When Movies Were Theater

When Movies Were Theater

Architecture, Exhibition, and the Evolution of American Film

  • Author: Paul, William
  • Publisher: Columbia University Press
  • Serie: Film and Culture Series
  • ISBN: 9780231176569
  • eISBN Pdf: 9780231541374
  • Place of publication:  New York , United States
  • Year of digital publication: 2016
  • Month: May
  • Language: English
There was a time when seeing a movie meant more than seeing a film. The theater itself shaped the very perception of events on screen. This multilayered history tells the story of American film through the evolution of theater architecture and the surprisingly varied ways movies were shown, ranging from Edison's 1896 projections to the 1968 Cinerama premiere of Stanley Kubrick's 2001. William Paul matches distinct architectural forms to movie styles, showing how cinema's roots in theater influenced business practices, exhibition strategies, and film technologies.
  • Table of Contents
  • List of Illustrations
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction: An Art of the Theater
  • 1. Making Movies Fit
  • 2. Store Theaters: A Radical Break
  • 3. Palatial Architecture, Democratized Audience
  • 4. Elite Taste in a Mass Medium
  • 5. Uncanny Theater
  • 6. The Architectural Screen
  • Conclusion: Ontological Fade-Out
  • Appendix 1: Stage Shows and Double Features in Select Markets Outside New York City
  • Appendix 2: Feature Films Based on Theatrical Sources
  • Appenidx 3: Filmography
  • Appendix 4: List of Theaters
  • Abbreviations Used for Citations in Notes
  • Notes
  • Selected Bibliography
  • Index

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