella Dallas, Leaver Her to Heaven, Imitation of Life, Mildred Pierce, Gildathese are only a few of the hundreds of womens films that poured out of Hollywood during the thirties, forties, and fifties. The films were widely disparate in subject, sentiment, and technique, they nonetheless shared one dual purpose: to provide the audience (of women, primarily) with temporary liberation into a screen dreamof romance, sexuality, luxury, suffering, or even wickednessand then send it home reminded of, reassured by, and resigned to the fact that no matter what else she might do, a womans most important job wasto be a woman. Now, with boundless knowledge and infectious enthusiasm, Jeanine Basinger illuminates the various surprising and subversive ways in which womens films delivered their message. Basinger examines dozens of films, exploring the seemingly intractable contradictions at the convoluted heart of the womans genreamong them, the dilemma of the strong and glamorous woman who cedes her power when she feels it threatening her personal happiness, and the self-abnegating woman whose selflessness is not always as noble as it appears. Basinger looks at the stars who played these women and helps us understand the qualitiesthe right off-screen personae, the right on-screen attitudes, the right facesthat made them personify the womans film and equipped them to make believable drama or comedy out of the crackpot plots, the conflicting ideas, and the exaggerations of real behavior that characterize these movies. In each of the films the author discusseswhether melodrama, screwball comedy, musical, film noir, western, or biopica woman occupies the center of her particular universe. Her storyin its endless variations of rags to riches, boy meets girl, battle of the sexes, mother love, doomed romanceinevitably sends a highly potent mixed message: Yes, you women belong in your proper place (that is, content with the Big Three of the womens film worldmen, marriage, and motherhood), but meanwhile, and paradoxically, see what fun, glamour, and power you can enjoy along the way. A Womans View deepens our understanding of the times and circumstances and attitudes out of which these movies were created.

From one of our leading film historians and interpreters: a brilliantly researched, irresistibly witty, delightfully illustrated examination of the marriage movie; what it is (or isnt) and what it has to tell us about the moviesand ourselves.As long as there have been feature movies there have been marriage movies, and yet Hollywood has always been cautious about how to label themperhaps because, unlike any other genre of film, the marriage movie resonates directly with the experience of almost every adult coming to see it. Here is happily ever afterexcept when things arent happy, and when ever after is abruptly terminated by divorce, tragedy . . . or even murder. With her large-hearted understanding of how moviesand audienceswork, Jeanine Basinger traces the many ways Hollywood has tussled with this tricky subject, explicating the relationships of countless marriages from Blondie and Dagwood to the heartrending couple in the Iranian A Separation, from Tracy and Hepburn to Laurel and Hardy (a marriage if ever there was one) to Coach and his wife in Friday Night Lights. A treasure trove of insight and sympathy, illustrated with scores of wonderfully telling movie stills, posters, and ads.

Irresistible and authoritative, The Movie Musical! is an in-depth look at the singing, dancing, happy-making world of Hollywood musicals, beautifully illustrated in color and black-and-white--an essential text for anyone whos ever laughed, cried, or sung along at the movies.Leading film historian Jeanine Basinger reveals, with her trademark wit and zest, the whole story of the Hollywood musical--in the most telling, most incisive, most detailed, most gorgeously illustrated book of her long and remarkable career. From Fred Astaire, whom she adores, to La La Land, which she deplores, Basinger examines a dazzling array of stars, strategies, talents, and innovations in the history of musical cinema. Whether analyzing a classic Gene Kelly routine, relishing a Nelson-Jeanette operetta, or touting a dynamic hip hop number (in the underrated Idlewild), she is a canny and charismatic guide to the many ways that song and dance have been seen--and heard--on film. With extensive portraits of everyone from Al Jolson, the Jazz Singer; to Doris Day, whose iconic sunniness has overshadowed her dramatic talents; from Deanna Durbin, that lovable teen-star of the 30s and 40s; to Shirley T. and Judy G.; from Bing to Frank to Elvis; from Ann Miller to Ann-Margret; from Disney to Chicago . . . focusing on many beloved, iconic films (Top Hat; Singin in the Rain; Meet Me in St. Louis; The Sound of Music) as well as unduly obscure gems (Eddie Cantors Whoopee!; Murder at the Vanities; Sun Valley Serenade; One from the Heart), this book is astute, informative, and pure pleasure to read.

The real story of Hollywood as told by such luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Frank Capra, Katharine Hepburn, Meryl Streep, Harold Lloyd, and nearly four hundred others, assembled from the American Film Institutes treasure trove of interviews, reveals a fresh oral history of the American movie industry from its beginnings to today. From the archives of the American Film Institute comes a unique, behind-the-scenes picture of what it was like to work in Hollywood, from the silent era to its present day. Gleaned from nearly three thousand interviews, involving four hundred voices from the industry, Hollywood: The Oral History, lets a reader listen in on candid remarks from the biggest names in front of the cameraBette Davis, Meryl Streep, Tom Hanks, Harold Lloydto the biggest behind itFrank Capra, Steven Spielberg, Alfred Hitchcock, Jordan Peele, as well as the lesser known individuals that shaped what was heard and seen on screen: musicians, costumers, art directors, cinematographers, writers, sound men, editors, make-up artists, and even script timers, messengers, and publicists. The result is like a conversation among the gods and goddesses of film: lively, funny, insightful, historically accurate and, for the first time, authentically honest in its portrait of classic Hollywood. Its the insiders story. Legendary film scholar Jeanine Basinger and New York Times bestselling author Sam Wasson, both acclaimed storytellers in their own right, have undertaken the monumental task of digesting these tens of thousands of hours of talk and weaving it into a definitive portrait of workaday Hollywood. What was it really like to build Hollywood from the ground up?The Golden Age of Hollywood: Discover the real stories behind legendary films and stars, as told by the people who were therefrom Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn to Alfred Hitchcock and Frank Capra. The Studio System: Go behind the gates of MGM, Paramount, and Warner Bros. to understand how the Hollywood machine really worked, from the moguls in the executive suite to the artisans on the backlot. Legendary Filmmakers: Go beyond the myths with candid, funny, and insightful stories from hundreds of industry luminaries, including Steven Spielberg, Katharine Hepburn, and Alfred Hitchcock. The Crafts of Filmmaking: Discover the secrets of the costumers, art directors, editors, and cinematographers who shaped what was seen on screen and gave classic films their iconic look.

Estudio sobre la obra cinematográfica del director Anthony Mann para su presentación durante el 52º Festival Internacional de Cine de San Sebastián.