Looking Past the Screen

"The ace editors and A-list film historians Jon Lewis and Eric Smoodin have assembled a stellar cast of critics and scholars to illuminate the mutually enabling relationship between film and history. The provocative essays in this marvelous collection might be likened to a must-see motion picture program with a choice marquee entry for every taste, a bill whose featured attractions encompass the forgotten pioneers of the silent screen, the CGI-laden blockbusters of Planet Hollywood, the kid-centric fare of the Saturday matinee, and the proto-porn of the classic adult film market, with excursions into the noir, the star, the auteur, the Oriental, and the queer. Throughout, the screenings are cinema-smart, culturally savvy, and--appropriately--highly entertaining."--Thomas Doherty, Brandeis University