Mcfarland: 2486 books
Gothic in Comics and Graphic Novels
A Critical Approach
Language: English
Release Date: February 7, 2014
This book explores the connections between comics and Gothic from four different angles: historical, formal, cultural and textual. It identifies structures, styles and themes drawn from literary gothic traditions and discusses their presence in British and American comics today, with particular attention...
by J. Anne Funderburg
Language: English
Release Date: April 4, 2014
Language: English
Release Date: April 4, 2014
This work is an accurate, wide-ranging, and entertaining account of the illegal liquor traffic during the Prohibition Era (1920 to 1933). Based on FBI files, legal documents, old newspapers and other sources, it offers a coast-to-coast survey of Volstead crime—outrageous stories of America’s most...
The Man Who Made the Jailhouse Rock
Alex Romero, Hollywood Choreographer
Language: English
Release Date: September 6, 2013
Choreographer Alex Romero created Jailhouse Rock, the iconic Elvis Presley production number, but never received screen credit for his contribution. This book tells his story. The son of a Mexican general, Romero escaped the Mexican Revolution, joined his family’s vaudeville dance act and became...
A Wonderful Heart
The Films of William Wyler
Language: English
Release Date: September 6, 2013
Revered by his cinematic peers, William Wyler (1902–1981) was one of the most honored and successful directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age, with such classics as Dead End, Wuthering Heights, The Little Foxes, Roman Holiday and Ben-Hur. He won three directing Oscars and elicited over a dozen Oscar-winning...
by Carl Rollyson
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2016
Language: English
Release Date: March 9, 2016
Some critics rank biographers just above serial murderers. The author of this book, a self-described member of the Samuel Johnson school, doesn’t share this view. An account of a life, he believes, should adhere to the truth as the biographer sees it, not to the sentiments of others. This memoir...
by David Kalat
Language: English
Release Date: November 3, 2017
Language: English
Release Date: November 3, 2017
This thoroughly updated and revised critical account of the Godzilla movie franchise explores the fascinating story behind Japan’s most famous movie monster and its development from black-and-white arthouse allegory to international commercial juggernaut. Reviled by critics but boasting a dedicated...
The Kaiju Film
A Critical Study of Cinema's Biggest Monsters
Language: English
Release Date: February 17, 2016
The Kaiju (strange monster or strange beast) film genre has a number of themes that go well beyond the “big monsters stomping on cities” motif. Since the seminal King Kong 1933) and the archetypal Godzilla (1954), kaiju has mined the subject matter of science run amok, militarism, capitalism,...
The Atomic Bomb in Japanese Cinema
Critical Essays
Language: English
Release Date: July 24, 2018
Seventy years after the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan is still dealing with the effects of the bombings on the national psyche. From the Occupation Period to the present, Japanese cinema had offered a means of coming to terms with one of the most controversial events of the 20th...
Giant Creatures in Our World
Essays on Kaiju and American Popular Culture
Language: English
Release Date: October 11, 2017
Dismissed as camp by critics but revered by fans, the kaiju or "strange creature" film has become an iconic element of both Japanese and American pop culture. From homage to parody to advertising, references to Godzilla—and to a lesser extent Gamera, Rodan, Ultraman and others—abound...
Japan's Green Monsters
Environmental Commentary in Kaiju Cinema
Language: English
Release Date: January 25, 2018
In 1954, a massive irradiated dinosaur emerged from Tokyo Bay and rained death and destruction on the Japanese capital. Since then Godzilla and other monsters, such as Mothra and Gamera, have gained cult status around the world. This book provides a new interpretation of these monsters, or kaiju-ū,...
The Complete Kay Francis Career Record
All Film, Stage, Radio and Television Appearances
Language: English
Release Date: March 30, 2016
This book is the definitive guide to the film, stage, radio and television career of Kay Francis, one of the most glamorous stars from the golden age of Hollywood. For each film, the authors provide a thorough synopsis plus cast and crew information (including biographies), opening dates, production...
The Very Witching Time of Night
Dark Alleys of Classic Horror Cinema
Language: English
Release Date: May 23, 2014
The book covers unusual and often surprising areas of horror film history: (1) The harrowingly tragic life of Dracula’s leading lady, Helen Chandler, as intimately remembered by her sister-in-law. (2) John Barrymore’s 1931 horror vehicles Svengali and The Mad Genius, and their rejection by the...
Marjorie Main
The Life and Films of Hollywood's "Ma Kettle"
Language: English
Release Date: June 8, 2015
She was a slum mother, witty housekeeper, nosy neighbor, meddling maid, town gossip, and most memorably, Ma Kettle. Marjorie Main is best remembered for her portrayal of the farm mother of 15 children and wife of shiftless Pa Kettle. The characters were introduced in the 1945 film The Egg and I, and...
by Dan Callahan
Language: English
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Language: English
Release Date: February 27, 2018
Some people claim that audiences go to the movies for the genre. Others say they go for the director. But most really go to see their favorite actors and actresses. This book explores the work of many of classic Hollywood’s influential stars, such as James Cagney, Bette Davis, Cary Grant and Katharine...