Originally published in 1977 and long out of print, Maurice Yacowar's Hitchcock's British Films was the first volume devoted solely to the twenty-three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his native England before he came to the United States. As such, it was the first book to challenge the assumption that Hitchcock's "mature" period in Hollywood, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, represented the director's best work. In this traditional auteurist examination of Hitchcock's early work, author Maurice Yacowar considers Hitchcock's British films in chronological order, reads the composition of individual shots and scenes in each, and pays special attention to the films' verbal effects. Yacowar's readings remain compelling more than thirty years after they were written, and some-on Downhill, Champagne, and Waltzes from Vienna-are among the few extended interpretations of these films that exist. Alongside important works such as Murder , the first The Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, The Lady Vanishes, and Blackmail, readers will appreciate Yacowar's equal attention to lesser-known films like The Pleasure Garden, The Ring, and The Manxman. Yacowar dissects Hitchcock's precise staging and technical production to draw out ethical themes and metaphysical meanings of each film, while keeping a close eye on the source material, such as novels and plays, that Hitchcock used as the inspiration for many of his screenplays. Yacowar concludes with an overview of Hitchcock as auteur and an appendix identifying the director's appearances in these films. A foreword by Barry Keith Grant and a preface to the second edition from Yacowar complete this comprehensive volume. Anyone interested in Hitchcock, classic British cinema, or the history of film will appreciate Yacowar's accessible and often witty exploration of the director's early work.
Maurice Yacowar challenges genre and form in Roy & Me, a cross between memoir and fiction, truth and distortion. It is the exploration of Yacowar's relationship with Roy Farran - soldier, politician, author, mentor - and his conflict with Farran's anti-Semitic past. Best known for his service with the Special Air Service during World War II, Roy Farran served as a politician in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Premier Peter Lougheed. During his time as a soldier, Farran allegedly kidnapped and murdered a sixteen-year-old member of the Lehi group. Roy & Me is a memoir that edges toward fiction by venturing into Farran's thoughts, based on his writings and Yacowar's imagination.
THE COMIC ART OF MEL BROOKS By Maurice Yacowar Mel Brooks is a mystery. On the one hand, he is notorious for his wacky public behaviour and for his zany films. On the other, some of his public pronouncements show him to be a very serious fellow. While his audiences clutch their sides in helpless laughter, Madman Mel warns us that serious things are going on amid those wild goings-on. This book is a new, updated edition of Maurice Yacowar's classic book on Brooks, first published in 1981. There is a section on Mel Brooks' background and origins, including his work on television, his early works, audio recordings, and how Brooks uses comedy. Each film directed by Brooks is analysed, with a brief plot summary to refresh the memory, a close reading of the films' major themes and strategies, and a scattering of background information about the movies. For Mel Brooks, comedy can serve a serious purpose. 'I maintain there is nothing you cannot deal with in comic terms and make a point. I proved that by spoofing Hitler in The Producers.' Brooks adds: 'I'll never do a serious picture just to make a profound statement. I can make those statements comically. You don't have to stop laughing.' With his art of energy, openness and exuberance, Brooks values freedom more than discipline, outburst more than restraint, and emotion more than abstemious craft. Energy and present outweigh control and the future. Wild, even vulgar, valour is the better part of discretion. Mel Brooks's art is a varied body of comedy with distinctive emotional power, formal energy, and moral purpose. Whether the result of extended calculation (his films), or the flash of his improvisational genius (his quips and interviews), his comedy draws deeper than laughter. It invites us to face and to warm our essential nature. It challenges the myths and restrictions with which we have been afflicted and subdued. Most importantly, it bares a lively heart and soul - that of the wacko but wise Melvin Kaminsky. Ages have fed into his formation. Ages more may well be moved and nourished by his wild, warm wit. Includes a detailed filmography and a bibliography. Fully illustrated, with stills from all of Mel Brooks' movies. ISBN 9781861715210. 320 pages. www.crmoon.com
The Films of Paul Morrissey is the first appraisal of one of the major figures of American independent cinema. An innovator in the narrative cinema that emerged from Andy Warhol's Factory, Morrissey, as established in this study, was also the force who shaped the most important films that have heretofore been attributed to Warhol. The director's experiments in the use of non-professional actors, controversial subject matter, and language are demonstrated through analysis of his most accomplished achievements, including Mixed Blood, 40 Deuce, and Spike of Bensonhurst. The Films of Paul Morrissey furthermore reveals the director's challenge to the moral, social and political values of contemporary liberalism.
