Classical Hollywood

[PT]:
O presente artigo versa sobre um lugar sem lugar, nomeado Innisfree, a partir da análise de dois filmes – The quiet man (John Ford, 1952) e Innisfree (José Luis Guerin, 1990). No primeiro filme, Innisfree é o topónimo adotado para designar a região onde decorre a ação do The quiet man. Esse espaço ficcional corresponde, na realidade, à vila de Cong (Irlanda) e respetivas imediações, onde a película foi rodada, e é trabalhado por Ford como um sítio utópico e próximo do mítico. Já no filme Innisfree, Guerín revisita os espaços filmados por Ford e atende às histórias dos habitantes de Cong, volvidos quase 40 anos desde The quiet man.
É nosso intento demonstrar como The quiet man logrou criar um espaço idílico através do tratamento da paisagem e da mise-en-scène, beneficiando de uma designação geograficamente impossível de localizar – Innisfree – com raízes etimológicas e literárias poéticas (Innis, do gaélico, corresponde a prado; free, do anglo-saxónico, livre) e confrontá-lo com uma visão mais próxima da realidade. Essa outra perspetiva é a de José Luis Guerín em Innisfree, que demonstra como a história de Ford foi incorporada pelas gerações coevas e pelas que nasceram sob o signo daquele filme. Guerín retorna às paisagens que Ford filmou e põe em evidência essa comunidade marcada de forma indelével pelo The quiet man, quer seja por razões de memória e identidade, quer seja por motivos turísticos. O cruzamento dos dois filmes expõe a complexidade na distinção entre o real e o ficcional no cinema.

[ENG]
The present article aims to understand a placeless place, named Innisfree, by analysing two films – The quiet man (John Ford, 1952) and Innisfree (José Luis Guerin, 1990). In the first film, Innisfree is the toponym used to refer to the region where the action of The quiet man takes place. This fictional space corresponds, in fact, to the village of Cong (Ireland) and its surroundings, where the film was shot, and it is portraited as a utopian and a mythical location in Ford’s film. On the other hand, in the film Innisfree Guerín revisits, after almost 40 years since The quiet man, the places filmed by Ford and listens to the stories of the residents of Cong.
It is our intention to demonstrate how The quiet man accomplished the creation of an idyllic space through the treatment of the landscape and the mise-en-scène, using a term – Innisfree – which stems from etymological and literary roots (for instance, innis is the Gaelic word for meadow), and confront it with Guerin’s vision of reality in Innisfree. Innisfree highlights how deeply assimilated is Ford’s picture in the old generations and in those born under the sign of The quiet man. Guerín rediscovers Ford’s landscapes and exposes the community marked by The quiet man due to memory, identity and touristic reasons. The study of these films highlights the complexity of the distinction between real and fictional in cinema.

The Spanish Civil War was a tacitly forbidden topic in Hollywood controlled by the self-censorship of the Hays Office and the PCA. Therefore, American film companies only produced three films about warfare at the same time as it was developing (1936-1939). This article analyses the historical content and the ideological discourse of The Last Train From Madrid (James Hogan, 1937), the first approach of Hollywood to the war in Spain. This is a minor film, which has been barely studied by film analysts and is still commercially unavailable. Nevertheless, it is so relevant since that it was the first view offered to the American public on Spanish belligerency in a fiction film. Such point of view was the result of the restraint exercised by the self-censorship, which summarized in a deliberate impartiality and in a distant and apolitical position. Their filmic effects were the absolute ambiguity and confusion. As a result, this picture is a clear reflection of the official attitudes of neutrality and non-interference shared by both Hollywood’s self-censorship system and the United States Government, and it establishes itself as a prediction of what happened in history: the non-intervention of democratic Western countries in the Spanish conflict.

