American Cinema of the 1920s: Themes and Variations

Published by Rutgers University Press 2009

American Cinema of the 1920s

Themes and Variations

Edited by: Lucy Fischer
With contributions by: Angela Dalle Vacche , Jennifer M. Bean , Sumiko Higashi , Michael Aronson , Mark Anderson , Sara Ross , Gwenda Young , Maureen Turim , Marcia Landy and Lucy Fischer

In the series Screen Decades: American Culture/America

https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813547152

Overview
Contents

About this book

During the 1920s, sound revolutionized the motion picture industry and cinema continued as one of the most significant and popular forms of mass entertainment in the world. Film studios were transformed into major corporations, hiring a host of craftsmen and technicians including cinematographers, editors, screenwriters, and set designers. The birth of the star system supported the meteoric rise and celebrity status of actors including Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Joan Crawford, Greta Garbo, and Rudolph Valentino while black performers (relegated to "race films") appeared infrequently in mainstream movies. The classic Hollywood film style was perfected and significant film genres were established: the melodrama, western, historical epic, and romantic comedy, along with slapstick, science fiction, and fantasy.

In ten original essays, American Cinema of the 1920s examines the film industry's continued growth and prosperity while focusing on important themes of the era.

Author / Editor information

LUCY FISCHER is a Distinguished Professor of Film Studies and English at the University of Pittsburgh. She is the author of Designing Women: Art Deco, Cinema, and the Female Form, among many other publications.

Reviews

"This most recent volume in the Screen Decades series, which looks at American culture and American cinema decade by decade, offers ten essays on the cinema of what F. Scott Fitzgerald termed 'the jazz age.' These fresh, insightful essays spark attention on the era of emancipation, Prohibition, materialism, the arrival of radio and sound films, and, of course, bobbed hair. Recommended."

— Choice

“There is nothing like this series. Screen Decades firmly situates American cinema in the realms of material culture, popular culture, cultural narrative, reception analysis, and industrial history.”

— American Quarterly

"This most recent volume in the Screen Decades series, which looks at American culture and American cinema decade by decade, offers ten essays on the cinema of what F. Scott Fitzgerald termed 'the jazz age.' These fresh, insightful essays spark attention on the era of emancipation, Prohibition, materialism, the arrival of radio and sound films, and, of course, bobbed hair. Recommended."

— Choice

“There is nothing like this series. Screen Decades firmly situates American cinema in the realms of material culture, popular culture, cultural narrative, reception analysis, and industrial history.”

— American Quarterly

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Timeline: The 1920s Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction: Movies and the 1920s Lucy Fischer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1920 Movies, Margarine, and Main Street Michael Aronson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	23
1921 Movies and Personality Mark Lynn Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	46
1922 Movies and the Perilous Future Sara Ross Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	70
1923 Movies and the Changing Body of Cinema Marcia Landy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
1924 Movies and Play Jennifer M. Bean Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
1925 Movies and a Year of Change Gwenda Young Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
1926 Movies and Divine Stars, Defining Gender Maureen Turim Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	165
1927 Movies and the New Woman as Consumer Sumiko Higashi Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
1928 Movies, Social Conformity, and Imminent Traumas Angela Dalle Vacche Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	211
1929 Movies, Crashes, and Finales Lucy Fischer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	234
Select Academy Awards, 1927–1929 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	257
Sources for Films Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	259
Works Cited and Consulted Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	275
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	277