20th century american culture
20th century american film history
A01=Robert Spadoni
american culture
american film history
american movie history
audience reception
Author_Robert Spadoni
Category=ATF
Category=NHTB
cinema
classic horror cinema
dark
dracula
early sound film
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
film studies
filmmaking
frankenstein
hollywood cinema
horror genre
horror movies
intense
modality
movie studies
sound film
svengali
the hollywood review of 1929
uncanny theater
united states of america
universal pictures
vampires
ventriloquism
Product details
- ISBN 9780520251229
- Weight: 363g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 04 Sep 2007
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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In 1931 Universal Pictures released "Dracula" and "Frankenstein", two films that inaugurated the horror genre in Hollywood cinema. These films appeared directly on the heels of Hollywood's transition to sound film. "Uncanny Bodies" argues that the coming of sound inspired more in these massively influential horror movies than screams, creaking doors, and howling wolves. A close examination of the historical reception of films of the transition period reveals that sound films could seem to their earliest viewers unreal and ghostly. By comparing this audience impression to the first sound horror films, Robert Spadoni makes a case for understanding film viewing as a force that can powerfully shape both the minutest aspects of individual films and the broadest sweep of film production trends, and for seeing aftereffects of the temporary weirdness of sound film deeply etched in the basic character of one of our most enduring film genres.
Robert Spadoni is Assistant Professor in the English Department at Case Western Reserve University.
