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The Daring Escape of the Misfit Menagerie
by Jacqueline ResnickFour animals must find their ticket out of the circus. Smalls the sun bear, Tilda the Angora rabbit, Rigby the Komondor dog, and Wombat the wombat are the four animals that make up "the misfit menagerie." Together they've always lived a happy life on Mr. Mumford's farm. That is, until one fateful evening when Mumford, loopy from elderberry wine, accidentally loses them to the dastardly circus owner Grande Master Claude. Suddenly, these animals are forced to perform death-defying tricks and live in filthy, cramped cages as members of Claude's traveling circus. But all hope is not lost! Claude's nephew Bertie and his friend Susan, a circus acrobat, are equally fed up with Claude's evil ways, and together they might just have what it takes to find their ticket out of the circus.
Dario Argento (Contemporary Film Directors)
by L. Andrew CooperCommanding a cult following among horror fans, Italian film director Dario Argento is best known for his work in two closely related genres, the crime thriller and supernatural horror, as well as his influence on modern horror and slasher movies. In his four decades of filmmaking, Argento has displayed a commitment to innovation, from his directorial debut with 1970's suspense thriller The Bird with the Crystal Plumage to 2009's Giallo. His films, like the lurid yellow-covered murder-mystery novels they are inspired by, follow the suspense tradition of hard-boiled American detective fiction while incorporating baroque scenes of violence and excess. While considerations of Argento's films often describe them as irrational nightmares, L. Andrew Cooper uses controversies and theories about the films' reflections on sadism, gender, sexuality, psychoanalysis, aestheticism, and genre to declare the anti-rational logic of Argento's oeuvre. Approaching the films as rhetorical statements made through extremes of sound and vision, Cooper places Argento in a tradition of aestheticized horror that includes De Sade, De Quincey, Poe, and Hitchcock. Analyzing individual images and sequences as well as larger narrative structures, he reveals how the director's stylistic excesses, often condemned for glorifying misogyny and other forms of violence, offer productive resistance to the cinema's visual, narrative, and political norms.
Dark Allies (Star Trek #8)
by Peter DavidMany years ago, a bizarre alien lifeform known as the Black Mass consumed and destroyed an entire solar system in what was then the Thallonian Empire. Now the Black Mass has returned and its target is Tulan IV, homeworld of the fearsome Redeemers. Faced with near-certain destruction, the Overlord of the Redeemers is forced to turn to an unlikely ally: Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the Starship Excalibur. Busy coping with the return of his rebellious son, Calhoun is none too eager to come to the aid of his despotic enemy; but when innocent lives are at stake he has no choice but to confront the implacable Black Mass. But how can one solitary Starship hope to turn back a force capable of consuming entire suns?
Dark Borders: Film Noir and American Citizenship
by Jonathan AuerbachDark Borders connects anxieties about citizenship and national belonging in midcentury America to the sense of alienation conveyed by American film noir. Jonathan Auerbach provides in-depth interpretations of more than a dozen of these dark crime thrillers, considering them in relation to U. S. national security measures enacted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s. The growth of a domestic intelligence-gathering apparatus before, during, and after the Second World War raised unsettling questions about who was American and who was not, and how to tell the difference. Auerbach shows how politics and aesthetics merge in these noirs, whose oft-noted uncanniness betrays the fear that "un-American" foes lurk within the homeland. This tone of dispossession was reflected in well-known films, including Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, and Pickup on South Street, and less familiar noirs such as Stranger on the Third Floor, The Chase, and Ride the Pink Horse. Whether tracing the consequences of the Gestapo in America, or the uncertain borderlines that separate the United States from Cuba and Mexico, these movies blur boundaries; inside and outside become confused as (presumed) foreigners take over domestic space. To feel like a stranger in your own home: this is the peculiar affective condition of citizenship intensified by wartime and Cold War security measures, as well as a primary mood driving many midcentury noir films.
