American Cinema of the 1950s: Themes and Variations

Screen Decades: American Culture/American Cinema

by Murray Pomerance (Editor), Barry Keith Grant (Contributor), Arthur Knight (Contributor)

From cold war hysteria and rampant anticommunist witch hunts to the lure of suburbia, television, and the new consumerism, the 1950s was a decade of sensational commercial possibility coupled with dark nuclear fears and conformist politics. Amid this amalgamation of social, political, and cultural conditions, Hollywood was under from the Justice Department, which pressed for big film companies to divest themselves of their theater holdings; from the middleclass, whose retreat to family entertainment inside the home drastically decreased the filmgoing audience; and from the House Un-American Activities Committee, which was attempting to purge the country of dissenting political views. In this difficult context, however, some of the most talented filmmakers of all time, including John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Vincente Minnelli, Nicholas Ray, and Billy Wilder produced some of their most remarkable work. Bringing together original essays by ten respected scholars in the field, American Cinema of the 1950s explores the impact of the cultural environment of this decade on film, and the impact of film on the American cultural milieu. Contributors examine the signature films of the decade, including From Here to Eternity , Sunset Blvd ., Singin' in the Rain , Shane , Rear Window , and Rebel Without a Cause , as well as lesser-known but equally compelling films, such as Dial 1119 , Mystery Street , Suddenly , Summer Stock, The Last Hunt , and many others. Provocative, engaging, and accessible to general readers as well as scholars, this volume provides a unique lens through which to view the links between film and the prevailing social and historical events of the decade.

Genres: Film

304 pages, Paperback

First published October 26, 2005

About the author

Murray Pomerance is a Canadian film scholar, author, and professor who teaches in the Department of Sociology at Ryerson University and in the joint program in communication and culture at Ryerson University and York University. He has written extensively on film, cinematic experience, and performance. Most recently he authored The Eyes Have It: Cinema and the Reality Effect, Tomorrow, Alfred Hitchcock's America, Michelangelo Red Antonioni Blue: Eight Reflections on Cinema and Edith Valmaine and is a co-editor of Hollywood's Chosen People: The Jewish Experience in American Cinema (Wayne State University Press, 2012). Pomerance is the editor and co-editor of more than a dozen books and the editor of several book series on film at Rutgers University Press and at the State University of New York Press.

Reviews

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of 10 articles, with each one covering one year, with a different author. Each author puts their own slant on their year. For example, the chapter on 1952 looks at attitudes toward women actors and musicals. The chapter on 1959 deals with race relations in Hollywood. I like some more interesting and relevant than others, but that's no surprise.

[MM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent collection of essays/articles, and while not all-inclusive, it is quite thorough. The format works, too: ten chapters, one for each of the years in the decade. Authors: Mary Beth Haralovich, Kristen Hatch, Sumiko Higashi, Rebecca Bell-Metereau, Michael DeAngelis, Jon Lewis, Barry Keith Grant, Murray Pomerance, Adrienne L. McLean, Arthur Knight.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating. This novel truly helped me learn about the classic films of the 1950s.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, in depth look at 1950s cinema. A must read for film history fans and anyone researching the 1950s in general.