KEY WORDS: The Last Train From Madrid (James Hogan, 1937) – Spanish Civil War –Hollywood –Film self-censorship – Hays Office – PCA – Political discourse – Ideology – Neutrality

In a passing remark, Slavoj Žižek positions Ernst Lubitsch alongside Hitchcock; he thus defines Lubitsch against psychoanalysis too. Departing from a joke in Ninotchka crucial to Žižek, I propose a discussion of Ninotchka where it occasions a coming together of psychoanalysis and politics, as well as a critique of Žižek’s position. Further, I argue that this is where a comprehensive study of Lubitsch’s cinema finds its rationale, not least because the visuals of Ninotchka are symptomatic of Lubitsch’s own focus on psychoanalysis, in That Uncertain Feeling. Finally, it is at this juncture that Lubitsch calls for a reassessment of psychoanalysis in terms of a peculiar economy, also for a reassessment of the critical models where film is a scene of the coming together of politics, psychoanalysis and philosophy (in Gilles Deleuze or Stanley Cavell). // U jednome usputnom komentaru Slavoj Žižek stavlja Ernsta Lubitscha uz bok Hitchcocku; budući da Hitchcock kod Žižeka dolazi u paru s Lacanom, time Lubitscha pozicionira i za psihoanalizu. Polazeći od vica iz Ninotchke koji Žižek visoko vrednuje, predlažem analizu toga Lubitcheva filma na mjestu gdje on računa na međusobno uvjetovanje političkih i psihoanalitičkih interesa; tu se ujedno nazire i moguća kritika Žižekovih pozicija. Nadalje, tu se nazire i okvir za obuhvatniju raspravu o Lubitschevoj kinematografiji, jer Ninotchka anticipira specifičan kritički režim koji će Lubitsch poslije izrijekom namijeniti psihoanalizi (u Tome neizvjesnom osjećaju). Ako Lubitsch tako provocira na preispitivanje psihoanalize, to je ujedno poziv na intervenciju u različite modele koji kroz film pristupaju konfiguracijama psihoanalize, politike i filozofije (Gilles Deleuze, Stanley Cavell).

"Pictures at a Revolution" by Mark Harris details the years leading up to the Oscar ceremony of 1968, a year that changed everything for the American motion picture.

The 40th Academy Awards marked the last gasp of the old studio system as New Hollywood succeeded in kicking the door in and wresting control from the moribund studio heads.

Five films are examined in detail: "Bonnie & Clyde", "Look Who's Coming to Dinner", "The Graduate", "In the Heat of the Night" and "Dr. Doolittle." Each is emblematic of the enormous social changes impacting the culture and, in the case of "Dr. Doolittle", traditional Hollywood's dire need of a reality check.

Le “star” sono un a componente essenziale del “prodotto cinematografico”, e i “film sul cinema” le hanno spesso presentate come immagini fantastiche di glamour, ricchezza, bellezza, successo e popolarità, ma, nel contempo, ne hanno svelato anche il lato più oscuro e problematico. In effetti, l’ascesa e il declino delle stelle hanno costituito, come dimostra il ciclo di film “E’ nata una stella” una componente costante dell’immagine composita di una “star“. Ma come sono cambiate le rappresentazioni delle stelle al cinema dagli anni ’60 ad oggi, quale ne è il loro stato attuale, e quali prospettive aprono le nuove tecnologie digitali in un futuro che fa già parte del nostro presente? Questo Dossier fa parte del progetto "I film sul cinema: uno sguardo "dall'interno" sul mondo del cinema".The other Dossiers in the project, which are all available at ResearchGate.net or at www.cinemafocus.eu, are: * The star system: the rise and fall of stars * On the set: watching films being made * The "Hollywood system": behind the scenes of the "dream factory" * "Films within films": viewers watching viewers * Directors on and off the set * Producers and screenwriters: the "hidden figures" of filmmaking * "Meta-cinema": when movies reflect on themselves

À travers la notion anglo-saxonne d’entertainment, Fanny Beuré revisite la comédie musicale hollywoodienne, du début des années 1930 à la  fin des années 1950, afin de saisir de concert le plaisir que le genre procure et les valeurs qu’il véhicule. Il s’agit ainsi de constituer une alternative aux approches françaises traditionnelles du musical hollywoodien – surtout historiques et esthétiques – et de mettre en avant l’apport des théories queer et féministes. Études thématiques des films et interprétations détaillées des numéros musicaux s’entrecroisent, faisant aussi bien appel à l’histoire du cinéma qu’aux analyses musicale et chorégraphique.

