With the likes of Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, and Frank Tashlin revelling in "monkeys, babies, beautiful blondes, money, and cruelty" in their signature films of the 1950s, this seemingly conformist period turns out to be one of the most dynamic and original eras in Hollywood history. What distinguishes these directors is their candid and amusing exploration of cultural anxieties in carnival form. Quirky yet complex films such as Monkey Business, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Sunset Boulevard, The Trouble with Harry, and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? released and expressed the sexual repression and frustration we commonly associate with the decade. In clear and elegant prose, Sikov argues that these comedies are examples of popular cinema's uncanny capacity for cultural criticism. Highlighting Hawks's "skewed classicism," Wilder's "gallows humor," Hitchcock's "subversive morbidity," and Tashlin's "shrill CinemaScopic" fragmentation, the author discusses the raucous "rebelliousness" of the films these directors made in an era of widespread conservatism. Through satire and caricature, their films focus on the general anxiety - particularly over homosexuality, female sexuality, rock and roll, and Communism - that lay below the surface of homogeneity, progress, and domesticity in the period. Illustrated with over forty film stills, Laughing Hysterically captures the clout and glamour of such '50s icons as Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, William Holden, and Jerry Lewis by insightful analysis of their influence on and expression of a burgeoning culture of consumption in the movies. The 1950s produced comedies "that looked and sounded like nothing had ever looked and sounded before." Laughing Hysterically delights readers with an exploration of this very special group of films, and in the process, accomplishes what all good criticism should do: it makes the reader want to see the movies again from a fresh perspective.

Laughing Hysterically: American Screen Comedy of the 1950s (Film and Culture)

Humor & Entertainment

Sikov, Ed

Movies

Columbia Univ. Pr.

A tour de force through the landscape of American comedy in the 1950s.

Laughing Hysterically

Columbia University Press

Ed Sikov builds a step-by-step curriculum for the appreciation of all types of narrative cinema, detailing the essential elements of film form and systematically training the spectator to be an active reader and critic. Sikov primes the eye and mind in the special techniques of film analysis. His description of mise-en-scene helps readers grasp the significance of montage, which in turn reveals the importance of a director's use of camera movement. He treats a number of fundamental factors in filmmaking, including editing, composition, lighting, the use of color and sound, and narrative. Film Studies works with any screening list and can be used within courses on film history, film theory, or popular culture. Straightforward explanations of core critical concepts, practical advice, and suggested assignments on particular technical, visual, and aesthetic aspects further anchor the reader's understanding of the formal language and anatomy of film.

Film Studies: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Film Studies, second edition: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Film Studies is a concise and indispensable introduction to the formal study of cinema. Ed Sikov offers a step-by-step curriculum for the appreciation of all types of narrative cinema, detailing the essential elements of film form and systematically training the spectator to be an active reader and critic. He treats a number of fundamental factors in filmmaking, including editing, composition, lighting, the use of color and sound, and narrative. His description of mise-en-scene helps readers grasp the significance of montage, which in turn reveals the importance of a director’s use of camera movement. Film Studies is designed for courses on film history, film theory, and popular culture. Its straightforward explanations of core critical concepts, practical advice, and technical, visual, and aesthetic aspects anchor the reader’s understanding of the formal language and anatomy of film and the techniques of film analysis. The second edition of this best-selling textbook adds two new chapters: “Film and Ideology,” which covers how to read a film’s political and social content, and other key topics in film theory, and “Film Studies in the Age of Digital Cinema,” which explores the central problems of studying film when “film” itself is no longer the medium.

Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Hyperion

A compilation, with commentary, critique, and summaries of plots and situations, and a discussion of some of the Hollywood stars who made them madcap

Screwball: Hollywood's Madcap Romantic Comedies

Random House Value Publishing

1989, hardcover edition, Crown Publishers, NY. 250 pages, superior coated stock, with 240 b&amp;w stills from various films, all of them in most effective duotones. The author is an excellent writer, with a doctorate in film studies from Columbia University. Here he presents the wonderful sub-genre of Hollywood, the screwball romantic comedy films of the 1930s and 1940s. Remember Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn chasing around the countryside looking for a goofy pet leopard? Or the slightly tipsy William Powell married to a rich alluring female named Myrna Loy and their crazy dog that jumps straight up in the air, the one that was scared of pussycats? Well, if you remember those fine films, they're all in here, with complete cast credits, a list of writers, and the directors who turned out one wonderful film after another. The nice thing about these films is the fact that these people actually seem to be having a good time and to actually really like each other. Imagine that! A large, oversize volume, with great photos and a real feel for the celluloid material.

Screwball! Hollywood's Madcap Romantic Comedies

Crown

On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder

The life of screenwriter and director Billy Wilder is examined here, from his frustrations with anti-Semitism in his native Austria to his eventual Hollywood triumph as the recipient of six Academy Awards. Reprint. PW.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sikov, Ed. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Sikov, Ed

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Sikov, Ed. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Laughing Hysterically: American Screen Comedy of the 1950s (Film and Culture)

Laughing Hysterically

Film Studies: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Film Studies: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Film Studies, second edition: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Film Studies, second edition: An Introduction (Film and Culture Series)

Mr. Strangelove: A Biography of Peter Sellers

Screwball: Hollywood's Madcap Romantic Comedies

Screwball! Hollywood's Madcap Romantic Comedies

On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder