More than any other films from the classical era, the Hollywood film noir is known for its lighting. Film Noir and the Arts of Lighting offers a new account of this craft, grounded in a larger theory of cinematography as emotionally engaging storytelling. Featuring analyses of The Asphalt Jungle, Touch of Evil, and more.

Playful Frames: Styles of Widescreen Cinema studies the poetics of the auteur-driven widescreen image, offering nimble, expansive analyses of the work of four distinctive filmmakers – Jean Negulesco, Blake Edwards, Robert Altman, and John Carpenter – who creatively inhabited the nooks and crannies of widescreen moviemaking during the final decades of the twentieth century.

This book provides an industrial history that examines how and why makeup and hairdressing evolved as crafts in the studio era. Readers will never again watch Hollywood films without thinking about the roles of makeup and hairdressing in creating not just fictional characters but stars as emblems of an idealized and undeniably mesmerizing visual perfection.