Bruce Babington

Peter William Evans

The Hollywood Comedy of the Sexes

Affairs to Remember

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Peter William Evans conducts a formidable analysis of Almodovar's insights into gender, sexuality and subjectivity, and discusses the film against the background of political and social changes in Spain since 1975.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Top Hat is the first volume to spotlight this classic Hollywood film, probing the musical genre, notions of romance and subjectivity, as well as the contested relations between the sexes. Offers a detailed analysis of one of Hollywood's greatest musicals, including a comprehensive survey of the film's production, promotion and reception, all measured against the background of 1930s socio-political contexts in the USA Explores the musical genre and questions of (gendered) national identity, romance, subjectivity and the notion of the couple Written in a clear, accessible style, Top Hat probes text and context carefully to appeal to the student and teacher of the musical and of Hollywood film history, as well as the film-loving general reader

Top Hat

This is a major new study of the films of Luis Buñuel, Surrealist scourge of the bourgeoisie. Uniquely, the book discusses Buñuel in the context of the most recent debates in film studies and presents important new readings of the whole range of his work, from the `popular' Mexican movies of the 1950s to such classics of European cinema as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, That Obscure Object of Desire, and Belle deJour.

Subjectivity and Desire

The Films of Luis Buñuel

Spanish Literature in the Golden Age

Conflicts of Discourse

Carol Reed is one of the truly outstanding directors of British cinema, and one whose work is long overdue for reconsideration. This major study ranges over Reed's entire career, combining observation of general trends and patterns with detailed analysis of twenty films, both acknowledged masterpieces and lesser-known works.Evans avoids a simplistic auteurist approach, placing the films in their autobiographical, socio-political and cultural contexts and relating these to the analysis of Reed's art. The critical approach combines psychoanalysis, gender theory, and the analysis of form. Archival research is also relied on to clarify Reed's relations with his creative team, financial backers and others.Films examined include Bank Holiday, A Girl Must Live, Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, The Third Man, Night Train to Munich, The Way Ahead, Outcast of the Islands, Trapeze and Oliver!.

Carol Reed

Celestino Deleyto

This book examines the rebirth of a staple Hollywood genre. Taking into account romantic comedy's current popularity and the genre's adaptability to changing historical circumstances, as well as its powerful tendency to contain and assimilate social changes, it explores the complex ways in which recent cultural discourses on gender and sexuality have found their way into the apparently inflexible structure of romantic comedy.

Hollywood Romantic Comedy of the 1980s and 1990s

Terms of Endearment

Written on the Wind (1956) is one of classical Hollywood's most striking films and ranks among Douglas Sirk's finest achievements. An intense melodrama about an alcoholic playboy who marries the woman his best friend secretly loves, the film is highly stylised, psychologically complex, and marked by Sirk's characteristic charting of the social realities of 1950s America. This first single study of Written on the Wind reassesses the film's artistic heritage and place within the wider framework of contemporary American culture. Incorporating original archival research, Peter William Evans examines the production, promotion and reception of Written on the Wind, exploring its themes – of time, memory, space, family, class and sex – as well as its brilliance of form. Its vivid aesthetics, powerful performances and profound treatment of human emotions, make Written on the Wind a masterpiece of Hollywood melodrama.

Written on the Wind

Pedro Almodóvar's 1988 black comedy-melodrama Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown established its director as one of the most exciting of European film-making talents. An often hilarious study of sexual mores, Women on the Verge has a central character, Pepa (Carmen Maura), as warm and richly drawn as any modern film heroine. Made strong and self-reliant by suffering in a troubled relationship, Pepa is the centre of a network of lovers, friends and family who represent a vivid cross-section of Spanish society. Peter William Evans provides a formidable analysis of Almodóvar's insights into gender, sexuality and identity. Evans sees Women on the Verge as concerned with the often tyrannical spell of sexual desire and the anxieties of relationships and families, but also with the possibilities for personal liberation. He discusses the film in the context of the history of Spain and the social revolution that occurred after the death of Franco. In his foreword to this new edition, Evans reflects upon Women on the Verge in the light of Almodóvar's subsequent films, and the impact of Carmen Maura's performance as Pepa on the representation of women in Spanish cinema.

Isabel Santaolalla

This text ranges widely over key films and moments from stages of Luis Bunuel's career. It locates and re-appraises Bunuel's films with particular emphasis on the national cinemas and varied cultures with which he was identified.

New Readings

Luis Bunuel

Bruce Francis Babington

Biblical Epics: Sacred Narrative in the Hollywood Cinema is a major survey and analysis of the relationship between religion and film, and traces the development of this genre in Hollywood. The book examines the impact of religion, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender on this complex genre, within the context of American history. Together, Bruce Francis Babington and Peter William Evans raise questions of narrative spectacle, Jewish-Christian relations, authorship, star meanings, the representation of Christ, and sexual desire. The authors theorize the Biblical epic in its three main forms: the Old Testament epic; the Christ film; and the Roman-Christian epic. Films analyzed include David and Bathsheba, The Last Temptation of Christ, The King of Kings, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Demetrius and the Gladiators, Samson and Delilah, and Ben Hur.

Peter William Evans

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