Among Golden Age Hollywood film stars of European heritage known for playing characters from the East--Chinese, Southeast Asians, Indians and Middle Easterners--Anglo-Indian actor Boris Karloff had deep roots there. Based on extensive new research, this biography and career study of Karloff's "eastern" films provides a critical examination of 41 features, including many overlooked early roles, and offers fresh perspective on a cinematic luminary so often labeled a "horror icon." Films include The Lightning Raider (1919), 14 silent films from the 1920s, The Unholy Night (1929), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), The Mummy (1932), John Ford's The Lost Patrol (1934), the Mr. Wong series (1938-1940), Targets (1968), and Isle of the Snake People (1971), one of six titles released posthumously.
Among Golden Age Hollywood film stars of European heritage known for playing characters from the East--Chinese, Southeast Asians, Indians and Middle Easterners--Anglo-Indian actor Boris Karloff had deep roots there. Based on extensive new research, this biography and career study of Karloff's "eastern" films provides a critical examination of 41 features, including many overlooked early roles, and offers fresh perspective on a cinematic luminary so often labeled a "horror icon." Films include The Lightning Raider (1919), 14 silent films from the 1920s, The Unholy Night (1929), The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), The Mummy (1932), John Ford's The Lost Patrol (1934), the Mr. Wong series (1938-1940), Targets (1968), and Isle of the Snake People (1971), one of six titles released posthumously.
In 1994, historian Scott Allen Nollen published the critically acclaimed Robert Louis Stevenson: Life, Literature and the Silver Screen, the only volume dedicated to screen adaptations of the prolific Scottish author's work. The Body Snatcher provides the same expansive treatment for this classic 1945 "historical horror" film. Opening with a foreword by Gregory William Mank, Nollen includes a detailed history of the serial murders committed by the infamous Burke and Hare in 1828 Edinburgh, a biography of Stevenson, his writing of the 1881 short story "The Body-Snatcher," an account of the making, exhibition and reception of the Val Lewton film. a historical and critical analysis of the film, and a look at subsequent motion picture and television films based on the Burke and Hare murders and other Stevenson adaptations featuring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Illustrated with 150 rare photographs, posters, publicity materials and images from the film. Historian SCOTT ALLEN NOLLEN was educated in film and history at the University of Iowa and served as an archivist with the National Archives and Records Administration. His books on film, literature and music include several involving Scottish history and culture: Robert Louis Stevenson: Life, Literature and the Silver Screen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle at the Cinema, Robin Hood: A Cinematic History and Jethro Tull: A History of the Band. With his wife, Java native YUYUN YUNINGSIH NOLLEN, he has written Chester Morris: His Life and Career, his third book on Boris Karloff, Karloff and the East: Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern and Oceanian Characters and Subjects in His Screen Career and the forthcoming BearManor Media volume Sons of Charlie Chan: Keye Luke, Sen Yung, Benson Fong.
The prodigious but humble scion of a New York theatrical family, Chester Morris acted on Broadway as a teenager and earned an Academy Award nomination for his first role in a Hollywood "talkie," Alibi (1929). He became leading man to filmdom's top female stars and starred in the popular series of "Boston Blackie" mysteries before creating substantial characters in the theater and the burgeoning medium of television. This first book about Morris provides a detailed account of his life and career on stage, film, radio and television, and as a celebrated magician. It also constructs a fascinating record of his previously undocumented labor activism during the early years of the Screen Actors Guild and his tireless efforts to aid U.S. troops on the home front during World War II.
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