The Invention Of The Western Film: A Cultural History Of The Genres First Half Century (Genres In American Cinema S)

The Invention of the Western Film: A Cultural History of the Genres First Half Century (Genres in American Cinema S)

The Invention of the Western Film ranges across literature, visual arts, social history, ideology, and legend to provide, for the first time, an in-depth exploration of the early Western, from short kinetoscopes of the 1890s through "classic" features of the 1940s. By examining the American Indians rise and demise during the silent era, B- Westerns of the 1930s, and film noir-influenced Westerns of the 1940s, Scott Simmons pioneering study silhouettes the genres evolution against a myriad of cultural forces. This lively, encyclopedic book revitalizes familiar Western icons John Wayne and John Ford, and recovers forgotten masterworks from the Western films formative years.