Dark Carnival: The Secret World of Tod Browning, Hollywood’s Master of the Macabre
by David J. Skal Elias SavadaThe definitive biography of Hollywood horror legend Tod Browning—now revised and expanded with new material One of the most original and unsettling filmmakers of all time, Tod Browning (1880–1962) began his career buried alive in a carnival sideshow and saw his Hollywood reputation crash with the box office disaster–turned–cult classic Freaks. Penetrating the secret world of &“the Edgar Allan Poe of the cinema,&” Dark Carnival excavates the story of this complicated, fiercely private man. In this newly revised and expanded edition of their biography first published in 1995, David J. Skal and Elias Savada researched Browning&’s recently unearthed scrapbooks and photography archives to add further nuance and depth to their previous portrait of this enigmatic artist. Skal and Savada chronicle Browning&’s turn-of-the-century flight from an eccentric Louisville family into the realm of carnivals and vaudeville, his disastrous first marriage, his rapid climb to riches in the burgeoning silent film industry, and the alcoholism that would plague him throughout his life. They offer a close look at Browning&’s legendary collaborations with Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi as well as the studio politics that brought his remarkable run to an inglorious conclusion. With a revised prologue, epilogue, filmography, and new text and illustrations throughout, Dark Carnival is an unparalleled account of a singular filmmaker and an illuminating depiction of the evolution of horror and the early film industry.
Dark Carnivals: Modern Horror and the Origins of American Empire
by W. Scott PooleThe panoramic story of how the horror genre transformed into one of the most incisive critiques of unchecked American imperial power The American empire emerged from the shadows of World War II. As the nation&’s influence swept the globe with near impunity, a host of evil forces followed—from racism, exploitation, and military invasion to killer clowns, flying saucers, and monsters borne of a fear of the other. By viewing American imperial history through the prism of the horror genre, Dark Carnivals lays bare how the genre shaped us, distracted us, and gave form to a violence as American as apple pie. A carnival ride that connects the mushroom clouds of 1945 to the beaches of Amity Island, Charles Manson to the massacre at My Lai, and John Wayne to John Wayne Gacy, the new book by acclaimed historian W. Scott Poole reveals how horror films and fictions have followed the course of America&’s military and cultural empire and explores how the shadow of our national sins can take on the form of mass entertainment.
Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir (Revised and Expanded Edition) (Turner Classic Movies)
by Eddie MullerThis revised and expanded edition of Eddie Muller's Dark City is a film noir lover's bible, taking readers on a tour of the urban landscape of the grim and gritty genre in a definitive, highly illustrated volume.Dark Cityexpands with new chapters and a fresh collection of restored photos that illustrate the mythic landscape of the imagination. It's a place where the men and women who created film noir often find themselves dangling from the same sinister heights as the silver-screen avatars to whom they gave life. Eddie Muller, host of Turner Classic Movies' Noir Alley, takes readers on a spellbinding trip through treacherous terrain: Hollywood in the post-World War II years, where art, politics, scandal, style -- and brilliant craftsmanship -- produced a new approach to moviemaking, and a new type of cultural mythology.
Dark City Dames: The Women Who Defined Film Noir (Revised and Expanded Edition)
by Eddie MullerIn this revised and expanded edition of his essential volume Dark City Dames, Eddie Muller—Turner Classic Movies host and author of Dark Cityand Noir Bar—offers a uniquely intimate look at the women who defined film noir, now featuring updated text, photos, and 10 new star profiles. Film noir was the dark side of the movies&’ happily-ever-after mythology. Sinister and sexy, it forged a new icon: the tough, independent dame. Determined, desirable, dangerous when cornered, she could handle trouble—or deal out some of her own. If you thought these women were something special onscreen, wait until you meet the genuine articles. In Dark City Dames, acclaimed film historian Eddie Muller takes readers into the world of six women who made a lasting impression in this cinematic terrain—from veteran &“bad girls&” Audrey Totter, Marie Windsor, and Jane Greer to unexpected genre fixtures Evelyn Keyes, Coleen Gray, and Ann Savage. The book provides in-depth profiles of these formidable women during the height of their careers, circa 1950, as they balanced love and career, struggled against typecasting, and sought fulfillment in a ruthless business. Their personal stories—teeming with larger-than-life characters like Howard Hughes, Louis B. Mayer, Robert Mitchum, Otto Preminger, and John Huston—offer a fascinating counterpoint to their movies. Then Dark City Dames revisits each woman fifty years later, to witness their hard-won—and triumphant—survival. On every page their own voices ring through, reflecting on their lives with as much passion, pain, intelligence, energy, and humor as any movie script. Muller conducted far-ranging interviews with the original six women profiled in Dark City Dames, in the process becoming a friend and confidante to each. In this revised and expanded edition, he updates their stories and shares illuminating, never-before-told memories of his time with them. This edition also includes compelling new profiles of ten additional women who left an indelible mark on film noir, including Joan Bennett, Gail Russell, Rhonda Fleming, and Claire Trevor—all packaged in a stunning redesign that offers the ultimate look at performers who helped define a still-resonant and inspiring epoch of Hollywood history.
