A Little Solitaire
A Little Solitaire
John Frankenheimer and American Film
Think about some commercially successful film masterpieces--The Manchurian Candidate. Seven Days in May. Seconds. Then consider some lesser known, yet equally compelling cinematic achievements--The Fixer. The Gypsy Moths. Path to War. These triumphs are the work of the best known and most highly regarded Hollywood director to emerge from live TV drama in the 1950s--five-time Emmy-award-winner John Frankenheimer.
Although Frankenheimer was a pioneer in the genre of political thrillers who embraced the antimodernist critique of contemporary society, some of his later films did not receive the attention they deserved. Many claimed that at a midpoint in his career he had lost his touch. World-renowned film scholars put this myth to rest in A Little Solitaire, which offers the only multidisciplinary critical account of Frankenheimer's oeuvre. Especially emphasized is his deep and passionate engagement with national politics and the irrepressible need of human beings to assert their rights and individuality in the face of organizations that would reduce them to silence and anonymity.
With an all-star lineup of contributors, A Little Solitaire casts important new light on filmmaker John Frankenheimer, his generation, and his era in American film history.
Pomerance and Palmer's collection could serve as a model for scholarly books on directors. Highly recommended.
With an all-star lineup of contributors, A Little Solitaire casts important new light on filmmaker John Frankenheimer, his generation, and his era in American film history.
Pomerance and Palmer's collection could serve as a model for scholarly books on directors. Highly recommended.
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Why Don't You Pass the Time by Playing a Little Solitaire? by R. Barton Palmer and Murray Pomerance
Part I. Thrills
1. Murdered Souls, Conspiratorial Cabals: Frankenheimer's Paranoia Films, by David Sterritt
2. The Manchurian Candidate: Compromised Agency and Uncertain Causality, by Charles Ramirez Berg
3. Stealth, Sexuality, and Cult Status in The Manchurian Candidate and Seconds, by Rebecca Bell-Metereau
4. The Train: John Frankenheimer's "Rape of Europa", by Matthew H. Bernstein
5. Action and Abstraction in Ronin, by Stephen Prince
Part II. Politics
6. Late Frankenheimer/Political Frankenheimer, by Douglas McFarland
7. John Frankenheimer's "War on Terror", by Corey K. Creekmur
8. The Burning Season: Environmentalism versus Progress? by Robin L. Murray
9. Pictures and Prizes: Le Grand Prix de Rome and Grand Prix, by Victoria Duckett
Part III. Families
10. Crashing In: Birdman of Alcatraz, by Tom Conley
11. Walking the Line with the Fille Fatale, by Linda Ruth Williams
12. Live TV, Filmed Theater, and the New Hollywood: John Frankenheimer's The Iceman Cometh, by James Morrison
13. Ashes, Ashes: Structuring Emptiness in All Fall Down, by Murray Pomerance
Part IV. Secrets
14. An American in Paris: John Frankenheimer's Impossible Object, by Jerry Mosher
15. Shot from the Sky: The Gypsy Moths and the End of Something, by Dennis Bingham
16. Frankenheimer and the Science Fiction/Horror Film, by Christine Cornea
17. The Fixer: A Jew Who Could Be Any Man, Any Time, Anywhere, by R. Barton Palmer
18. Jonah, by Bill Krohn
John Frankenheimer's Directorial Career: A Chronology
Works Cited and Consulted
Contributors
Index