This episode-by-episode analysis of The Sopranos' last season supplements the author's study, The Sopranos on the Couch. Appendices consider the show's ethnic stereotypy, the influence of The Public Enemy, and the motif of oranges in the Godfather trilogy.
A Canadian film scholar provides an episode by episode analysis of the themes and structure of the brilliant Israeli TV drama. This critical analysis is accessible to the lay reader as well as the academic.
A Canadian film/TV scholar analyses the extremely successful Israeli television drama episode by episode, examining the structure and themes of each program and the entire series.
Originally published in 1977 and long out of print, Maurice Yacowar's Hitchcock's British Films was the first volume devoted solely to the twenty-three films directed by Alfred Hitchcock in his native England before he came to the United States. As such, it was the first book to challenge the assumption that Hitchcock's "mature" period in Hollywood, from the late 1940s to the early 1960s, represented the director's best work. In this traditional auteurist examination of Hitchcock's early work, author Maurice Yacowar considers Hitchcock's British films in chronological order, reads the composition of individual shots and scenes in each, and pays special attention to the films' verbal effects. Yacowar's readings remain compelling more than thirty years after they were written, and some-on Downhill, Champagne, and Waltzes from Vienna-are among the few extended interpretations of these films that exist. Alongside important works such as Murder , the first The Man Who Knew Too Much, Secret Agent, The Lady Vanishes, and Blackmail, readers will appreciate Yacowar's equal attention to lesser-known films like The Pleasure Garden, The Ring, and The Manxman. Yacowar dissects Hitchcock's precise staging and technical production to draw out ethical themes and metaphysical meanings of each film, while keeping a close eye on the source material, such as novels and plays, that Hitchcock used as the inspiration for many of his screenplays. Yacowar concludes with an overview of Hitchcock as auteur and an appendix identifying the director's appearances in these films. A foreword by Barry Keith Grant and a preface to the second edition from Yacowar complete this comprehensive volume. Anyone interested in Hitchcock, classic British cinema, or the history of film will appreciate Yacowar's accessible and often witty exploration of the director's early work.
The Films of Paul Morrissey is the first appraisal of one of the major figures of American independent cinema. An innovator in the narrative cinema that emerged from Andy Warhol's Factory, Morrissey, as established in this study, was also the force who shaped the most important films that have heretofore been attributed to Warhol. The director's experiments in the use of non-professional actors, controversial subject matter, and language are demonstrated through analysis of his most accomplished achievements, including Mixed Blood, 40 Deuce, and Spike of Bensonhurst. The Films of Paul Morrissey furthermore reveals the director's challenge to the moral, social and political values of contemporary liberalism.
This episode-by-episode analysis of The Sopranos' last season supplements the author's study, The Sopranos on the Couch. Appendices consider the show's ethnic stereotypy, the influence of The Public Enemy, and the motif of oranges in the Godfather trilogy.
If television programming is normally considered a wasteland, then The Sopranos may be thought of as a jungle: richly colored, teeming with life, dark with mystery. The Sopranos on the Couch is a must for all who are already caught up in the excitement, as well as for viewers who are coming to the show for the first time. Yacowar helps us understand exactly why we can't get enough of Tony Soprano and that colorful mafia family that we hate to love and often love to hate!This pop-culture sensation is not only the most controversial series on television, but also the most provocative, thoughtful, and complex. Its language and themes have stretched the norms of commercial television, many characters and phrases having entered our everyday life.The Sopranos on the Couch is the first book to provide a compact, lively, and authoritative examination of each episode and season - the themes, inside jokes, and allusions - thereby putting the series into a broader cultural context.
Maurice Yacowar challenges genre and form in Roy & Me, a cross between memoir and fiction, truth and distortion. It is the exploration of Yacowar's relationship with Roy Farran - soldier, politician, author, mentor - and his conflict with Farran's anti-Semitic past. Best known for his service with the Special Air Service during World War II, Roy Farran served as a politician in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Premier Peter Lougheed. During his time as a soldier, Farran allegedly kidnapped and murdered a sixteen-year-old member of the Lehi group. Roy & Me is a memoir that edges toward fiction by venturing into Farran's thoughts, based on his writings and Yacowar's imagination.
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