Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Eloquent Gestures

Eloquent Gestures

Pearson, Roberta

Paperback

Film Studies

ISBN10: 0520073665
ISBN13: 9780520073661
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: Nov 2 1992
Pages: 196
Weight: 0.71
Height: 0.55 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.08
Language: English
Between 1908 and 1913, D. W. Griffith played a key role in the reformulating of film's narrative techniques, thus contributing to the creation of what we now think of as the classical Hollywood cinema. This book is the only extensive treatment of a critical period in the history of film acting: the emergence of the realistic verisimilar style in Griffith's biograph films. Roberta Pearson shows how Griffith gradually abandoned the deliberately affected histrionic acting style derived from the nineteenth-century stage. No longer did actors mime distress by raising their arms to heaven or clutching their heads--a subtle facial expression, a slight change in posture would convey a character's extreme emotions instead.

Pearson makes detailed comparisons of certain Biograph films and brings a freshness to her analysis by closely examining contemporary journalistic writing, acting manuals, and the recollections of actors of the time. Her work is important for anyone interested in early cinema and performance, and it will enliven the study of American cultural history and mass communications.

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