Transition and Transformation: Victor Sjostrom in Hollywood 1923-1930 (Film Culture in Transition): Victor Sjstrm in Hollywood 1923-1930 - Softcover

Florin, Bo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9089645047 ISBN 13: 9789089645043

Publisher: Amsterdam University Press, 2014

Synopsis

In 1923, Victor Sj str m (1879-1960) got an offer from Goldwyn Pictures to come to Hollywood. This was nothing unusual for a successful European director: -Metro's bring - ing them in by car load , as Photoplay stated in 1926. At the time, Sj str m was Sweden's most renowned director, who had become world famous for his austere and naturalistic film style. Sj str m stayed in Hollywood for seven years and made nine films. What happened during those years to the characteristic style that he had developed in Sweden? How was it transformed by Hollywood? Did he maintain any of his stylistic particularities from the Swedish period? How were his Hollywood films received by the American and Swedish critics? This portrayal of a European in Hollywood reveals how Sj str m, in adapting to the new production system, integrated and developed various stylistic elements from the Swedish years in a radically different context. Transition and Transformation is the first book-length study dedicated to the films of Victor Sj str m made in Hollywood, which also nuances the picture of the American production system.

About this title

Review

"Victor Sjöström is unquestionably one of the filmmaking giants of the silent era, though most modern film scholars and fans know his work through only a small handful of classics. A systematic study of his Hollywood period is most welcome. Apart from knowing his subject thoroughly, Bo Florin combines traditional auteurism with more sophisticated historiographical methods to provide an impressive analysis." --Kristin Thompson "University of Wisconsin-Madison "

"In this compact study of Sjostrom's Hollywood career, Bo Florin fleshes out this story through a close examination of the surviving films--some newly discovered--and revealing internal documents pulled from long-neglected studio files."

--Richard Koszarski "Rutgers University "

About the Author

Dr. Bo Florin is an Associate Professor in Cinema Studies at the Department for Media Studies, Stockholm University. Publications include: Moderna motiv, Mauritz Stiller i retrospektiv (ed., 2001), Regi: Victor Sj str m/Directed by Victor Sj str m (2003), and Transition and transformation: Victor Sj str m in Hollywood, 1924-1930 (2013). He has contributed several articles to international journals such as Film History and Montage A/V.?contact: bo.florin@ims.su.se

About this edition

• Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 9089645047
• ISBN 13: 9789089645043
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 164