HOLLYWOOD CINEMA AND THE NEW LOS ANGELES

The city of Los Angeles evokes images of sunshine, beaches, expansive homes, and glamorous movie stars. It is a place of fantasies and dreams, home to the rich and famous or, just as often, the almost famous. First and foremost a city of cinema, Los Angeles exists both in the movies that are made there and in the image of the place on film.Mark Shiel explores this alluring locale in Hollywood Cinema and the Real Los Angeles, depicting the ever-changing cinematic image of the city and revealing how its celluloid identity has been reflected and manipulated by its physical geography. Tracing the history of Los Angeles from the invention of motion pictures in the 1890s to the decline of the studio system in the 1950s, Shiel describes the popular films produced during this time, from early slapstick comedies to film noir. He analyzes the narrative, cinematography, editing, and other elements of film style, concentrating on the ways filmmakers engaged with the architecture of the city inside studios and on location. Because Hollywood contributed to and complicated the city’s economic, political, social, and cultural life, Shiel argues that the history of Los Angeles and its film industry cannot be understood in isolation from each other. Containing many previously unpublished photographs, this book gives us a never-before-seen view of the City of Angels and stars.