When movies were theater : architecture, exhibition, and the evolution of American film /

There was a time when seeing a movie meant more than seeing a film. The theater itself shaped the very perception of events onscreen. This multilayered history tells the story of American film through the evolution of theater architecture and the surprisingly varied ways movies were shown, ranging f...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Paul, William, 1944
Published: Columbia University Press,
Publisher Address: New York, NY :
Publication Dates: [2016]
Literature type: Book
Language: English
Series: Film and Culture Series
Subjects:
Summary: There was a time when seeing a movie meant more than seeing a film. The theater itself shaped the very perception of events onscreen. This multilayered history tells the story of American film through the evolution of theater architecture and the surprisingly varied ways movies were shown, ranging from Edison's 1896 projections to the 1968 Cinerama premiere of Stanley Kubrick's '2001'. The study matches distinct architectural forms to movie styles, showing how cinema's roots in theater influenced business practices, exhibition strategies, and film technologies.
Carrier Form: xvi, 422 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.
Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages [399]-411) and index.
ISBN: 9780231176576
0231176570
9780231176569
0231176562
Index Number: PN1995
CLC: J905
Call Number: J905/P324
Contents: Introduction : An art of the theater -- Making movies fit -- Store theaters: a radical break -- Palatial architecture, democratized audience -- Elite taste in a mass medium -- Uncanny theater -- The architectural screen -- Conclusion : Ontological fade-out -- Appendix 1. Stage shows and double features in select markets outside New York City -- Appendix 2. Feature films based on theatrical sources, 1914-2011 -- Appendix 3. Filmography -- Appendix 4. List of theaters.