Bøger af Christopher Frayling

Sergio Leone''s film Once Upon a Time in the West set out to be the ultimate Western - a celebration of the power of classic Hollywood cinema, a meditation on the making of America, and a lament for the decline of one of the most cherished film genres in the form of a ''dance of death''. With this film, Leone said a fond farewell to the noisy and flamboyant world of the Italian Western, which he had created with A Fistful of Dollars and sequels (1964-6), and aimed for something much more ambitious - an exploration of the relationship between myth (''Once Upon a Time...''), history (''...in the West'') and his own autobiography as an avid film-goer.

From Victor Frankenstein to Dr. Moreau to Doc Brown in Back to the Future, the scientist has been a puzzling, fascinating, and threatening presence in popular culture. From films we have learned that scientists are either evil maniacal geniuses or bumbling saviors of society. Mad, Bad and Dangerous? puts this dichotomy to the test, offering a wholly engaging yet not uncritical history of the cinematic portrayal of scientists. Christopher Frayling traces the genealogy of the scientist in film, showing how the scientist has often embodied the predominant anxieties of a particular historical moment. The fear of nuclear holocaust in the 1950s gave rise to a rash of radioactive-mutant horror movies, while the possible dangers of cloning and biotechnology in the 1990s manifested themselves in Jurassic Park. During these eras, the scientist's actions have been viewed through a lens of fascination and fear. In the past few decades, with increased public awareness of environmental issues and of the impact of technology on nature, the scientist has been transformed once again--into a villainous agent of money-hungry corporate powers. Mad, Bad and Dangerous? also examines biographical depictions of actual scientists, illuminating how they are often portrayed as social misfits willing to sacrifice everything to the interests of science. Drawing on such classic and familiar films as Frankenstein, Metropolis, and The Wizard of Oz, Frayling brings social and film history together to paint a much larger picture of the evolving value of science and technology to society. A fascinating study of American culture and film, Mad, Bad and Dangerous? resurrects the scientists of late night movies and drive-in theaters and gives them new life as cultural talismans.

A century of classic vampire cinema--in posters, stills and artwork--from Murnau to True Blood and beyondThis visual feast celebrates classic vampire cinema--mainstream and niche--through the many colorful ways in which the key films have been marketed and consumed.F.W. Murnau's haunting film Nosferatu had its premiere in Berlin in March 1922. Bram Stoker's widow, Florence, tried hard to sue the production company for breach of copyright but had to settle in the end for a court order to destroy all prints and negatives. The film kept resurrecting, though, and is now considered the first, and one of the greatest, of all vampire movies--the founder of a dynasty of prints of darkness.The bloodline has spread from Nosferatu to Hollywood's Dracula and progeny (1931-48); from Hammer's Dracula/Horror of Dracula and sequels (1958-74) to versions of Sheridan Le Fanu's story "Carmilla" and other lesbian vampires (1970-2020); from the bestselling novels 'Salem's Lot and Interview with the Vampire to vampires who have shed their capes, hereditary titles and period trappings to become assorted smalltown oddballs, addicts, delinquents, psychopaths, rednecks, fashionistas, gay icons, comedians and even comic-book heroes (1975-2022).This book is dripping with stills, posters, artworks, press books--many of which have not seen the light of day for a very long time--and is authored by cultural historian and connoisseur of the Gothic Christopher Frayling, who has been called "the Van Helsing de nos jours."Christopher Frayling (born 1946) is a recognized authority on Gothic fiction and horror movies. His study Vampyres (1978, 1990, 2016) and his classic four-part television series Nightmare: The Birth of Horror (1996) have helped to move Gothic horror from margin to mainstream. He is the author of Frankenstein and Once upon a Time in the West.

This series of linked essays explores the crafts in education, in history and literature, in the contemporary arts landscape, in the digital age, and takes an unsentimental, hard-headed look at craftsmanship today. Only when the romantic cobwebs have been blown away, it argues, can the key importance of the crafts be fully understood.

This book will trace the journey of Shelley''s Frankenstein from limited edition literature to the bloodstream of contemporary culture. It includes new research on the novel''s origins, with a reprint of the earliest-known version of the creation scene; visual material on adaptations for the stage, in magazines, on playbills, in prints and in book publications of the nineteenth century; series of visual essays on many of the film versions and their inspirations in the history of art; and Frankenstein in popular culture on posters, advertisements, packaging, in comics and graphic novels.

Sir Christopher Frayling explores the journey from Henry James's original novella, The Turn of the Screw, via critical debates and the stage version of The Innocents, to the screenplay by Archibald, Capote and Mortimer. Making full use of the unpublished Jack Clayton archive, the book also includes interviews with Deborah Kerr and Freddie Francis.

Over 400 Spaghetti Westerns were produced during the 1960s and 1970s peak period. This book deals with several interesting examples, not to mention French, German, and Russian Westerns along the way.