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Hitchcock and the Censors

By John BillheimerUniversity Press of KentuckyHardcover, 384 pages,ISBN #978-0-8131-7742-7 Author John Billheimer’s Hitchcock and the Censors proves that there is always something newto discover about “The Master of Suspense.”The Alfred Hitchcock Wiki, https://the.hitchcock.zone/wiki/Hitchcock lists over 200 books onAlfred Hitchcock and his films, the majority published within the past twenty years. This numberdoes not include thousands …

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The Disney Revolt: The Great Labor War of Animation’s Golden Age

By Jake S Friedman322 pages2022 Chicago Review Press Jake Friedman deserves a rousing hurrah! for writing “The Disney Revolt, the Great Labor Warof Animation’s Golden Age.” This is an eye-opening book full of many stories, and even readerswho are familiar with the history of animation, or the growth of entertainment industry unionswill discover something new …

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Cinema ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies

By Stephen Farber and Michael McClellanForward by Bill Condon270 pagesRutgers University Press2020ISBN-10: 1978808828 The explanatory subtitle of the new book Cinema ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies byStephen Farber and Michael McClellan, is an on the mark description of this insightful work.This book is about movies. The authors’ focus is on what are generally …

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‘Shooting Midnight Cowboy’ Examines a Classic of Late-1960s Cinema

Shooting Midnight Cowboy: Art, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark ClassicBy Glenn Frankel By Betsy McLane “Shooting Midnight Cowboy” is the wrong title for Glenn Frankel’s absorbing new book, but the subtitle–“Art, Sex, Loneliness, Liberation, and the Making of a Dark Classic”—is perfect. Of course, using “shooting” in a title that also includes …

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Post-Production and the Invisible Revolution of Filmmaking: From the Silent Era to Synchronized Sound

by George LarkinRoutledge 2019ISBN # 978-1-138-58833-2223 pagesBy Betsy A. McLane George Larkin offers a startling premise in the book Post-Production and the Invisible Revolution of Filmmaking: From the Silent Era to Synchronized Sound, one that may delight some readers while offending others. He states the fact that post-production work is critical to all filmmaking but …

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Crash Reel

Betsy is moderating a series of discussions with documentary filmmakers at Member Screenings at The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles.

Listen to Britain: 100 Docs from Across the Pond

100 British Documentaries — BFI Screen Guides By Patrick Russell British Film Institute 2007, London 270 pages with b&w Illustrations Even before I read the entire book, 100 British Documentaries proved to be an indispensable resource. Two key lectures I recently presented were greatly enhanced by Patrick Russell’s research and knowledgeable opinions. Documentary film audiences …

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THE WAR GAME

By Betsy A. McLane, Ph.D. Peter Watkins THE WAR GAME is one of the most controversial films ever to win the Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature. Produced in 1965 by BBC television, it relates the story of a possible Russian missile attack and its aftermath in southeastern England, during a limited nuclear war. This …

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The Measure of Success for Documentaries in U.S. Political Scene 2007

By Betsy A. McLane, Ph.D. Written in response to this request from THE VELVET LIGHT TRAP: In recent years, there has been an upswing in commercially successful documentaries as well as increased visibility for documentaries with overtly political messages. Along with these two trends, there has been more public attention to the political potential of …

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The River Runs Through It: The Lost Legacy of Pare Lorentz

By Betsy A. McLane, Ph.D. The Scenario Huge storms pound the middle third of the United States. The Mississippi overflows it banks, flooding towns, killing and displacing people, destroying economies and ecosystems. The nation wonders what to do. A man—backed with respectable financing—steps forward to direct a powerful documentary film that reveals the essence of …

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