ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges
Published on 8. October 2015
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-4744-0655-0 (ISBN)
Description
Director, screenwriter and comic genius, Preston Sturges has been an influence on filmmakers ranging from Orson Welles to the Coen brothers. The first person to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, he wrote and directed some of the most bizarre, controversial, and downright hilarious comedies of the 1940s, including Sullivan's Travels and Hail the Conquering Hero. He may be the most talented Hollywood filmmaker yet to receive the critical recognition he deserves.
The Films of Preston Sturges is a pioneering collection of essays by world-famous scholars that chart Sturges' contributions to Hollywood cinema, revealing his pivotal status as an early writer-director, exploring his inimitable style, and making a bold case for his ongoing influence today. Reawakening interest in this filmmaker's life and works, this book will remind readers why Sturges' movies remain not only immensely enjoyable, but of great cultural significance as well.
The Films of Preston Sturges is a pioneering collection of essays by world-famous scholars that chart Sturges' contributions to Hollywood cinema, revealing his pivotal status as an early writer-director, exploring his inimitable style, and making a bold case for his ongoing influence today. Reawakening interest in this filmmaker's life and works, this book will remind readers why Sturges' movies remain not only immensely enjoyable, but of great cultural significance as well.
Reviews / Votes
This book brings American cinema's most idiosyncratic, prodigious comic genius into deep focus for 21st century readers. Hail the conquering editors Kozloff and Jaeckle, who have coaxed newly researched essays to converse with one another, writing in effervescent language worthy of the Master himself.' -- Claudia Gorbman, University of Washington TacomaMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
30 black and white illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 236 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
699 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4744-0655-0 (9781474406550)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Jeff Jaeckle | Sarah Kozloff
ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges
E-Book
10/2015
1st Edition
Edinburgh University Press
€97.49
Available for download
E-Book
10/2015
1st Edition
Edinburgh University Press
€0.00
Available for download
Persons
Jeff Jaeckle is the editor of Film Dialogue (Wallflower Press, 2013) and co-editor (with Sarah Kozloff) of ReFocus: The Films of Preston Sturges (EUP, 2015). His scholarship on language in cinema, aesthetics and Hollywood film has also appeared in Film Quarterly, New Review of Film and Television Studies and Quarterly Review of Film and Video. He holds a doctorate from the University of Texas-Austin and teaches at Portland Community College. Sarah Kozloff is Professor of Film on the William R. Kenan Jr. Chair, Vassar College
Content
Introduction: An Agile Mind: The Many Stands of Preston Sturges, Jeff Jaeckle
Contexts: Genre, Studio, AuthorshipPreston Sturges and Screwball Comedy, Leger GrindonPreston Sturges, Sullivan's Travels, and Film Authorship in Hollywood, 1941, Virginia Wright WexmanTo Write and Not Direct, Sarah Kozloff"The Edge of Unacceptability": Preston Sturges and the PCA, Matthew Bernstein
Cultural Commentary: History and IdentitySturges's Many Mothers, Kristine Karnick"These Are Troublous Times": Social Class in the Comedies of Preston Sturges, Christopher Beach"They Always Get the Best of You Somehow": Preston Sturges in Black and White, Krin GabbardFalling Hard: The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, Joe McElhaney
Technique: Scripting, Performance, MusicThe Unheard Song of Joy, Jeff JaeckleThe Eye of the Storm: Preston Sturges and Performance, Diane CarsonPresto(n) con Spirito: Comedies with Music, Sturges-Style, Martin Marks
Impact: Reception/ReputationThrust with a Rapier and Run: The Critics and Preston Sturges, G. Tom PoeHail the Conquering Auteur: Preston Sturges in La Revue du cinema (1946-1949), Christian VivianiO Preston, Where Art Thou?, Sarah Kozloff
Contexts: Genre, Studio, AuthorshipPreston Sturges and Screwball Comedy, Leger GrindonPreston Sturges, Sullivan's Travels, and Film Authorship in Hollywood, 1941, Virginia Wright WexmanTo Write and Not Direct, Sarah Kozloff"The Edge of Unacceptability": Preston Sturges and the PCA, Matthew Bernstein
Cultural Commentary: History and IdentitySturges's Many Mothers, Kristine Karnick"These Are Troublous Times": Social Class in the Comedies of Preston Sturges, Christopher Beach"They Always Get the Best of You Somehow": Preston Sturges in Black and White, Krin GabbardFalling Hard: The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, Joe McElhaney
Technique: Scripting, Performance, MusicThe Unheard Song of Joy, Jeff JaeckleThe Eye of the Storm: Preston Sturges and Performance, Diane CarsonPresto(n) con Spirito: Comedies with Music, Sturges-Style, Martin Marks
Impact: Reception/ReputationThrust with a Rapier and Run: The Critics and Preston Sturges, G. Tom PoeHail the Conquering Auteur: Preston Sturges in La Revue du cinema (1946-1949), Christian VivianiO Preston, Where Art Thou?, Sarah Kozloff