COMMENTARY

  • Oscar Actors & Movie Stars: Spotting Talent

    Research in Progress: April 19, 2021 Acting Profession: Spotting Spotting potential acting talent an an early age is one of the most crucial processes in launching an acting career–on stage or screen. And this is the reason for aspiring actors need and want to get exposure. Exposure takes  various forms and can occur in various […]

    Death and Dying in Hollywood: Walker, Paul–Fast & Furious Franchise

    Walker died on November 30, 2013 at age 40 as a passenger in a single-car crash alongside friend and driver Roger Rodas. The accident was caused by driving into a gas pipe. Walker’s father and daughter filed separate wrongful death lawsuits against Porsche, which resulted in settlements.

    Film Movements: Theory and Practice–Tudor

    Any account of a film movement begins and ends with specific historical events. But there may be processes common to a range of comparable cases, recognizable patterns of determination.

    Film Movements: Theory and Practice (Bordwell and Thompson)

    Film movements consist of films that are produced within a particular period and/or nation and share significant traits of style and form.

    Women in Film: Select Biblio

    Research in Progress (March 30, 2021) Cole, Jonathan R. Fair Science: Women in the Scientific Community. Free Press, 1979. De Lauretis, Teresa (ed) Feminist Studies–Critical Studies. (Theories of Contemporary Culture Series). Indiana Univ Press, paper. De Lauretis, Teresa. Alice Doesn’t: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema. Indiana Univ Press, 1984. Drake, William. The First Wave: Women Poets in […]

    Women in Film: Expressions, Ideas

    John Berger, Ways of Seeing In painting, literature, advertising, journalism, and TV: “The essential way of seeing woman, the essential use  to which their images  are put, has not changed. Women are depicted in a quite different way from men–not because the feminine is different from the masculine–but because the “ideal” spectator is always assumed […]

    Movie Stars: America’s Democratic Elite–Theory and Research

    The goal of my book is to assess the significance of movie stardom as a persistent, long-enduring cultural phenomenon by analyzing the multiple functions and power of movie stars, in the film industry and outside, at the society at large. 

    George Cukor: Hollywood’s Best Actor Director–Lansbury, Angela (Gaslight)

    Angela Lansbury’s stunning debut in Gaslight certified her talent and honored her, at the age of 18, with the first of her four Academy Award nominations. 

    George Cukor: Hollywood’s Best Actor Director–Bergman, Ingrid (Gaslight)

    In later years, Cukor recalled his first impression of Hepburn: “She had somewhat irritating qualities.  She was high-brow and very self-assured.  She had audacity.”  “She was rather smart-assed and very hoyty-toyty,” Cukor told of Hepburn’s early years, “and she acted as if we were all ignoramus.”

    George Cukor: Hollywood’s Best Actor Director–Hayworth, Rita (Susan and God)

    George Cukor was without a doubt Hollywood’s best actor director–Joseph L. Mankiewicz, director of All About Eve My work really begins and ends through the actors, the more successfully you work through the actors, the more your own work disappears–George Cukor Rita Hayworth: George Cukor was also instrumental in launching the careers of many Hollywood […]

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