Dark Humor in Films of the 1960s
by Wheeler Winston DixonFocusing on "dark" or black comedy films in the US and the UK, Wheeler Winston Dixon provides a comprehensive overview of a variety of films and filmmakers (Vanishing Point, Marcel Hanoun), whose work has largely been ignored, but whose influence and importance is clearly present.
Dark Laughter
by Juan F. EgeaIn "Dark Laughter," Juan F. Egea provides a remarkable in-depth analysis of the dark comedy film genre in Spain, as well as a provocative critical engagement with the idea of national cinema, the visual dimension of cultural specificity, and the ethics of dark humor. Egea begins his analysis with General Franco's dictatorship in the 1960s--a regime that opened the country to new economic forces while maintaining its repressive nature--exploring key works by Luis Garcia Berlanga, Marco Ferreri, Fernando Fernan-Gomez, and Luis Bunuel. "Dark Laughter" then moves to the first films of Pedro Almodovar in the early 1980s during the Spanish political transition to democracy before examining Alex de la Iglesia and the new dark comedies of the 1990s. Analyzing this younger generation of filmmakers, Egea traces dark comedy to Spain's displays of ultramodernity such as the Universal Exposition in Seville and the Barcelona Olympic Games. At its core, " Dark Laughter" is a substantial inquiry into the epistemology of comedy, the intricacies of visual modernity, and the relationship between cinema and a wider framework of representational practices.
Dark Matter: Invisibility In Drama, Theater, And Performance
by Andrew SoferDark Matter maps the invisible dimension of theater whose effects are felt everywhere in performance. Examining phenomena such as hallucination, offstage character, offstage action, sexuality, masking, technology, and trauma, Andrew Sofer engagingly illuminates the invisible in different periods of postclassical western theater and drama. He reveals how the invisible continually structures and focuses an audience’s theatrical experience, whether it’s black magic in Doctor Faustus, offstage sex in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, masked women in The Rover, self-consuming bodies in Suddenly Last Summer, or surveillance technology in The Archbishop’s Ceiling. Each discussion pinpoints new and striking facets of drama and performance that escape sight. Taken together, Sofer’s lively case studies illuminate how dark matter is woven into the very fabric of theatrical representation. Written in an accessible style and grounded in theater studies but interdisciplinary by design, Dark Matter will appeal to theater and performance scholars, literary critics, students, and theater practitioners, particularly playwrights and directors.
Dark of the Moon
by Howard Richardson William BerneyAs the tale unfolds, a witch boy tarries in a mountain community in love with a beautiful girl named Barbara Allen. The superstitious townspeople resent their happiness and their subsequent meddling ends in violence and tragedy. This play was proclaimed a Broadway hit.
Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth: The Gothic Anthropocene
by Justin D. Edwards Rune Graulund Johan HöglundAn urgent volume of essays engages the Gothic to advance important perspectives on our geological era What can the Gothic teach us about our current geological era? More than just spooky, moonlit castles and morbid graveyards, the Gothic represents a vibrant, emergent perspective on the Anthropocene. In this volume, more than a dozen scholars move beyond longstanding perspectives on the Anthropocene—such as science fiction and apocalyptic narratives—to show that the Gothic offers a unique (and dark) interpretation of events like climate change, diminished ecosystems, and mass extinction.Embracing pop cultural phenomena like True Detective, Jaws, and Twin Peaks, as well as topics from the New Weird and prehistoric shark fiction to ruin porn and the &“monstroscene,&” Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth demonstrates the continuing vitality of the Gothic while opening important new paths of inquiry. These essays map a genealogy of the Gothic while providing fresh perspectives on the ongoing climate chaos, the North/South divide, issues of racialization, dark ecology, questions surrounding environmental justice, and much more.Contributors: Fred Botting, Kingston U; Timothy Clark, U of Durham; Rebecca Duncan, Linnaeus U; Michael Fuchs, U of Oldenburg, Germany; Esthie Hugo, U of Warwick; Dawn Keetley, Lehigh U; Laura R. Kremmel, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology; Timothy Morton, Rice U; Barry Murnane, U of Oxford; Jennifer Schell, U of Alaska Fairbanks; Lisa M. Vetere, Monmouth U; Sara Wasson, Lancaster U; Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock, Central Michigan U.
Dark Shadows: Dark Shadows (Tv Milestones Ser.)
by Harry M. BenshoffExplores the cultural, industrial, formal, and generic contexts of the television soap opera Dark Shadows as a precursor to today's popular gothic media franchises.
Dark Shadows: Return to Collinwood
by Kathryn Leigh Scott Jim Pierson Jonathan FridDark Shadows: Return to Collinwood presents a look back at four decadesof the successful spooky soap opera that made sympathetic vampire Barnabas Collins a pop culture phenomenon and prompted the big-budget, big-screen Warner Bros. revival starring longtime fan Johnny Depp, directed by Tim Burton, that premieres May 11, 2012. The large format book includes color photographs and behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Kathryn Leigh Scott and three other original cast members who filmed cameo roles with Johnny Depp, Helene Bonham-Carter and Michelle Pfeiffer in the new Gothic epic. With the ongoing fascination for all things vampiric, this book about the making of the new film and the history of the original series will be an enticing volume for new and old fans alike.This book also features hundreds of exclusive photographs of Dark Shadows then and now, along with behind-the-scenes information, production materials and unique archival elements that provide context for the Depp/Burton Warner Bros. film.The suspenseful Gothic tales of Dark Shadows center on the wealthy but tormented inhabitants of the mysterious Collinwood estate in the small fishing village of Collinsport, Maine, where the powerful Collins family has been haunted for generations by vengeful curses and other supernatural secrets that span the centuries.
The Dark Shadows Almanac
by Kathryn Leigh Scott Jim Pierson David SelbyTHE DARK SHADOWS ALMANAC: Millenium Edition is a colorful, picture-packed tribute to the legendary 1966 - 1971 Gothic ABC-TV daytime series Dark Shadows, that starred Jonathan Frid as vampire Barnabas Collins. THE DARK SHADOWS ALMANAC was originally published in 1995 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the show every kid "ran home from school to watch,"The Millenium Edition has been updated, and contains 16 pages of additional text and photographs. Edited by series archivist Jim Pierson and Dark Shadows actress Kathryn Leigh Scott (Maggie Evans and Josette duPrés), this book overflows with fascinating facts, anecdotes and trivia about Dark Shadows, along with dozens of never-before-published photographs. THE DARK SHADOWS ALMANAC: Millenium Edition includes a Foreword by actor David Selby, who played Quentin Collins on the series. Lara Parker, who portrayed Angelique, has written a sparkling salute to the fans, who have kept the series alive and airing continuously for three decades. Associate Producer George DiCenzo and Scenic Designer Sy Tomashoff also provide fascinating, often hilarious behind-the-scenes insights as to how the show was conceived and produced. Other contributors include Louis Edmonds, Marie Wallace, Donna Wandrey, Dennis Patrick and Dark Shadows fans themselves, who recount their youthful, unforgettable experiences visiting the Manhattan TV studio while the series was in production. Additional features of THE DARK SHADOWS ALMANAC: Millenium Edition are a complete list of cast and characters, program history, storyline and production details, and a tribute to Dark Shadows creator and executive producer Dan Curtis. THE DARK SHADOWS ALMANAC: Millenium Edition is the fourth in a series of Dark Shadows volumes published by Pomegranate Press. In 1986, the company issued Kathryn Leigh Scott's My Scrapbook Memories of Dark Shadows, followed by The Dark Shadows Companion in 1990. Dark Shadows Resurrected, devoted to the 1991 revival series, was published in 1992.
