The Secret Life Of Ealing Studios

Author : Robert Sellers
Publisher : Aurum
Page : 363 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2015-10-01
Category : Photography
ISBN : 9781781314838

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The Secret Life of Ealing Studios by Robert Sellers Pdf

A behind-the-scenes account of life at Ealing Studios – one of the great cinematic success stories of post-war Britain, and a byword for a particular strain of comic filmmaking that continues to inspire imitators over half a century on. This will be the first full narrative history of the studio, focusing on its output in the 1940s and '50s, when the movies made there were in astonishing (and revealing) synchronicity with the national mood. Told through the memories of the people who worked and performed there, The Secret Life of Ealing Studios will explore how a small group of maverick filmmakers, some of Britain’s most fondly remembered movie stars, and a lot of unsung backroom boys and girls created pictures that presented a unique and enduring view of British identity, and which have since become classics. Particular emphasis will be placed on the filming of Hue and Cry (1947), Passport to Pimlico (1949), Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), Whisky Galore (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Man in the White Suit (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955), along with war films such as The Cruel Sea (1953). At the heart of the story will be the figure of Michael Balcon - perhaps the closest Britain has ever come to producing a movie mogul in the Hollywood mould - and iconic actors such as Peter Sellers, Alec Guinness, Margaret Rutherford and Sid James. The author is one of Britain's leading entertainment biographers and has a number of successful and critically lauded titles under his belt (his recent book on Oliver Reed, What Fresh Lunacy Is This?, was selected for Books of the Year round-ups in both the Sunday Times and Mail on Sunday). Robert has a track record of securing original testimony from first-hand witnesses and has already begun interviewing people who worked at Ealing.

Author : David Stubbs
Publisher : Faber & Faber
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2023-07-27
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9780571353484

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Different Times by David Stubbs Pdf

They don't make comedy like they used to . . . From the slapstick comedy of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel, the surrealism of Spike Milligan and Monty Python, and the golden age of political incorrectness helmed by Benny Hill, to the alternative scene that burst forth following the punk movement, the hedonistic joy of Absolutely Fabulous, the lacerating scorn of Jimmy Carr, Ricky Gervais, and Jo Brand and the meteoric rise of socially conscious stand up today: comedy can be many things, and it is a cultural phenomenon has come to define Britain like few others. In Different Times, David Stubbs charts the superstars that were in on the gags, the unsung heroes hiding in the wings and the people who ended up being the butt of the joke. Comedians and their work speak to and of their time, drawing upon and moulding Britons' relationship with their national history, reflecting us as a people, and, simply, providing raucous laughs for millions of people around the world. Different Times is a joyous, witty and insightful paean to British comedy.

Author : Zach Sands
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 170 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 2017-09-13
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781351600293

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Film Comedy and the American Dream by Zach Sands Pdf

Film Comedy and the American Dream is an examination of national identity in the era of the American superpower as projected in popular comedic films that center on issues of upward mobility. It is the story of what made audiences laugh and why, and what this says about the changing shape of the American Dream from the end of the Second World War through the first part of the twenty-first century. Through a combination of narrative and thematic analyses of popular comedic films, contextualized within a dynamic historical framework, the book traces the increasing disillusionment with this central ideology in the face of multiple forms of systemic exclusion. It argues that film comedy is a major component of the discourse surrounding the American Dream because these movies often evoke humor by highlighting the incongruities that exist between the ideals that define this nation versus the actual lived experiences of its citizens.

Author : Dominic Bradbury
Publisher : Ilex Press
Page : 409 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2021-04-01
Category : Architecture
ISBN : 9781781578414

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The Secret Life of the Modern House by Dominic Bradbury Pdf