Książka jest wynikiem obserwacji, że jednym z dominujących trendów kultury (także kina i telewizji) w drugiej połowie XX wieku oraz w XXI wieku, przede wszystkim w Stanach Zjednoczonych, jest zwrot ku przeszłości.
Rozważania związane z intensywnym i stałym sięganiem przez twórców filmowych i telewizyjnych do przeszłości oparte zostały na konkretnym, aczkolwiek rozbudowanym przykładzie, jakim jest fenomen obecności, mitologizacji i demitologizacji ery Eisenhowera w kinematografii amerykańskiej lat pięćdziesiątych, osiemdziesiątych oraz w XXI wieku. Problem badawczy poruszony w książce dotyczył nie tylko samej dynamiki uobecniania przeszłości w późniejszych okresach i produktach kultury, ale też mechanizmów upamiętniania decydujących o kształtach filmowych (i kulturowych) reprezentacji.
Era Eisenhowra (pojęcie synonimiczne dla terminu „lata pięćdziesiąte”) jest datowana najczęściej na okres 1945-1963 – już samo rozejście się stosowanej terminologii z kalendarzem (oraz rzeczywistymi latami rządów Eisenhowera) wskazuje na szczególny ciężar symboliczny omawianego okresu, definiowanego nie przez naturalną cezurę czasową, ale kwestie inne, takie jak proponowana wówczas określona i spójna wizja rzeczywistości, ideologia, projekt społeczny, styl życia. Na istotną rolę lat pięćdziesiątych, zarówno w historii, jak i w amerykańskim zbiorowym imaginarium, wskazują nie tylko liczne analizy, publikacje i odwołania. Kluczowa dla mnie była też stała obecność tej epoki w kulturze (filmach i serialach), co ze szczególną intensywnością objawiło się w latach osiemdziesiątych (reaganizm) i w XXI wieku (kino Obamy, krytyczne retro).
Część pierwsza monografii dotyczy ery Eisenhowera – wprowadzenia w jej charakter społeczny, w kinematografię tego okresu, a w końcu w wybrane zjawiska filmowe. Analizie poddałam melodramaty rodzinne, komedie romantyczne, filmy młodzieżowe (teenpics) i filmy korporacyjne, czyli przede wszystkim obyczajowe obrazy gatunkowe i głównego nurtu. W najlepszy sposób oddają one bowiem schematy typowe dla danej kultury oraz dominujące oczekiwania społeczne wobec porządku świata i funkcjonowania jednostek, a zarazem obrazują napięcia między konserwatyzmem epoki a kiełkującymi już wówczas zalążkami kontestacji.
Wybrane przeze mnie zjawiska kinematografii lat pięćdziesiątych stały się podstawą późniejszych – politycznie motywowanych – powrotów, przetworzeń i wariacji. Ich analiza – okresu reaganizmu, czyli lat osiemdziesiątych, oraz kina Obamy i krytycznego retro (XXI wiek) – znajduje się w części drugiej. Choć łatwo byłoby wskazać przykłady ekranowej obecności ery Eisenhowera w kinie i telewizji większej liczby dekad, mnie interesowały nie incydentalne i pojedyncze nawiązania, ale intensywne i dystynktywne fenomeny – spójne myślowo i estetycznie re-kreacje ery Eisenhowera. Pojawiły się one dwa razy i – co istotne – były sobie biegunowo przeciwstawne.
Pierwsza intensywna fala ponownej popularności lat pięćdziesiątych przypadła na lata osiemdziesiąte – konserwatywną politycznie erę Reagana, prezydenta czyniącego erę Eisenhowera punktem odniesienia dla swojego projektu politycznego, co znalazło wyraz zarówno w ówczesnej retoryce politycznej, jak i w zjawisku kinowego reaganizmu. Filmy powstające w duchu retro afirmującego były nostalgiczne, idealizowały i mitologizowały lata pięćdziesiąte, a zarazem symbolicznie unieważniały subwersywny potencjał zjawisk kształtujących erę Eisenhowera, między innymi rodzącej się wówczas kultury młodzieżowej.

