Presents a look at the Marx Brothers movie "Duck Soup," describing the influence that the comedic interactions and verbal wit of the four brothers had on the making of the famous anti-war film.

In-depth interviews with key production personnel--including writers, actors, and aides--combine with actual production notes from the director's film masterpieces, archives, photographs, and files to provide a close-up look at Alfred Hitchcock at work.

"It's Only a Movie is the best book ever written about my father. It really is amazing." -Patricia Hitchcock North by Northwest. Psycho. Rear Window. The Birds. Vertigo. When it comes to murder and mayhem, shock and suspense, the films of Alfred Hitchcock can not be surpassed. For this book, Charlotte Chandler interviewed Hitchcock, his wife, daughter, film crew members, and many of the stars who appeared in his films, including Kim Novak, Janet Leigh, Cary Grant, Tippi Hedren and James Stewart. Throughout the book, Chandler shares Hitchcock's wit and wisdom. When actors took themselves too seriously, he would remind them, "it's only a movie." Chandler introduces us to the real Hitchcock, a devoted family man and notorious practical joker, who made suspenseful thrillers mixed with subtle humor and tacit eroticism.

(Quick Guide). A Quick Guide to Television Writing is the ultimate reference manual to the art, craft, and business of writing for the small screen. In a series of brief but comprehensive segments, the book covers the entire process of creating a professional television script from conceiving the initial idea to polishing the final draft. Covered topics include: the three main types of teleplays; an overview of dramatic storytelling; adapting a dramatic story to the specific demands of television storytelling; the techniques of television storytelling; teleplay style and formatting; how to create a television series; important T.V. writing "dos" and "don'ts:" the business of television writing, including an overview of the many jobs and positions available to T.V. writers; and how to bring your work to the attention of the industry. Written in smart, reader-friendly prose, the book is chock full of the vital information, helpful tips, and keen advice that will help you make your teleplay the best it can be.

The Future of an Illusion was first published in 1989. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. The Future of an Illusion documents the pivotal role Constance Penley has played in the development of feminist film theory. Penley analyzes the primary movements that have shaped the field: the conjunction of feminism, film theory, and psychoanalysis, and the inherent debates surrounding the politics of women and representation. These debates center on the position of women in the classical Hollywood narrative, the construction of the spectator's desire in pornography and eroticism, and the implicitly male bias in psychoanalytically oriented film theory. Essential to anyone studying the sexual policies of representation, The Future of an Illusion ranges from avant-garde films to video, popular cinema, television, literature, and critical and cultural theory. Constance Penley is associate professor of English and film studies at the University of Rochester. A co-editor of the journal Camera Obscura,she is the editor of Feminism and Film Theory.

In 1973, the portly, dark-haired, bearded film director Miguel Littín fled Chile after a U.S.-supported military coup toppled the democratically elected Socialist government of Salvador Allende, replacing it with the rule of General Augusto Pinochet. Pinochet’s cruel reign was to last some seventeen years, during which Chile was turned into a laboratory for the economic ideas of Milton Friedman, leading to a society where the rich became richer and the poor much poorer, and the government was sustained by an ongoing reign of terror. In 1985, Littín returned to Chile, now slim and clean-shaven, with a false name, false passport, and false wife. Pretending to be a Uruguayan businessman, he was bent on making a movie that told the truth about life under Pinochet. This is the story of Littín’s escapade, which was a journey to a risky and in many ways unexpected new country—and into his own complicated feelings as an exile. Gabriel García Márquez brings all his gifts as a novelist to the telling Littín’s tale, revealing the unreal essence of life in a country where the plain truth was inadmissible. Clandestine in Chile is a true-life adventure story and a classic of modern reportage.

The original edition of this book, long out of print, was published almost 20 years ago. The decades since then have brought enormous changes to the business side of moviemaking, requiring that the new edition be totally rewritten. This is, then, a brand new book and one that has been most eagerly awaited. In it, three experts in entertainment law carefully explain the complex procedures involved in bringing a film to the screen, from acquiring rights and financing, to negotiating workable agreements with artists and craftspeople, to distributing and exhibiting the finished motion picture. Clear, concise, and - above all - authoritative, this book cuts a pathway through a jungle and is an essential reference for the teacher of film, the independent producer, the would-be filmmaker, and anyone interested in the business of making movies.

A companion volume to George Stevens, Jr.'s, much admired book of American Film Institute seminars with the great pioneering moviemakers ("Invaluable" --Martin Scorsese). The Next Generation brings together AFI's conversations with moviemakers at work from the 1950s--during the studios' decline--to today's Hollywood. Directors, producers, writers, actors, cinematographers, composers, film editors, and independent filmmakers. Among them: Steven Spielberg, Nora Ephron, George Lucas, Sidney Poitier, and Darren Aronofsky.