* * * 'Informative and entertaining, this publication is a feast for the eyes, while also thought provoking, and offers excellent inspiration for daydreaming about what makes the perfect, modern house.' Wallpaper 'A fascinating selection of innovative homes....this is a thoughtful journey through the evolution of domestic architecture.' Sunday Express Over the last century the way that we live at home has changed dramatically. Nothing short of a design revolution has transformed our houses and the spaces within them - moving from traditional patterns of living all the way through to an era of more fluid, open-plan and modern styles. Whether we live in a new home or a period house, our spaces will have been shaped one way or another by the pioneering Modernists and Mid-century architects and designers who argued for a fresh way of life. Architectural and design writer Dominic Bradbury charts the course of this voyage all the way from the late 19th century through to the houses of today in this ground-breaking book. Over nineteen thematic chapters, he explains the way our houses have been reinvented, while taking in - along the way - the giants of Art Deco, influential Modernists including Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as post-war innovators such as Eero Saarinen and Philip Johnson. Taking us from the 20th to the 21st century, Bradbury explores the progress of 'modernity' itself and reveals the secret history of our very own homes.

Author : Roberto Filippello,Ilya Parkins
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 344 pages
File Size : 51,6 Mb
Release : 2023-05-16
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9783031191008

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Fashion and Feeling by Roberto Filippello,Ilya Parkins Pdf

Fashion and Feeling: The Affective Politics of Dress explores the complex nexus of fashion and the feeling body from a variety of critical perspectives across fashion studies, anthropology, sociology, design practice, and media studies. It asks such questions as: What does fashion look and feel like in an age dominated by amplified anxiety, isolation, depression, and precariousness? How are feelings woven into clothing and mobilized through fashion practices in ways that might sustain living with a sense of ongoing crisis? Does fashion have the potential to help us reimagine new lifeworlds which might be reinvigorating? In other words, how is fashion engaging with the “bad,” the “good,” and the ambivalent feelings associated with our personal and collective histories, with our troubled political present, and with our imagined future? Despite such diverse and scattered contributions, the potentialities of “feeling” for the study of fashion are still largely neglected. This edited volume seeks to tease out possible avenues of investigation of the clothed body and its representations through the lens of feeling.

Author : S. P. MacKenzie
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 216 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2019-08-08
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781350024878

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Bomber Boys on Screen by S. P. MacKenzie Pdf

Since the Second World War, depictions of Royal Air Force operations in film and television drama have become so numerous that they make up a genre worthy of scholarly attention. In this illuminating study, S. P. MacKenzie explores the different ways in which the men of RAF Bomber Command have been represented in dramatic form on the big and small screen from the war years to the present day. Bomber Boys on Screen is the first in-depth study of how and why the screen-drama image of those who flew, those who directed them, and those who provided support for RAF bomber operations has changed over time, sometimes in contested circumstances. Until now dramas that focus on Bomber Command have tended to be mentioned only in passing or studied in isolation, despite the prevalence of surveys of both the British war film genre and of aviation cinema. In Bomber Boys on Screen MacKenzie examines the development, presentation, and reception of significant dramas on a decade-by-decade basis. Titles from the beginning of the war (The Lion Has Wings, 1939) to the start of new century (Bomber's Moon, 2014) are situated in the context of technical possibilities and limitations, evolving social and cultural norms in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and the development of moral and utilitarian controversies surrounding the wartime bomber offensive directed against Nazi Germany. While the focus is on feature films and television plays, reference is also made to documentaries, memorials, veterans' organizations, book titles, war comics, and other representations of the war fought by Bomber Command.

Author : Charles Barr
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Page : 240 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 1998-01-01
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 0520215540

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Ealing Studios by Charles Barr Pdf

A study of British filmmaking

Author : Stephanie Muir
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2010
Category : Art
ISBN : 1906733317

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Studying Ealing Studios by Stephanie Muir Pdf

Studying Ealing Studios explores the rich history of one of the best loved and best known institutions of British cinema.

Author : Mark Duguid,Lee Freeman,Keith M. Johnston,Melanie Williams
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2012
Category : Motion pictures
ISBN : 1838711309

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Ealing Revisited by Mark Duguid,Lee Freeman,Keith M. Johnston,Melanie Williams Pdf

Ealing Revisited provides a major reappraisal of one of British cinema's best-loved institutions, Ealing Studios. During its heyday, Ealing produced a string of classic comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Ladykillers (1955), but there is much more to Ealing than these films, as this volume of new writing on the studio shows. Addressing both known and less familiar aspects of Ealing's story, its films, actors and technicians, the contributors uncover what has gone unexplored, or unspoken, in previous histories of the studio, and consider the impact that Ealing has had on British cultural life from the 1930s to the present. Listed in the Independent on Sunday's Cinema books of 2012.

