Synopses & Reviews
Unlike the more forthrightly mythic origins of other urban centersandmdash;think Rome via Romulus and Remus or Mexico City via the god Huitzilopochtliandmdash;Los Angeles emerged from a smoke-and-mirrors process that is simultaneously literal and figurative, real and imagined, material and metaphorical, physical and textual. Through penetrating analysis and personal engagement, Vincent Brook uncovers the many portraits of this ever-enticing, ever-ambivalent, and increasingly multicultural megalopolis. Divided into sections that probe Los Angelesandrsquo;s checkered history and reflect on Hollywoodandrsquo;s own self-reflections, the book shows how the city, despite considerable remaining challenges,and#160; is finally blowing away some of the smoke of its not always proud past and rhetorically adjusting its rear-view mirrors.
Part I is a review of the cityandrsquo;s history through the early 1900s, focusing on the seminal 1884 novel Ramona and its immediate effect, but also exploring its ongoing impact through interviews with present-day Tongva Indians, attendance at the 88th annual Ramona pageant, and analysis of its feature film adaptations.
Brook deals with Hollywood as geographical site, film production center, and frame of mind in Part II. He charts the events leading up to Hollywoodandrsquo;s emergence as the worldandrsquo;s movie capital and explores subsequent developments of the film industry from its golden age through the so-called New Hollywood, citing such self-reflexive films as Sunset Blvd., Singinandrsquo; in the Rain, and The Truman Show.
Part III considers LA noir, a subset of film noir that emerged alongside the classical noir cycle in the 1940s and 1950s and continues today. The cityandrsquo;s status as a privileged noir site is analyzed in relation to its history and through discussions of such key LA noir novels and films as Double Indemnity, Chinatown, and Crash.
In Part IV, Brook examines multicultural Los Angeles. Using media texts as signposts, he maps the history and contemporary situation of the cityandrsquo;s major ethno-racial and other minority groups, looking at such films as Mi Familia (Latinos), Boyz N the Hood (African Americans), Charlotte Sometimes (Asians), Falling Down (Whites), and The Kids Are All Right (LGBT).
Review
"Koszarski's book is both industrial saga and film-buff opium den: Not only does he include all aspects of film production in New York, but also television. The author also writes with such fire and detail about all these films that you quickly forget most of them are either lost, incomplete, or difficult to see at best.Philippe Garnier, LA Weekly
Review
"This is the definitive history of New York filmmaking in the first half of the twentieth century--and this is no small story or accomplishment."
Review
"This huge, richly detailed revisionist history of the relationship between Hollywood and New York City from the turn of the 20th century until WWII is an enormously important, ceaselessly eye-opening work of Gotham-based cultural anthropology and archaeology. This book gives back to New York a continuous history of invention and creativity that, without Koszarski's Herculean labors, might have disappeared forever. Marvelous, invaluable, breathtaking film history."Directors Guild Quarterly
Review
"A perfect blend of Hollywood history, film analysis, and New York cultural history. Richard Koszarski is one of the preeminent film historians of our time."
Review
andquot;A cultural geography of Los Angeles has never before been conducted with such brio, verve, and insight. This book is something quite unique and special.andquot;
Review
andquot;A compelling, well-researched story of Los Angeles's deep and diverse roots and growth from indigenous settlements to the world's most multicultural metropolis . . . a must-read for anyone hoping toand#160;understand the city's past, present and future.andquot;
Review
andquot;Brook presents a provocative cultural history of Los Angeles that cuts through the myths and glam often associated with the film industry and the city's historical development and noir setting. An important addition to collections with a focus on Southern California and Los Angeles or film history. Recommended.andquot;
Review
andquot;A unique look at the historiography of Los Angeles.andquot;
Review
andquot;
Land of Smoke and Mirrors is so referentially rich that it, together with complementary articles and films, could serve as a cultural lexicon for students asigned to research the region's copious imagery.andquot;
Synopsis
In Hollywood on the Hudson, Richard Koszarski rewrites an important part of the history of American cinema. During the 1920s and 1930s, industry executives had centralized the mass production of feature pictures in a series of gigantic film factories scattered across Southern California, while maintaining New York as the economic and administrative center. But as Koszarski reveals, many writers, producers, and directors continued to work here, especially if their independent vision was too big for the Hollywood production line.
Synopsis
Thomas Edison invented his motion picture system in New Jersey in the 1890s, and within a few years most American filmmakers could be found within a mile or two of the Hudson River. They planted themselves here because they needed the artistic and entrepreneurial energy that D. W. Griffith realized New York had in abundance. But as the going rate for land and labor skyrocketed and their business grew more industrialized, most of them moved out. The way most historians explain it, the role of New York in the development of American film ends here.
In Hollywood on the Hudson, Richard Koszarski rewrites an important part of the history of American cinema. During the 1920s and 1930s, film industry executives had centralized the mass production of feature pictures in a series of gigantic film factories scattered across Southern California, while maintaining New York as the economic and administrative center. But as Koszarski reveals, many writers, producers, and directors also continued to work here, especially if their independent vision was too big for the Hollywood production line.
East Coast filmmakers-Oscar Micheaux, Rudolph Valentino, Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur, Paul Robeson, Gloria Swanson, Max Fleischer, and others-quietly created a studio system without back-lots, long-term contracts or seasonal production slates. They substituted "newsreel photography" for Hollywood glamour, targeted niche audiences instead of middle-American families, ignored accepted dramatic conventions, and pushed the boundaries of motion picture censorship. Rebellious and unconventional, they saw the New York studios as laboratories, not factories-and used them to pioneer the development of new technologies (from talkies to television), new genres, new talent, and ultimately, an entirely new vision of commercial cinema.
Synopsis
Land of Smoke and Mirrors looks at greater Los Angeles through the images projected from within and without its geographical and psychological borders. Divided into sections that probe the cityandrsquo;s checkered history and reflect on Hollywoodandrsquo;s own self reflections, the book offers revealing readings of different types of texts (novelistic, cinematic, event-related, and geographical) to expose how Los Angeles, despite considerable remaining challenges, is blowing away some of the smoke of its not always proud past and rhetorically adjusting its rear-view mirrors.