Why has the Hollywood sound serial received so little scholarly attention? These short, usually weekly films ending in cliffhangers began in the silent era but continued to be extremely popular in the 1930s and 1940s after the advent of synchronized sound. In The Lost Jungle Guy Barefoot explores the popularity of particular serials such as Flash Gordon (1936) and The Lone Ranger (1938), contextualizing the serial in the broader context of American film culture during the Great Depression and Second World War. Barefoot also examines less familiar science fiction, western,...
Why has the Hollywood sound serial received so little scholarly attention? These short, usually weekly films ending in cliffhangers began in the silen...
In 1945, a year when American crime films were apparently moving out on to the streets of contemporary Los Angeles and New York, one reviewer noted the emergence of a 'cycle of mystery and horror pictures placed in the gaslight era of the turn of the century.' For another critic, it seemed that for Hollywood there was 'no world of today save the world of London by gaslight'.
In Gaslight Melodrama, Guy Barefoot examines the films that gave rise to such comments, and the pattern of discourse that gave rise to such films. The book's main focus is provided by 1940s Hollywood...
In 1945, a year when American crime films were apparently moving out on to the streets of contemporary Los Angeles and New York, one reviewer noted...
