Drawing on a massive array of primary sources, Emerald Illusions provides the first major history of the Irish-themed film in early American cinema. It revises prevailing scholarly views in this area by using rigorous historical research to reframe how we understand these films and the audiences who viewed them. The book begins by examining the origins of these films in such pre-cinema entertainment as Irish-themed stage plays, vaudeville acts, and magic lantern slides, revealing their various influences on early American cinema. As a result, lost histories are reclaimed, including the story of the Irish-themed illustrated song slide. Emerald Illusions explores genres such as comedy, melodrama, and non-fiction, discussing repeated narratives and images that surfaced in the American cinema between 1894 and 1915. In addition to covering notable moving pictures of the era, the book also chronicles a wealth of films not previously catalogued in studies of Irish cinema, including work by such luminaries as D.W. Griffith. With the aid of over 100 rare photographs, Emerald Illusions covers a half-century of Irish-themed entertainment in America, providing fresh insights through the lens of previously unknown resources.

Emerald Illusions: The Irish in Early American Cinema

Humor & Entertainment

Rhodes, Gary D.

Movies

Irish Academic Press

The 1932 horror film White Zombie starring Bela Lugosi has received controversial attention from film reviewers and scholars--but it is unarguably a cult classic worthy of study. This book analyzes the film text from nearly every possible viewpoint, using both academic and popular film theories. Also supplied is an extensive intellectual history of the predecessor works to White Zombie, as well as information on the significance it carried for subsequent books and films, its theatrical release around the country, its modern cultural influence, and the attempts to restore the film to its original state. Other noteworthy features of this work include an in-depth biography of White Zombie director Victor Halperin, the first complete study of his life and career, and 244 images and photographs.

White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film (Contributions to Zombie Studies)

McFarland

Few movies in film history have resonated with audiences as deeply and for as many years as Universal’s original 1931 version of Dracula, starring Bela Lugosi as the vampire count. Filmmaker and film historian Gary D. Rhodes brings years of research to fruition, providing conclusive answers to everything you ever wanted to know this iconic film. Overflowing with newly unearthed information and fresh analysis, and fully illustrated, Tod Browning’s Dracula is one of the most in-depth books ever published on a single film.
Tod Browning’s Dracula by Gary D. Rhodes is the first in a collectible series of books on the world’s most iconic, classic horror films.

Tod Browning's Dracula

Tomahawk Press

Vampires in Silent Cinema

Edinburgh University Press

Vampires In Silent Cinema

During the first fifty years of the American cinema, the act of going to the movies was a risky process, fraught with a number of possible physical and moral dangers. Film fires were rampant, claiming many lives, as were movie theatre robberies, which became particularly common during the Great Depression. Labor disputes provoked a large number of movie theatre bombings, while low-level criminals like murderers, molesters, and prostitutes plied their trades in the darkened auditoriums. That was all in addition to the spread of disease, both real (as in the case of influenza) and imagined ("movie eyestrain"). Audiences also confronted an array of perceived moral dangers. Blue Laws prohibited Sunday film screenings, though theatres ignored them in many areas, sometimes resulting in the arrests of entire audiences. Movie theatre lotteries became another problem, condemned by politicians and clergymen throughout America for being immoral gambling. The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950 provides the first history of the many threats that faced film audiences, threats which claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950

Continuum

During the first fifty years of the American cinema, the act of going to the movies was a risky process, fraught with a number of possible physical and moral dangers. Film fires were rampant, claiming many lives, as were movie theatre robberies, which became particularly common during the Great Depression. Labor disputes provoked a large number of movie theatre bombings, while low-level criminals like murderers, molesters, and prostitutes plied their trades in the darkened auditoriums. That was all in addition to the spread of disease, both real (as in the case of influenza) and imagined ("movie eyestrain"). Audiences also confronted an array of perceived moral dangers. Blue Laws prohibited Sunday film screenings, though theatres ignored them in many areas, sometimes resulting in the arrests of entire audiences. Movie theatre lotteries became another problem, condemned by politicians and clergymen throughout America for being immoral gambling. The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950 provides the first history of the many threats that faced film audiences, threats which claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.

One of the most important yet overlooked of Hollywood auteurs, Budd Boetticher was responsible for a number of classic films, including his famous 'Ranown' series of westerns starring Randolph Scott. With influential figures like Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood acknowledging Boetticher's influence, and with growing academic interest in his work, Gary D. Rhodes and Robert Singer present a vital collection of essays on the director's long career, from a range of international scholars. Looking at celebrated films like Buchanan Rides Alone (1958) and Comanche Station (1960), as well as at lesser-known works like Escape in the Fog (1945) and Behind Locked Doors (1948), this book also addresses Boetticher's influential television work on the James Garner series Maverick, and Boetticher's continuing aesthetic influence on contemporary TV classics like Breaking Bad.

ReFocus: The Films of Budd Boetticher (ReFocus: The American Directors Series)

The Birth of the American Horror Film

Although early cinema has long been a key area of research in film studies, the origin and development of the horror film has been a neglected subject for what is arguably one of the world's most popular film genres. Using thousands of primary sources and long-unseen illustrations, The Birth of the American Horror Film examines a history that begins in colonial Salem, taking an interdisciplinary approach to explore the influence of horror-themed literature, theatre and visual culture in America, and how that context established an amorphous structural foundation for films produced between 1895 and 1915. Exhaustively researched, bridging scholarship on Horror Studies and Early Cinema, The Birth of the American Horror Film is the first major study dedicated to this vital but often overlooked subject.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rhodes, Gary D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rhodes, Gary D.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rhodes, Gary D.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Emerald Illusions: The Irish in Early American Cinema

White Zombie: Anatomy of a Horror Film (Contributions to Zombie Studies)

Tod Browning's Dracula

Vampires in Silent Cinema

Vampires in Silent Cinema

Vampires In Silent Cinema

The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950

The Perils of Moviegoing in America: 1896-1950

ReFocus: The Films of Budd Boetticher (ReFocus: The American Directors Series)

The Birth of the American Horror Film