This entertaining and informative study of the Three Stooges focuses on the nearly 190 two-reel short comedies the boys made at Columbia Pictures during the years 1934-59. Violent slapstick? Of course, but these comic gems are also peerlessly crafted and enthusiastically played by vaudeville veterans Moe, Larry, Curly, Shemp, and Joe – arguably the most popular and long-lived screen comics ever produced by Hollywood.Detailed production and critical coverage is provided for every sh...

The Wizard of Oz FAQ is a fact-filled celebration of the beloved 1939 fantasy masterpiece starring Judy Garland. It's all here – from L. Frank Baum and his Oz novels to the complete background story of the movie's conception, development, and shoot, with special attention given to the little-known parade of uncredited directors, casting difficulties, and on-set accidents and gaffes, as well as more than 75 sidebars devoted to key cast members, directors, and other behind-the-scene...

Since the famed Kenneth Arnold “flying saucer” sighting of 1947, the world has been fascinated and unnerved by these mysterious objects in the sky. Millennia of recorded human history report UFOs, and everything from the extinction of dinosaurs to the origins of humankind have been attributed to them – but what exactly are UFOs?Featuring material from a treasure trove of UFO/Project Blue Book archives declassified in 2015, UFO FAQ is an all-inclusive guide to UFO lore – ha...

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The darkly handsome man gazes deeply into her eyes. She finds him irresistible, wants to experience the passion of the moment. He grins--the movie audience can see his lengthened lateral incisors--and bends to her neck. The eroticism is horrible, and compelling.Audiences are drawn to horror cinema much as the surrendering victim. Afraid to watch, but more afraid something will be missed. Since the horror film is the most primal of all movie genres, seldom censored, these f...

Illustrated with 11 maps and 35 IllustrationsFrom the plains of Europe to the jungles of the Pacific, the U.S. Army in World War II employed a variety of commando and guerrilla operations to harass the Axis armies, gather intelligence, and support the more conventional Allied military efforts. During the Allied invasion of northern France on D-day, elite American infantry scaled the sheer cliffs of the Normandy coast, while smaller combat teams and partisans struck deep behind Germa...

World War II was the largest and most violent armed conflict in the history of mankind. Highly relevant today, World War II has much to teach us, not only about the profession of arms, but also about military preparedness, global strategy, and combined operations in the coalition war against fascism. This book follows military operations of the US Army in the Northern France from 25 July to 14 September 1944. As July 1944 entered its final week, Allied forces in Normandy faced, at least on...

Includes 8 maps and numerous other illustrationsOne hundred and fifty years ago this spring, Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant launched the campaign that marked the beginning of the end of the American Civil War. For over a month, he and General Robert E. Lee were locked in a remorseless struggle that took their armies across the woodlands and farm clearings of central Virginia on the road to the Southern capital of Richmond.In the Wilderness, Union and Confederate soldiers battled i...

With the queasy U.S.-Soviet wartime alliance long dissolved into mutual suspicion, the House Un-American Activities Committee launched aggressive investigations of alleged communist activity in the Hollywood film industry in 1947--and again in 1951. Studio chiefs, terrified of scandal, scrambled to display their patriotism by producing anti-communist films, from melodramas to thrillers to animated cartoons.Twenty-one lively new essays by film historians examine the aesthetics and p...

Field Marshal Viscount Slim (1891-1970) led shattered British forces from Burma to India in one of the lesser-known but more nightmarish retreats of World War II. He then restored his army's fighting capabilities and morale with virtually no support from home and counterattacked. His army's slaughter of Japanese troops ultimately liberated India and Burma.The first edition of Defeat Into Victory , published in 1956, was an immediate sensation selling 20,000 copies within ...

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of American Horror Film Shorts chronicles for the first time over 1,500 horror and horror-related short subjects theatrically released between 1915, at the dawn of the feature film era when shorts became a differentiated category of cinema, and 1976, when the last of the horror-related shorts were distributed to movie theaters. Individual entries feature plot synopses, cast and crew information, and – where possible – production histories and original cri...

From their first pairing in Hamlet (1948) to House of the Long Shadows (1983), British film stars Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing forged perhaps the most successful collaboration in horror film history. In its revised and expanded second edition, this volume examines their 22 movie team-ups, with critical commentary, complete cast and credits, production information, details on cinematography and make-up, exhibition history and box-office figures. A wealth of background...