The Dark Shadows Companion
by Kathryn Leigh Scott Jonathan FridThe timeless magic of the Gothic cult series Dark Shadows comes alive in Kathryn Leigh Scott's Dark Shadows Companion, as members of the original cast of Dark Shadows reunite to recall great moments and personal memories of this enduring classic. With a Foreword by Jonathan Frid (vampire Barnabas Collins), this Silver Anniversary treasure trove features rare color and black & white photographs, a complete history of the original Dark Shadows series, including a synopsis of all 1,225 episodes.
Dark Shadows Memories
by Kathryn Leigh Scott Alexandra Moltke IslesDARK SHADOWS MEMORIES is a colorful, picture-packed tribute to the legendary 1966 - 1971 Gothic ABC-TV daytime series Dark Shadows, that starred Jonathan Frid as tormented vampire Barnabas Collins. Launched June 27, 1966 by series creator Dan Curtis as a Gothic romance evoking the gloomy, storm-tossed milieu of the Brontë sisters, and later evolving into a supernatural blend of vampires, witches, leviathans, time travel and parallel universes, Dark Shadows was radically unlike any daytime soap.
Dark Shadows Movie Book
by Kathryn Leigh Scott Kate JacksonThe Dark Shadows Movie Book is the first publication to examine and commemorate the two M-G-M theatrical motion pictures ("House of Dark Shadows" and "Night of Dark Shadows") based on the successful '60s Gothic television series "Dark Shadows."The Dark Shadows Movie Book features reproductions of the uncut original scripts to both films (which offer numerous rare scenes deleted from the film's release prints), complete with producer-director Dan Curtis' extensive script notes--offering unique insights to the filming process. The four female stars of the films--Kate Jackson, Lara Parker, Nancy Barrett and Kathryn Leigh Scott--contribute their recollections of the productions. The book also contains dozens of previously unpublished publicity photographs and behind-the-scenes shots, including many in full color."House of Dark Shadows," released in 1970, involves the story of reluctant vampire Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid) and his attempt to make Collinwood governess Maggie Evans (Kathryn Leigh Scott) his eternal bride. The film also starred veteran Hollywood screen actress Joan Bennett.
The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy (Palgrave Studies in Comedy)
by Patrice A. Oppliger Eric ShouseThis book focuses on the “dark side” of stand-up comedy, initially inspired by speculations surrounding the death of comedian Robin Williams. Contributors, those who study humor as well as those who perform comedy, join together to contemplate the paradoxical relationship between tragedy and comedy and expose over-generalizations about comic performers’ troubled childhoods, addictions, and mental illnesses. The book is divided into two sections. First, scholars from a variety of disciplines explore comedians’ onstage performances, their offstage lives, and the relationship between the two. The second half of the book focuses on amateur and lesser-known professional comedians who reveal the struggles they face as they attempt to hone successful comedy acts and likable comic personae. The goal of this collection is to move beyond the hackneyed stereotype of the sad clown in order to reveal how stand-up comedy can transform both personal and collective tragedies by providing catharsis through humor.
The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir
by Foster HirschA revised and updated edition of the definitive study of film "noir"?the most original genre of American cinema?with a new epilogue by the author.
