The invention of the western film : a cultural history of the genre's first half-century

Summary: The Invention of the Western Film ranges across literature, visual arts, social history, ideology and legend to provide an in-depth exploration of the early Western, from short kinetoscopes of the 1890s through the 'classic' features of the 1940s. Scott Simmon silhouettes the Western's evolution, including the rise and demise of the American Indian during the silent era, the 'B-Westerns' of the 1930s, and the Westerns of the 1940s, when aspects of film noir were adapted to the genre. All of these developments are examined within the context of the cultural forces that shaped them. Shedding new light on important celebrities, notably John Wayne and John Ford, this book also recovers forgotten masterworks from the early history of the Western.

Record details

ISBN: 052155473X
ISBN: 9780521554732
ISBN: 0521555817
ISBN: 9780521555814
Physical Description: print
xvi, 393 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes filmography: pages 363-374.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 347-361) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

pt. 1: "My friend, the indian": landscape and the extermination of the native Americna in the silent western -- Indians to the rescue -- The eastern western -- Our friends, the Indians -- The death of the western, 1911 -- The far-western -- Wars on the plains -- The politics of landscape -- Pocahontas meets Custer: The Invaders -- "No Indians wanted" -- The west of the Mohicans -- Desert places -- pt. 2: "It's time for your history lesson, dear": John Wayne and the problem of history in the Hollywood western of the 1930s -- The Big Trail and the weight of history -- What's the big idea? -- Nature's nature: philosophies of the land -- Heaven's gates: philosophies of faith -- Democracy's discontents: philosophies of politics -- Manifestations of destiny -- Rambling into surrealism: the B-western -- "Don't cry, Pat, it's only a western": a note on acting -- Time, space, and the western -- pt. 3: "That sleep of death": John Ford and the darkness of the classic western in the 1940s -- My Darling Clementine and the fight with film noir -- Out of the past -- "Shakespeare? In tombstone?" -- "Get outta town and stay out" -- "A lot of nice people around here" -- "Who do we shoot?" -- The revenge of film noir -- The return of the Earps -- Ford, Fonda, and the death of the classic western.