Author : Ed Harris
Publisher : Amberley Publishing Limited
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2012-11-15
Category : Performing Arts
ISBN : 9781445611877

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Britain's Forgotten Film Factory by Ed Harris Pdf

From the first Sherlock Holmes film to the African Queen, the only full account of this important film studio

Author : George Perry
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 1981
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015001013062

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Forever Ealing by George Perry Pdf

Author : Taylor Downing
Publisher : Icon Books
Page : 367 pages
File Size : 51,5 Mb
Release : 2024-05-23
Category : History
ISBN : 9781837731596

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The Army That Never Was by Taylor Downing Pdf

On 29 May 1944 General George S. Patton gave a speech in the south-east of England to the men of his Army in which he spoke of the American desire to win and of how losing was hateful to Americans. As he rose to his crescendo, he said how much he 'pitied those sons of bitches we are going up against - by God, I do'. On that same day General Omar Bradley gave a calmer speech in Somerset to the men of his Army about how much rested on the upcoming invasion of northern France and how vital their role was in achieving victory. Apart from the very different tones of the speeches reflecting the opposite character of the two Army commanders, there was another big difference. Bradley was speaking to men who in a little over a week would be splashing ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Patton was addressing an Army that didn't exist. The Army That Never Was tells the story of the biggest deception operation of the Second World War - the plan to mislead the Germans into thinking that the invasion of Europe would come at the Pas de Calais, by inventing an entirely fake Army group in the south-east of England. Full of fascinating characters from the US, Britain and Germany, this compelling and propulsive narrative explores one of the most remarkable stories of the Second World War.

Author : Patricia Warren
Publisher : B.T. Batsford
Page : 196 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Motion picture industry
ISBN : UCSC:32106016572544

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British Film Studios by Patricia Warren Pdf

Ninety studios, 200 film stills, and countless fascinating facts are all in this A-to-Z compendium of movies made at British studios, from the silent days to the present. Featuring an in-depth cross-reference, the guide also covers the role of the directors, producers and stars.

Author : Brian Neve
Publisher : University of Wisconsin Pres
Page : 293 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 2015-07-21
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780299303747

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The Many Lives of Cy Endfield by Brian Neve Pdf

Cy Endfield (1914-1995) was a filmmaker (Try and Get Me!, Hell Drivers, Zulu) with interests in close-up magic, science, and invention. The director of several distinctive Hollywood movies, he was blacklisted and refused to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee.

Author : Martin Francis
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 48,8 Mb
Release : 2022-09-22
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9781350124608

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Empire, Celebrity and Excess by Martin Francis Pdf

While now long-forgotten, King Farouk of Egypt loomed large in British culture in the 1940s and 1950s. Farouk was of interest and importance, not just to British imperial policy makers, but to a wider public that was exposed to his extravagant lifestyle and colourful private life through gossip columns, comedy sketches, cartoons, song lyrics and novels. This book explores how the narratives and representations of King Farouk found in British official and popular culture dramatized the retreat from empire, the rise of celebrity journalism, changing conceptions of masculinity and sexuality, ambivalent attitudes towards monarchy, postcolonial exile, the growth of mass tourism, and the post-war transition from austerity to abundance. By considering diplomatic history in tandem with histories of popular culture and celebrity, Francis presents a more holistic understanding of British culture during the era of decolonization. The varied cultural and social features of post-war Britain and the reconstitution of British identity in the aftermath of empire - sexual liberalization, 'Americanization', consumer affluence, increased interaction with Europe, new forms of mass leisure and the emergence of celebrity culture - did not take place independently of the dismantling of imperial rule. Studying Farouk therefore sheds new light on the multiple and complex ways in which Britain emerged as a postcolonial nation.