Author Archive for: ‘Deborah Allison’

Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir

Paul Meehan, Tech-Noir: The Fusion of Science Fiction and Film Noir. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 2008 ISBN: 978 0 7864 3325 4 US$55.00 (hb) 272pp (Review copy supplied by McFarland & Co.) The similarities between the popular family comedy Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (USA 1988) and 1930s mad scientist movies such as Doctor X (USA 1932) and The Raven (USA 1935) may not be instantly …

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Pop Fiction: The Song in Cinema

Steve Lannin and Matthew Caley (eds), Pop Fiction: The Song in Cinema. Bristol: Intellect Books, 2005. ISBN: 1 84150 078 X 173 pp £14.95 (pb) (Review copy supplied by Intellect Books) As more than one of the contributors to this volume notes, it is easy to regard the use of well-known pop songs in commercial cinema with a certain cynicism. …

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Novelty title sequences and self-reflexivity in classical Hollywood cinema

There were things that could be done with film, it was crazy not to do them. (title designer Wayne Fitzgerald) [1] In 1976 Saul Bass designed the opening title sequence for That’s Entertainment Part II(Gene Kelly) and in doing so created a piece of film that was about titles sequences, as well as being one itself. The film’s compilation format of classic …

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Jean Cocteau

James S. Williams, Jean Cocteau. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006. ISBN: 0 7190 5883 X 223pp £40.00 (hb) (Review copy supplied by Manchester University Press) Jean Cocteau’s contribution to the cinema and art of the twentieth century was, by any standard, quite extraordinary. A painter, sculptor, poet, playwright, novelist, critic and filmmaker – to name but a few of his …

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