When in July 1944 Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity hit American cinemas, it was only moderately successful. The movie performed well enough at the box office to be considered reasonably profitable, with estimated earnings between $2.2 and $2.6 million, which was sufficient to return a good profit for Paramount Studios. The film ranked 51st in box […]
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Category: B. R. Film
Alien Abduction in the Cinema: A History from the 1950s to Today by Paul Meehan (2023)
Paul Meehan’s new title delves deeply into the portrayal of alien abduction and UFO phenomena in cinema, covering decades of films and cultural shifts that reflect evolving public perceptions of extraterrestrials. Certainly, the phenomena takes note of all the hysteria and sensationalism that is typical for such coverage. As such, UFO sightings and the development […]
One Tough Dame. The Life and Career of Diana Rigg by Herbie J. Pilato (2024)
The remarkable British actress Diana Rigg, who was awarded the title of Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1994, is the subject of this biography. Her reputation as being ‘tough’ and a long career as the star of plays, movies, and the TV show The Avengers, where she excelled from […]
HR Giger by Hans Werner Holzwarth (ed.) (2024)
At the tenth anniversary of his death, legendary Swiss painter, sculptor, and designer HR Giger (1940–2014) is once again celebrated for the haunting power and dark psychedelia that informs his objects and paintings in an updated XXL edition by Taschen. Edited by Hans Werner Holzwarth, a book designer specializing in contemporary art and photography with […]
Dirty Real: Exile on Hollywood and Vine With the Gin Mill Cowboys by Peter Stanfield (2024)
The American film industry of the 1970s was very particular and bold. The period under inspection in this title covers a style named “dirty realism” that came up in roughly the late 1960s and lasted until 1974. That period of unusual gritty esthetics was part of the American New Wave cinema. Its directors usually rejected […]
Journeys into Terror: Essays from the Cinematic Intersection of …by Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin
Let’s face it, what would a travelog, either from the 16th century or last year, be worth, if one could foresee this journey’s beginning and end, as well as anything that happened in between would it be an amiable and beautiful experience, a safe travel to a secure area which read like the perfect holiday […]
The Monkees: Made in Hollywood by Tom Kemper (2023)
When it comes to music appreciation, originality, authenticity and the masterful use of instruments, traits and abilities associated with musicians, are usually important selection criteria for consumers, who choose by those aforementioned elements whether or not to buy the artist’s products. Usually, that is. In the case of the Los Angeles-based mid-1960s band The Monkees, […]
Negative, Nonsensical, and Non-Conformist. The Films of Suzuki Seijun by Peter A. Yacavone (2023)
While there are now fewer recent books on famous Hollywood directors – probably because criticism by now has covered almost any aspect of their work – new publications on, so far, underrated and ignored directors are being published more often. Peter A. Yacavone’s Negative, Nonsensical, and Non-Conformist is one of those books. It centers on […]
Superevil: Villains in Silver Age Superhero Comics by Anke Marie Bock (2023)
Any comic book fan probably can easily name more than a handful of superheroes of the Silver Age, the time from roughly the mid-1950s until the early 1970s. And to know the superheroes also means to know their antagonists, featured in the endless battles of Batman/The Joker, Thor/Loki, The Flash/Po-Siden, or Spiderman/Green Goblin where the […]