Americanizing the Movies and "Movie-Mad" Audiences, 1910-1914

by Richard Abel

This engaging, deeply researched study provides the richest and most nuanced picture we have to date of cinema―both movies and movie-going―in the early 1910s. At the same time, it makes clear the profound relationship between early cinema and the construction of a national identity in this important transitional period in the United States. Richard Abel looks closely at sensational melodramas, including westerns (cowboy, cowboy-girl, and Indian pictures), Civil War films (especially girl-spy films), detective films, and animal pictures―all popular genres of the day that have received little critical attention. He simultaneously analyzes film distribution and exhibition practices in order to reconstruct a context for understanding moviegoing at a time when American cities were coming to grips with new groups of immigrants and women working outside the home. Drawing from a wealth of research in archive prints, the trade press, fan magazines, newspaper advertising, reviews, and syndicated columns―the latter of which highlight the importance of the emerging star system―Abel sheds new light on the history of the film industry, on working-class and immigrant culture at the turn of the century, and on the process of imaging a national community.

Genres: Film

392 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Richard Owen Abel (born 1941) is Professor Emeritus of International Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Rosie Forsberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

what did I just read ???

[Greta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, if somewhat disjointed study of American films and audiences of the early 1910s based on studies of newspapers in 3 towns in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Takes on exhibition practices and theater distribution (which, though important, does make rather tedious reading), American film genres, advertisements, song slides, and the emergence of the star system. Also includes reprinted vintage articles.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very interesting historical account of the evolution of film from one and two reel shorts, to feature length films, and what geographic areas they were popular in. It says a lot about what type of films worked best in a given area (say Boston or Cleveland, for example), and how producers and distributers after figuring out what did work either imported more titles like it from Europe, or (in some cases) saturated the market with their own versions.
Lots of great original source material from period trade journals and newspapers help make this book a very scholarly but also accessible read for anyone.