Synopses & Reviews
The success of movies like The Artist and Hugo recreated the wonder and magic of silent film for modern audiences, many of whom might never have experienced a movie without sound. But while the American silent movie was one of the most significant popular art forms of the modern age, it is also one that is largely lost to us, as more than eighty percent of silent films have disappeared, the victims of age, disaster, and neglect. We now know about many of these cinematic masterpieces only from the collections of still portraits and production photographs that were originally created for publicity and reference. Capturing the beauty, horror, and moodiness of silent motion pictures, these images are remarkable pieces of art in their own right. In the first history of still camera work generated by the American silent motion picture industry, David S. Shields chronicles the evolution of silent film aesthetics, glamour, and publicity, and provides unparalleled insight into this influential body of popular imagery.and#160;Exploring the work of over sixty camera artists, Still recovers the stories of the photographers who descended on early Hollywood and the stars and starlets who sat for them between 1908 and 1928. Focusing on the most culturally influential types of photographsandmdash;the performer portrait and the scene stillandmdash;Shields follows photographers such as Albert Witzel and W. F. Seely as they devised the poses that newspapers and magazines would bring to Americans, who mimicked the sultry stares and dangerous glances of silent stars. He uncovers scene shots of unprecedented splendorandmdash;visions that would ignite the popular imagination. And he details how still photographs changed the film industry, whose growing preoccupation with artistry in imagery caused directors and stars to hire celebrated stage photographers and transformed cameramen into bankable names.and#160;Reproducing over one hundred and fifty of these gorgeous black-and-white photographs, Still brings to life an entire long-lost visual culture that a century later still has the power to enchant.
Review
andldquo;
Still is not just a labor of love or the fruit of a personal passion. Itandrsquo;s not just an astonishing album of andlsquo;beautyandrsquo; and beauty. In the process it amounts to one of the most radical reappreciations of the origins of film we have ever had. For what starts as a collectorandrsquo;s rapture turns into a surprising and creative evocation of what silent movies looked and felt like. This is a piece of history, lavishly illustrated, but it is a serious contribution toward the history of film, too.andrdquo;
Review
and#160;andldquo;Still photography played an integral part in all aspects of the silent film industry, from photos of stars and productions to the entire technical advancement of the medium. This study of American silent era stills is extremely important for anyone interested in the histories of cinema and photography.andrdquo;
Review
and#160;andldquo;Still meticulously and sure-footedly juggles many tasks at once to encompass a number of matters crucial to an understanding of the history of the use of still and portrait photography in conjunction with silent filmsandmdash;including the development of commercial portraiture, the use of photographs by magazines and newspapers, the history of censorship of the arts in America, and more. David S. Shields has done a heroic amount of research, in many cases tracking down lives that seem to have scarcely been chronicled before. A major accomplishment, Still opens entire new worlds in the history of photography.andrdquo;
Review
and#160;andldquo;David S. Shieldsandrsquo; appropriately photo-packed history of the nascent days of movie publicityandmdash;the first photographers to capture silent screen stars on set, on the backlot, in candid settings and staged studio portraitsandmdash;offers far more than just an amazing collection of images. So many films from the early decades of the 20th century have been lost, but here, miraculously, they can be found again. . . . A truly major achievement.andrdquo;and#160;
Review
and#160;andldquo;In his richly illustrated Still: American Silent Motion Picture Photography, David S. Shields examines the groundbreaking work of the early cinematographers and still photographers who created that phenomenon. Shields is both scholarly and deeply passionate about the pictures (some from his own collection), gathering rare images from the sets of epic costume dramas and the kind of celebrity portraiture that would reach its ultimate expression generations later in Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone.andrdquo;
Review
and#8220;This book is both an account of the still photography of the silent era and a collection of enthralling images.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;One opens this book with exquisite care and almost a hush of awe. Exploring the work of over sixty camera artists, Shields has pulled together a beautiful collection of photographic stills and portrait photography from the American silent film era of 1908 and 1928 that chronicles the fascinating intersection between the two art forms of the moving image and commercial photography. . . . Shieldsand#8217;s presentation entrances as he weaves his own spell of their contributions. Not only does one exclaim in reading this amazing work that Hollywood stars had faces then, but that they also had photographic artists who created the icons that linger and enchant.and#8221;and#160;
Review
and#8220;The detailed profiles of so many photographers are the bookand#8217;s triumph. . . . Not just a reappraisal of a collection of daring, innovative artisans, Shieldsand#8217;s book makes all too apparent how bland and safe contemporary movie stills and portraits really are.and#8221;
Synopsis
Lighting performs essential functions in Hollywood films, enhancing the glamour, clarifying the action, and intensifying the mood. Examining every facet of this understated art form, from the glowing backlights of the silent period to the shaded alleys of film noir, Patrick Keating affirms the role of Hollywood lighting as a distinct, compositional force.
Closely analyzing Girl Shy (1924), Anna Karenina (1935), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and T-Men (1947), along with other brilliant classics, Keating describes the unique problems posed by these films and the innovative ways cinematographers handled the challenge. Once dismissed as crank-turning laborers, these early cinematographers became skillful professional artists by carefully balancing the competing demands of story, studio, and star. Enhanced by more than one hundred illustrations, this volume counters the notion that style took a backseat to storytelling in Hollywood film, proving that the lighting practices of the studio era were anything but neutral, uniform, and invisible. Cinematographers were masters of multifunctionality and negotiation, honing their craft to achieve not only realistic fantasy but also pictorial artistry.
About the Author
David S. Shields is the McClintock Professor of Southern Letters at the University of South Carolina and chairman of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation. His books include Civil Tongues and Polite Letters in British America and Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690andndash;1750, the latter also published by the University of Chicago Press.
Table of Contents
and#160;
Acknowledgments
Overture
I: Inventing Glamour, Composing Worlds
1and#160;Photography and the Birth of Professional Beautyand#160;
2and#160;Glamour Comes to Californiaand#160;
3and#160;Worlds Distilled: Motion Picture Production Photographyand#160;
II: The Visual Artists
4and#160;Manly Faces: Jack Freulich, Bert Longworth, Ray Jones, and the Universal Studio Aestheticand#160;
5and#160;The Dying Photographer and the New Womanand#160;
6and#160;Opium Dreams: Ferdinand P. Earle and Visual Fantasyand#160;
7and#160;Royal Photographer to the Stars: M. I. Boris and Visual Artistry
III: Artistry and Regimen
8and#160;The Eyes of Lillian Gishand#160;
9and#160;The Wide-Open Spacesand#160;
10and#160;Studio Menand#160;
Notesand#160;
Index