Since the days of silent cinema, opening title sequences have provided audiences with far more than just a list of names. Their designers—whether anonymous studio employees or world-renowned artists such as Saul Bass and Maurice Binder—have found countless ways to captivate and entertain us while the credits unfurl. Featuring all the creative devices at the filmmakers’ disposal, these introductions serve to whet our appetite for the films ahead while helping to shape our viewing expectations in crucial ways.

This anthology brings together 18 years of publications by Deborah Allison, who was one of the first scholars to conduct extensive research into the history of American film title sequences. Topics covered include the main functions of opening title sequences; an historical survey of key design trends in American film titling; aesthetic responses to the advent of widescreen cinema; theme songs and generic iconography in Westerns; novelty title sequences and self-reflexivity; cartoons and caricatures of cast and crew; and retro title sequences. The collection also features a new and exclusive essay about title sequence design in the twenty-first century.

Dentro de la colección "Screening Antiquity" que editan Monica S. Cyrino y el propio Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones para la Universidad de Edimburgo y que incluye volúmenes tan interesantes como Ben-Hur: The Original Blockbuster (2016) de Jon Solomon, Screening the Golden Ages of the Classical Tradition (2018) de Meredith E. Safran o Screening Divinity (2019) de Lisa Maurice, contamos con Designs on the Past, un exhaustivo estudio monográfico que viene a cubrir el incomprensible hueco en la investigación del vestuario y de la escenografía con la que el cine ha recreado los acontecimientos narrados por los historiadores antiguos. Ya en el prefacio del libro ("Movie Trailer"), el autor nos confiesa que el gusto por el cine en el entorno familiar y su propia experiencia como diseñador de vestuario para obras de teatro y para la televisión es lo que realmente lo animó a acometer esta empresa. Sus recuerdos de las grandes superproducciones norteamericanas, como las de Cecil B. DeMille, y su pasión por estrellas del séptimo arte como Elizabeth Taylor dando vida a la truculenta Cleopatra o Yul Brynner en el papel de Ramsés II o del rey Salomón lo llevaron a ir recopilando durante varios años un abundante material gráfico que comparte con el lector en este fabuloso libro, que él estructura en forma de cuatro grandes capítulos y un epílogo ("End Credits") acompañados de abundantes notas al final de los mismos, con muchas fotografías (las centrales a todo color), textos complementarios que vienen a completar su exposición y una extensa bibliografía final (pp. 402-413), de la que sólo podríamos objetar que no incluye las publicaciones que más recientemente se han ocupado del tema de una forma parcial. Con un estilo ameno e ingenioso, como es habitual en él, el profesor Llewellyn-Jones centrará su estudio en un grupo de films concretos para ir descubriéndonos los entresijos de las grandes películas sobre el Mundo Antiguo, desde la génesis de las mismas hasta las campañas publicitarias de la posproducción. Como es lógico su principal interés será el de exponer el inmenso trabajo de los directores artísticos y de ese conjunto de artesanos que, muchas veces de forma anónima, logró que el vestuario, los decorados, la peluquería o el maquillaje estuviese siempre a punto y resultase el más adecuado según el propósito de cada film.

Nel 1927, un giovane milanese approda a Hollywood: è il vincitore di un concorso indetto dalla Fox per trovare in Italia un'alternativa a Rodolfo Valentino, divo stellare
allora in forza alla concorrenza, e si chiama Alberto Rabagliati (1906-1974). Quattro anni più tardi, la sua carriera d’attore è già finita, stroncata da questioni “amorose”.
Tornato in patria, il futuro cantante confidenziale pubblica un resoconto diaristico dell’esperienza americana nel 1932.
Nonostante risenta già dello stereotipo moralistico, il racconto di Rabagliati mitiga il ritratto della spregiudicata casta delle stars servendosi di un tono canzonatorio e si fa leggere come una sorta di edulcorato precursore di "Hollywood Babilonia", per il quale bisognerà aspettare comunque il 1959.
Oltre ai bagordi e agli incontri ravvicinati con i divi più noti, l’autore regala vivide istantanee d’epoca, da testimone d’eccezione di quel passaggio epocale e traumatico tra muto e sonoro che dice la complessa realtà del cinema di quegli anni; un cinema di cui
Rabagliati riesce a osservare anche i colossali dati economici e produttivi e non solo i retroscena. Nessun elemento sembra sfuggirgli. Tutto nutre il mito hollywoodiano.

Abstract: Practically from its origins, and especially once it had been consolidated as a spectacle for mass consumption, American cinema had to deal with censorship by different authorities at local, state and federal levels. The industry responded to the problems arising from such censorship by introducing self-regulation, expressed in the Motion Picture Production Code, popularly known as the Hays Code. In addition to their influence on the subjects chosen and how these were treated, these mechanisms of censorship and self-regulation had a highly significant influence on the filmic form. What role did censorship play in the transition from the cinema of attractions to a more narrative model? Was it a determining factor in the establishment of the Institutional Mode of Representation? How did the Production Code interact with other systems and formulas associated with classical cinema, such as the star system or the different film genres? How did the progressive relaxation and subsequent abandonment of the Code affect the mise-en-scène of films? How did classical cinema handle problematic elements related to filmic form resulting from the restrictions of the Code? In this section, six internationally renowned scholars address these questions and offer their views on the subject.

The essay asserts that, since pioneering work in the 1970s and 80s (in Screen in particular), the study of classical Hollywood cinema has failed to adequately acknowledge and understand the role of spectacle therein. This essay outlines theoretical but, even more, practical understandings of particular kinds of spectacle; they are susceptible of the practice of close textual analysis. Seeking to discuss spectacle in precise terms and in particular contexts, I define two kinds of spectacle associated with the historical film: ‘the décor of history’ and ‘the spectacular vista’.
The example of Gone with the Wind illustrates the interrelationship between these two kinds of spectacle and their associations with particular ideas of femininity and masculinity. This gendering of spectacle is related to ‘the historical gaze’, a performative gesture that exemplifies the wider rhetoric of historical films, in their seeking to address the historical knowledge of the film spectator and to uphold a vision of history as being driven by powerful men, aware of their own destiny. Over the course of the three famous hilltop scenes in Gone with the Wind, one can plot Scarlett O’Hara’s (Vivien Leigh) increased access to this kind of foresight and fortitude coded as ‘masculine’. This character arc can also be traced through Scarlett’s shifting place within the film’s use of spectacle: she begins the film wholly preoccupied with the domestic world of lavish parties and beautiful gowns; however, after her encounter with cataclysmic history visualised as a vast, terrible spectacle (the fall of Atlanta), Scarlett assumes the role occupied by her broken and emasculated father.

Unlike more celebrated Hollywood-on-Hollywood films, Walter Wanger’s neglected screwball comedy Stand-In (1937) emphasizes the centrality of labour to studio-era production. Besides climaxing with a highly unusual, if carefully negotiated spectacle of industrial action by Hollywood’s rank and file workers, the film departs further from other self-reflexive movies by defining stardom in relation to labour and gender and by focusing on the topical and contentious issues of star salaries and child stardom (via a highly topical parody of Shirley Temple). With the aid of a wide array of primary and secondary materials – including newspapers and magazines, the entertainment trade press, and documents of the Production Code Administration – as well as detailed textual scrutiny, this essay examines Stand-In’s depiction of Hollywood and labour in relation to the economic, industrial and social challenges the Great Depression posed to studio production. The article proposes that the film’s comic framework allows it to deliver an uncommonly upfront, if conflicted critique of the contemporary motion picture business.

Films use architecture as visual shorthand to show viewers
what they need to know about characters in a short amount of
time. Using a phenomenological approach to look at a diverse
range of international, historical and contemporary films,
this book describes how we as viewers can read architecture
and design on the big screen to see a number of underlying
messages. Architecture’s representational capacity contributes
to the plausibility or realities that are possible in film. The book
provides an ontological understanding that clarifies and
stabilises the reciprocity between our actual and filmic worlds
of illusion and human imagination, thereby shedding light on
both cinema and architecture.

