American Cinema of the 1940s: Themes and Variations Professor Wheeler Winston Dixon (University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA) 9781845204358

The 1940s was a watershed decade for American cinema and the nation. At the start of the decade, Hollywood - shaking off the Depression - launched an unprecedented wave of production, generating some of its most memorable classics, including Citizen Kane, Rebecca, The Lady Eve, Sergeant York, and How Green Was My Valley. Hollywood then joined the national war effort with a vengeance, creating a series of patriotic and escapist films, such as Casablanca, Mrs. Miniver, The Road to Morocco, and Yankee Doodle Dandy. By the end of the war America was a country transformed. The 1940s closed with the threat of the atom bomb and the beginnings of the Hollywood blacklist. Film Noir reflected the new public mood of pessimism and paranoia. Classic films of betrayal and conflict - Kiss of Death, Force of Evil, Caught, and Apology for Murder - depicted a poisonous universe of femme fatales, crooked lawyers, and corrupt politicians.

Also available in hardback, 9781845204341 GBP45.00 (February, 2006)

About the Author
Wheeler Winston Dixon is the James Ryan Endowed Professor of Film Studies and a professor of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and, with Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, editor-in-chief of the Quarterly Review of Film and Video.


Book Information
ISBN 9781845204358
Author Professor Wheeler Winston Dixon
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Berg Publishers
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Series Screen Decades
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 15mm