Acting Hollywood Style

Fülszöveg

What makes Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity the toughest "dame" in Hollywood movies? Why are Jimmy Cagney, Carole Lombard, and James Dean "live wires," while Lana Turner, Groucho Marx, and Robert Redford are "mannequins"? Without Pij/iAo's pounding musical score, just how scary would Tony Perkins be?
Acting Hollywood Style answers these questions and many more in a lively, fresh examination of the art of screen acting as practiced in Hollywood for the past seven decades. In a text imbued with the love of films, author Foster Hirsch discusses actors—from Rudolph Valentino and Lillian Gish to Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep—who embody the Hollywood Style, a unique blend of acting talent, compatibility with the camera, and that mysterious "star" quality. Among Hirsch's themes are the special circumstances in which film actors perform, the significance of body language, the supremely important face and voice of the film actor, the relationship between an actor's screen persona... Tovább

Fülszöveg

What makes Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity the toughest "dame" in Hollywood movies? Why are Jimmy Cagney, Carole Lombard, and James Dean "live wires," while Lana Turner, Groucho Marx, and Robert Redford are "mannequins"? Without Pij/iAo's pounding musical score, just how scary would Tony Perkins be?
Acting Hollywood Style answers these questions and many more in a lively, fresh examination of the art of screen acting as practiced in Hollywood for the past seven decades. In a text imbued with the love of films, author Foster Hirsch discusses actors—from Rudolph Valentino and Lillian Gish to Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep—who embody the Hollywood Style, a unique blend of acting talent, compatibility with the camera, and that mysterious "star" quality. Among Hirsch's themes are the special circumstances in which film actors perform, the significance of body language, the supremely important face and voice of the film actor, the relationship between an actor's screen persona and "real life." All are considered within the context of the Hollywood studio system, which made and maintained stars during the Golden Era.
Much original photographic research, primarily in the archives of the famed Kobal Collection, has been done for the book. Stunning images capture memorable moments in film history: Garbo cradling a nosegay in Camille, Brando orating m Julius Caesar, Fred and Ginger dancing their love in The Gay Divorcee. Other pictures illuminate themes in the text: the cardboard West of The Petrified Forest, Katharine Hepburn's somewhat inauthentic Chinese peasant in Dragon Seed, and Gary Grant's amusing, balletic antics in Holiday. The 262 photographs, 50 in full color, appear highlighted on full pages or grouped in revealing juxtapositions.
The brilliant, groundbreaking text and spectacular images Wit Acting Hollywood Style into a rare class of film book. Anyone who has ever thrilled to a great Hollywood performance—or been exasperated by a bad one—will want to have this book to understand the reasons why, and to know what to look for the next time.
262 illustrations, including 50 plates in full color
Foster Hirsch has written 14 books on theatre and film subjects, including studies of the Actors Studio, Harold Prince, and the film work of Laurence Olivier, Joseph Losey, and Woody Allen. His Film Noir: The Dark Side of the Screen (1981) has become the standard work on the subject, and his books have been translated into Japanese, Spanish, Greek, and German. Among the publications to which Mr. Hirsch has contributed articles and reviews are American Theatre, The Nation, The New York Times, Film Comment, and Film Quarterly. He is Professor of Film at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and is now at work on two books, a history of the Shuberts and a chronicle of American theatre in the twenties.
Jacket front: Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun. Copyright © 1951 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Use of photo Courtesy of Paramount Pictures. Photo from The Kobal Collection
Jacket back: Memorable screen moments from Acting Hollywood Style
Jacket design by Dirk Luykx
Harry N. Abrams, Inc. 100 Fifth Avenue New York, N.Y 10011
Printed in Japan Vissza