Dark Star: An Oral Biography of Jerry Garcia
by Robert GreenfieldFor more than thirty years, Jerry Garcia was the musical and spiritual center of the Grateful Dead, one of the most popular rock bands of all time. In Dark Star, the first biography of Garcia published after his death, Garcia is remembered by those who knew him best. Together the voices in this oral biography explore his remarkable life: his childhood in San Francisco; the formation of his musical identity; the Dead's road to rock stardom; and his final, crushing addiction to heroin. Interviews with Jerry's former wives, lovers, family members, close friends, musical partners, and cultural cohorts create a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a rock-and-roll icon—and at the price of fame.
The Dark Theatre: A Book About Loss
by Alan ReadThe Dark Theatre is an indispensable text for activist communities wondering what theatre might have to do with their futures, students and scholars across Theatre and Performance Studies, Urban Studies, Cultural Studies, Political Economy and Social Ecology. The Dark Theatre returns to the bankrupted warehouse in Hope (Sufferance) Wharf in London’s Docklands where Alan Read worked through the 1980s to identify a four-decade interregnum of ‘cultural cruelty’ wreaked by financialisation, austerity and communicative capitalism. Between the OPEC Oil Embargo and the first screening of The Family in 1974, to the United Nations report on UK poverty and the fire at Grenfell Tower in 2017, this volume becomes a book about loss. In the harsh light of such loss is there an alternative to the market that profits from peddling ‘well-being’ and pushes prescriptions for ‘self-help’, any role for the arts that is not an apologia for injustice? What if culture were not the solution but the problem when it comes to the mitigation of grief? Creativity not the remedy but the symptom of a structural malaise called inequality? Read suggests performance is no longer a political panacea for the precarious subject but a loss adjustor measuring damages suffered, compensations due, wrongs that demand to be put right. These field notes from a fire sale are a call for angry arts of advocacy representing those abandoned as the detritus of cultural authority, second-order victims whose crime is to have appealed for help from those looking on, audiences of sorts.
Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis
by Ed SikovThe legendary Hollywood star blazes a fiery trail in this enthralling portrait of a brilliant actress and the movies her talent elevated to greatnessShe was magnificent and exasperating in equal measure. Jack Warner called her "an explosive little broad with a sharp left." Humphrey Bogart once remarked, "Unless you're very big she can knock you down." Bette Davis was a force of nature—an idiosyncratic talent who nevertheless defined the words "movie star" for more than half a century and who created an extraordinary body of work filled with unforgettable performances. In Dark Victory, the noted film critic and biographer Ed Sikov paints the most detailed picture ever delivered of this intelligent, opinionated, and unusual woman who was—in the words of a close friend—"one of the major events of the twentieth century." Drawing on new interviews with friends, directors, and admirers, as well as archival research and a fresh look at the films, this stylish, intimate biography reveals Davis's personal as well as professional life in a way that is both revealing and sympathetic. With his wise and well-informed take on the production and accomplishments of such movie milestones as Jezebel, All About Eve, and Now, Voyager, as well as the turbulent life and complicated personality of the actress who made them, Sikov's Dark Victory brings to life the two-time Academy Award–winning actress's unmistakable screen style, and shows the reader how Davis's art was her own dark victory.
Darkbeast
by Morgan KeyesA girl's love for her raven may put her life in jeopardy in this gripping tale.In Keara's world, every child has a darkbeast--a creature that takes dark emotions like anger, pride, and rebellion. Keara's darkbeast is Caw, a raven, and Keara can be free of her worst feelings by transferring them to Caw. He is her constant companion, and they are magically bound to each other until Keara's twelfth birthday. For on that day Keara must kill her darkbeast--that is the law. Refusing to kill a darkbeast is an offense to the gods, and such heresy is harshly punished by the feared Inquisitors. But Keara cannot imagine life without Caw. And she finds herself drawn to the Travelers, actors who tour the country performing revels. Keara is fascinated by their hints of a grand life beyond her tiny village. As her birthday approaches, Keara readies herself to leave childhood--and Caw--behind forever. But when the time comes for the sacrifice, will she be able to kill the creature that is so close to her? And if she cannot, where will she turn, and how can she escape the Inquisitors?