Hollywood, Westerns and the 1930s

by Stanfield, Peter

• ISBN13: 9780859896948
• ISBN10: 0859896943
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-01-01
• Publisher: Univ of Exeter Pr

Summary

For the first time, this book tells the 'lost' story of the 1930s Western. Written from a concern to understand Western films primarily as products of Hollywood's studio system, it recovers the context in which Westerns were produced, exhibited and viewed in the 1930s. Peter Stanfield highlights the hitherto marginalised 'B' or 'series' Western, the significance of female audiences, the role of independent exhibitors and of censorship in shaping film production. The book includes illustrations from the following films: "Arizona," "The Big Trail," "Billy the Kid," "Cimarron," "Destry Rides Again," "Dodge City," "In Old Arizona," In "Old Santa Fe," "Jesse James," "The Lash," "Let Freedom Ring," "Oh, Susanna!," "Oklahoma Kid," "The Plainsman," "Ramona," "Santa Fe Trail," "Stand Up and Fight," "Three Godfathers," "Trail of the Lonesome Pine," "Tumbling Tumbleweeds," "Union Pacific," "Virginia City," "The Virginian," and "The Westerner,"

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	viii
Acknowledgements	ix
Introduction	1	(14)
The First Cycle of Sound Westerns	15	(41)
Series Westerns, Will Rogers and the Emergence of the Singing Cowboy, 1931-1935	56	(22)
Series Westerns: Masking the Modern	78	(39)
Class-A Western Features, 1935-1938	117	(31)
Democratic Art: Westerns 1939-1941	148	(45)
Dixie Cowboys: Representing the Nation	193	(32)
Conclusion	225	(3)
Notes	228	(20)
Bibliography	248	(7)
Index	255