L’ouvrage rassemble des communications bilingues (anglais-français) issues du colloque tenu à l’université de Rouen sur la représentation filmique de la criminalité aux États-Unis de 1929 à 1951. Les liens d’Hollywood avec le crime organisé (mafia urbaine, grand banditisme …) posent diverses questions : l’héroïsation hollywoodienne du gangster, devenu le vecteur d’un nouveau système de valeurs, ne tend-elle pas à apparenter la transgression à un jeu ? L’esthétique de la violence n’accroît-elle pas la fascination des jeunes pour toute déviance, légitimant la mort virtuelle-réelle comme unique solution en cas de conflit ? Les studios hollywoodiens fondent-ils leur puissance et leur légitimité sur la diffusion de valeurs illicites ? Le recueil montre tout d’abord que la diffusion de ces nouveaux comportements répond à des choix économiques ; puis il aborde les rapports entre idéologie et société, traite ensuite de la censure et enfin réexamine l’esthétique de la violence.

Melodrama is the foundation of American cinema. It is, however, a poorly understood term. While it is a pervasive and persuasive dramatic mode, it is not tied to any specific moral or ideological system. It is not a singular genre; rather, it operates as a "genre generating machine" capable of determining the aesthetics and structure of the drama within many genres. Melodrama centers the conflict around the clash between good and evil and provides a sense of poetic justice--but the specific values embedded in notions of good and evil are determined by the culture, and they shift from nation to nation, region to region, and period to period. This book explores the "populist" westerns of the 1930s, the propaganda films that followed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the popularity of Sax Rohmer's master villain Fu Manchu. "Melodramas of passion" and film noir also offer a challenge to melodrama with its seemingly alienated protagonists and downbeat endings. Yet, with few exceptions, Hollywood was able to assimilate these genres within its melodramatic imagination.

As a director, actor, writer and producer, Tod Browning was one of the most dynamic Hollywood figures during the birth of commercial cinema. Known for his fantastic collaborations with Lon Chaney in numerous silents, and for directing the horror classic Dracula and the still-controversial Freaks, Browning has been called "the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema." Despite not entering the profession until he began acting in his early thirties, he went on to helm more than 60 films in a 25-year career. His work continues to influence directors such as David Lynch, John Waters, and Alejandro Jodorowsky. These essays critically explore such topics as the connection between Browning, Poe and Kant; Browning's cinematic techniques; disability; masochism; sound and suspense; duality; parenthood; narrative and cinematic trickery; George Melford; surrealism; and the occult. A Browning filmography is included.

More than 700 uncredited scriptwriters who created the memorable characters and thrilling stories of radio's Golden Age receive due recognition in this reference work. For some, radio was a stepping stone on the way to greater achievements in film or television, on the stage or in literature. For others, it was the culmination of a life spent writing newspaper copy. Established authors dabbled in radio as a new medium, while working writers saw it as another opportunity to earn a paycheck. When these men and women came to broadcasting, they crafted a body of work still appreciated by modern listeners.

Why do Americans alternately celebrate and condemn gangsters, outlaws and corrupt politicians? Why do they immortalize Al Capone while forgetting his more successful contemporaries George Remus or Roy Olmstead? Why are some public figures repudiated for their connections to the mob while others gain celebrity status? Drawing on historical accounts, the author analyzes the public's understanding of organized crime and questions some of our most deeply held assumptions about crime and its role in society.

A complete index to all the films reviewed in all 24 of the "Hollywood Classics" movie books, this massive final volume not only devotes 120 pages to the title index but also contains 212 pages of exhaustive details and comments on an additional 80 must-see films. This additional 80 includes such classics as "A Streetcar Named Desire", the 1937 "Prisoner of Zenda", the multi-award winning "All the King's Men", Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo", Henry King's "Tol'able David", Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments", Byron Haskin's "The War of the Worlds", the Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor "Waterloo Bridge", the Clark Gable and Jean Harlow "Red Dust", Ronald Colman's "If I Were King", the classic noir "Out of the Past", three versions of "Romeo and Juliet", and the delightful Claudette Colbert and James Stewart comedy, "It's a Wonderful World".