This essay explores one of the first prolonged public relations battles faced by the Hays Office: a crusade by a Los Angeles-based humane society, the American Animal Defense League, which accused the industry of countless cruelties to animals in the making of motion pictures. Drawing on MPPDA records and popular press accounts, the essay demonstrates how Hays, animal welfare advocates, and the press all negotiated with each other. What looked like cruelty on screen (a.k.a. "suggestive" cruelty), actual cruelty inflicted in the production process, and negligent daily care of animals in studios' hands were all considered as these parties attempted to come to an understanding of what constituted cruelty in the first place, what ought to be done about it, and who should be held responsible.

Frank Capra’s It Happened One Night (Columbia Pictures, USA 1934) established the principles of the genre, becoming the screwball’s archetype and therefore helping to display the Hollywood’s renewed point of view about romance and courtship.

Scarface is one of the most recognized films of the early 1930s Pre-Code era. Most research of this film has been directed at how Scarface works as an important summation of the gangster genre. In addition, historians often refer to the film as an early biopic of real life gangster Al Capone. What has not been covered in depth is the lengthy censorship battle between producer Howard Hughes and the censorship boards in Hollywood and around the United States. Several articles touch on the censorship issues but quickly defer to larger industry issues of the day. The purpose of this paper is to trace the specific trajectory of Scarface through the censorship process. Relying on underutilized Scarface records in the MPPDA archives as well as the trade press archives of the early 1930s, this paper conveys the story of one of the most contested films during the censorship years in Hollywood.

Desde su aparición en 1971, 'El mundo visto' de Stanley Cavell ha marcado una pauta en los estudios sobre cine al elevarlo a la altura de la filosofía y ha supuesto un desafío para la propia filosofía de Cavell, enfrentada al escándalo del escepticismo con la mirada de un experimentador cinemático.

In semem Buch «Screening History» stellt Gore Vidal fest, Hollywood sei zur Lingua franca des 20. Jahrhunderts geworden. Freuds berühmtes Diktum umformulierend, erklärt er: «Heute, wo Literatur war, ist Kino geworden.» Von der kulturellen Brisanz des Mainstreams Hollywoods ausgehend, lässt sich vermuten, dass wir in einer Zeit leben, in der historische und politische Realität immer aufdringlicher in Fiktion umgeschrieben und als solche kulturell vertrieben wird. Eine historische Erinnerung lebt – vielleicht nicht nur, aber vornehmlich – durch ihre filmisch-fiktionale Aufbereitung weiter. Qhne den Kulturpessimismus eines Horkheimer und Adorno zu bemühen, ist doch die kulturelle Brisanz populärer Kunstformen unübersehbar geworden, scheint es dennoch zweifellos wichtig, den Begriff des «reality check» in die unsaubere Schnittfläche zwischen politischen Realitäten und deren kultureller Umsetzung wieder einzuführen. Und weil diese Realitäten immer im Zusammenhang mit Phantasien stehen – im imaginären Bereich ausgehandelt und umformuliert werden –, scheint es heute zudem wieder von besonderer Dringlichkeit, den Traumcharakter jener Werte, an denen wir im Westen unser Leben und unser Handeln messen, hervorzuheben. Deshalb sollen die folgenden Überlegungen zum «American Dream » als Bestandteil jenes vitalen kulturellen Transformationsprozesses verstanden werden, den man eine Globalisierung der amerikanischen Unterhaltungskultur nennen könnte. Denn obgleich man heute eher geneigt ist, für den Dialog zwischen Amerika und Europa eher die Differenzen und Unstimmigkeiten zwischen diesen beiden Kulturen herauszuarbeiten, ist es doch offensichtlich, dass auf der Ebene der Populärkliltur ein fast nahtloser Austausch existiert.

