This biography, a reprint from 2003, traces the life and career of actress Irene Dunne (1904-1990). Gehring (film, Ball State U.) details her childhood, bicoastal marriage, and roles on stage and in f
Wes D. Gehring presents readers with a comprehensive examination of the comedic work produced by Hollywood in the wake of the Second World War, utilizing comedians to drive filmmaking in an entirel
"This examination of dark comedies of the 1970s focuses on films which concealed black humor behind a misleading genre label. The book covers 12 essential films, including Harold and Maude (1971), Sla
Examines the genre of dark comedy in American film. After a historical literary review, chapters examine themes of the genre, pioneering works and directors, the coming of age movie and its ties to bl
Buster Keaton “can impress a weary world with the vitally important fact that life, after all, is a foolishly inconsequential affair,” wrote critic Robert Sherwood in 1918. A century later Keaton, wit
Woody Allen’s Manhattan Murder Mystery has been described as “a kind of Rear Window for retirees.” As this quote suggests, an analysis of Alfred Hitchcock’s methodical use of comedy in his films is pa
"The book examines Chaplin's evolving perspective on dark comedy in his three war films, Shoulder Arms (1918), The Great Dictator(1940), and Monsieur Verdoux (1947). In the first he uses the genre in
Leo McCarey directed Laurel and Hardy in their first team efforts, Carey Grant and Irene Dunne in the Awful Truth, and Bing Crosby in Bells of St. Mary's, to cite just a few examples from a film caree
"Will Cuppy (1884-1949) is dark comedy that flirts with nihilism. Whether Will Cuppy directly derails man or lesser creatures on the evolutionary chain, there is always a generous helping of dark come
"More genres, 19 in fact, are discussed than in other standard works. The 14 genres considered here by film scholar contributors other than Gehring include the adventure film, the western, the gangste
This book takes a closer look at the precise meanings of the terms screwball and romantic. Film fans and scholars alike tend to lump film with laughter and love under a screwball/romantic umbrella and
The twelve classic comedy films examined within these pages are distinguished by an equal number of defining comic performances. Ranging from The Great Dictator (1940) to A Southern Yankee (1948), ea
The 1930s are routinely considered sound film’s greatest comedy era. Though this golden age encompassed various genres of laughter, clown comedy is the most basic type. This work examines the Depress
"The reader learns of Joe E. Brown's childhood and how it prepared him for later screen roles, and how his love of baseball translated into screen successes. His career in vaudeville, his work as a Br
