American Cinema, Детальна інформація

Science fiction. After the Second World War science-fiction films increasingly suggested that the dangers of the future stemmed from what human beings were doing in the present.

Film Companies

Columbia Pictures (also Columbia)-American film company, which produces films for cinema and television.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) — a film company based in Hollywood, which has made many famous films and animated cartoons.

Paramount- a film company in Hollywood.

20th Century-Fox — an American film company.

United Artists — a film company (studio) in Hollywood.

Universal — n film company (studio) in Hollywood.

Warner Bros (Brothers) — an American film company.

Film Directors and Producers

Alien, Woody (1935—) — a comic actor and maker of humorous films. Since the late 1960s, he has been directing films and acting in them, usually playing a neurotic, bookish New Yorker. Some of his best-known films have been "Annie Hall", "Manhattan" and "Hannah and Her Sisters".

Capra, Frank (1897-1991) - a film director, best known for the films "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" and "It's a Wonderful Night".

Chaplin, Charlie (Charles Spencer) (1889-1977) — an English actor and director who worked mainly in the United States in silent black-and-white comedy films. He created the beloved character, the Little Tramp, who wore a shabby black suit, derby hat and floppy shoes, and walked with the backs of his feet together and the toes pointing outwards. He always walked with a cane.

By 1918 Chaplin had forsaken short comedies for longer, independently made films, including "Shoulder Arms" (1918) and "The Kid" (1921). His major films, produced for United Artists (a film company which he helped to found in 1923), included "The Gold Rush" (1925), "The Circus" (1928), "City Lights" (1931) and "Modern Times" (1936), the latter two made as silent films with synchronized sound effects. Chaplin spoke on the screen for the first time in "The Great Dictator" (1940), which ridiculed Hitler and Mussolini. In "Monsieur Verdoux" (1947), which draws an acid analogy between warfare and business morality, the tramp disappeared entirely; the film provided further ammunition for a growing anti-Chaplin group who attacked his unconventional personal life and political views.

After 1952 Chaplin resided in Switzerland. He starred in his production "A King in New York" (1957), a sharp satire on contemporary America, and wrote and directed "A Countess from Hongkong" (1967). Chaplin made a triumphant return to the United States in 1972. He was given an Academy Award (an Oscar) for his part in "making motion pictures the art form of the century".

Coppola, Francis Ford (1939)- a film director, best known for the films "'The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now".

Ford, John (1895-1973) - a film director, especially known for his Westerns including "Stagecoach", "How the West Was Won", etc.

Goldwin, Samuel (1882-1947) - a film producer, head of one of the companies, which later became MGM. Goldwyn is famous for saying odd things like "include me out".

Griffith, D. W. (1875-1948) - a film maker, known especially for his use of new photographic methods and for his epic silent films, such as "The Birth of the Nation" (1915) that required huge casts and enormous sets.

Griffith directed the first film, "The Adventures of Dollie", in 1908 and went on to make hundreds of pictures. With "The Birth of the Nation", he created a landmark in film industry. Also influential on the future of the film was "Intolerance" (1916). Griffith continued to make successful films throughout the 1920s. However, the Victorian sentiment that pervades his films was increasingly alien to the theme. He failed to make the transition to sound pictures.

Russel, Ken (1926-) — a film director, best known for documentary films and for the film "Women in Love".

Scorsese, Martin (1942—) — a film director whose works include "Taxi Driver", "The Last Temptation of Christ", etc.

Spielberg, Steven (1946—) — a film director who has made many very popular films, including "Jaws", "LT", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Star Wars", "Empire of the Sun", etc. His films are well known for being very fast moving and full of exciting action.

Zinneman, Frederick (1907- ) – an American film director, born in Austria, famous for the films such as "High Noon" and "The Day of Jackal".

Wilder Billy (1906-) – a film director whose films include "Sunset Boulevard" and "Some Like It Hot".

Films.

"The Birth of the Nation" — a dramatic silent film from 1915 about the American Civil War. "The Birth of the Nation" was directed by D. W. Griffith. The film, based on Thomas Dixon's novel "The Clansman", has been condemned for historical distortion and racial bias, but it became a landmark in the artistic development of motion pictures through its successful introduction of many now-standard film techniques.

"Planet of the Apes " - a film set in about imaginary future where monkeys rule the world.

''Psycho'' — a horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. It is especially known for a scene in which the character Mario (Janet Leigh) is stabbed in a shower by Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins).

"Rocky" — the first of a group of films (later ones were called "Rocky II", "Rock III", etc.), starring Sylvester Stallone as a determined boxer called Rocky. In each of the films the main character overcomes difficulties and win a fight against a strong opponent. The films are especially popular with young people.