Exclusion Act (1882-1943) was in effect, her strategy of sustaining her professional life and film career for two decades was through ocean-crossing-pursuing roles in the United Kingdom, the Weimar Republic, and Australia, then returning to Hollywood on her own will. Rejected for the role of a lifetime as O-Lan, the good wife, in the cinematic adaptation of Pearl Buck's novel, The Good Earth (1937), she made a highly publicized trip to China. Upon her return, she starred in a series of B-movies with a positive view of China and its people. During World War II, Anna May Wong made several propaganda films and toured USO bases entertaining the troops. Never completely forgotten, Anna May's legend was revived by scholars during the centennial of her birth in 2003. As an early cosmopolitan woman, a fashion icon, and an imposing photographed image, Anna May Wong inspired scholarly studies, as well as creative works including song, children's books, documentaries, and recently, a multimedia work. In the era celebrating global cultures, Anna May Wong is recognized for defining a lifestyle that was unique then but is now considered distinctly modern. Nancy Gibbs named Anna May Wong as the woman of 1928 in her article "100 Women of the Year" for Time magazine's 16-23 March 2020 issue to celebrate women of influence. Autobiographies and Biographies The diversity of Anna May Wong's work, her artistic forms, her performative language, and the international settings of her film pose sizable challenges to a biographer. As an eloquent actress, fashion icon, and early cosmopolitan, Anna May Wong documented her life and career through many interviews, articles, and letters, as exemplified by her mini-autobiography published in China (Wong 1936). Her self-expressed philosophy of life enlightens her biographers as well as urging them to (re)interpret the not-so-favorable realities in

Despite being strangers to the photographic field, DuPont entered the motion picture film stock market in the 1920s through a need to create peacetime markets for its wartime facilities. As DuPont transformed into a chemical company, nitrocellulose film stock was one of the products that could be made from their guncotton factories. In order to penetrate Hollywood, the chief market for their film, DuPont needed to create a product that could match that of Eastman Kodak, the undisputed industry leader. The threat to their dominance contributed to Kodak’s interest in selling panchromatic film, a factor often ignored in light of the conversion to sound. The competition between these companies contributed significantly to the rapid increase in the quality of film stock, as well as to the changing relationship between technological manufacturers and their customers in Hollywood. DuPont and Kodak also serve as contrasting examples of the incursion of corporate research into the motion picture industry, enlightening our understanding of an expanded system that positions the studios as consumers of technology, as well as sellers of entertainment.

La relation qu’entretient Tarantino avec le classicisme ne paraît pas d’emblée évidente tant le cinéaste américain (s’)est associé au cinéma indépendant, d’exploitation, d’art et d’essai ou encore au blockbuster. Mais si cette présence est somme toute assez modeste relativement à l’hégémonie de Hollywood, c’est justement parce que le projet esthétique et politique tarantinien est fondé sur un engagement passionné avec ce pendant de la culture mainstream, démarche qui s’inscrit dans la continuité des Nouvelles Vagues des années 1960-1970 et que l’on retrouve dans le cinéma indépendant ou off-Hollywood des années 1980-2000.

Dans le jargon cinématographique, Alfred Hitchcock est surtout connu comme « le maître du suspense ». Sans doute, à travers ses gestes cinématographiques, il a crée sa propre mode de représentation au sein du thriller. À travers sa caméra, il exerce un véritable effort pour créer la tension, paralyser le spectateur d'inquietude, et pousser l'angoisse à son paroxysme. Or, il est évident que tous ces moments décisifs exigent une base solide, c'est-à-dire un point de départ sur lequel l'histoire s'appuie. Evidemment la virtuosité de Hitchcock réside non seulement dans sa capacité à produire un effet dramatique mais aussi dans sa manière de faire avancer l'action de son état initial vers l'élément déclencheur. Prenons l'exemple de « L'inconnu du Nord-Express », qui s'articule autour d'un chassé-croisé de meurtres entre deux inconnus. Afin d'établir son récit Hitchcock recourt à l'idée du noeud. Bien entendu, pour qu'il s'agisse d'un croisement, il faut d'abord une rencontre. Hitchcock déplace cette obligation narrative vers un niveau visuel. Dans cette exercise, à travers la sequence d'ouverture de L'Inconnu du Nord-Express nous allons essayer de voir comment on peut representer un croisement, avant que les personnages ne se rencontrent.