Casting A Giant Shadow

Film came to the territory that eventually became Israel not long after the medium was born. Casting a Giant Shadow is a collection of articles that embraces the notion of transnationalism to consider the limits of what is "Israeli" within Israeli cinema. As the State of Israel developed, so did its film industries. Moving beyond the early films of the Yishuv, which focused on the creation of national identity, the industry and its transnational ties became more important as filmmakers and film stars migrated out and foreign films, filmmakers, and actors came to Israel to take advantage of high-quality production values and talent. This volume, edited by Rachel Harris and Dan Chyutin, uses the idea of transnationalism to challenge the concept of a singular definition of Israeli cinema. Casting a Giant Shadow offers a new understanding of how cinema has operated artistically and structurally in terms of funding, distribution, and reception. The result is a thorough investigation of the complex structure of the transnational and its impact on national specificity when considered on the global stage.

“Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? . . . The Shadow knows!” And who knew The Shadow better than his creator, Walter B. Gibson. Relatively few people have heard of Gibson, but many more are familiar with The Shadow having heard the program on the Blue Coal Radio Program in the 1930s and read the Street & Smith Shadow novels. Walter B. Gibson’s life and career come out from behind The Shadow in this biography. It covers his youth in Philadelphia, his development as a writer and magician, his wives, including the third, (Litzka, who was a harpist and magician in her own right), his time living in Maine and upstate New York, and his later years and death. In addition to being credited with creating The Shadow (he used the pseudonym Maxwell Grant), Gibson wrote 187 books, contributed 668 articles to periodicals, created 283 stories for The Shadow Magazine, wrote 48 separate syndicated feature columns, reported the adventures of The Shadow and Blackstone the magician in 394 comic books and newspaper strips, and helped develop 147 radio scripts and many other works under numerous pseudonyms. Gibson has invented many widely used magic tricks and traveled with and befriended Harry Houdini, Howard Thurston, Harry Blackstone, Sr., and Joseph Dunninger.

While Israel has seemingly been a minor presence in Hollywood cinema, Reimagining the Promised Land argues that there is a long history of Hollywood deploying images of Israel as a means of articulating an idealized notion of American national identity. This argument is developed through readings of The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (William Wyler, 1959), Exodus (Otto Preminger, 1960), Cast a Giant Shadow (Melville Shavelson, 1966), Black Sunday (John Frankenheimer, 1977), The Delta Force (Menahem Golan, 1986), and Munich (Steven Spielberg, 2005). The mobilization of Israel that pervades this eclectic group of films effectively demonstrates one of the more surreptitious ways in which Hollywood has historically constructed and circulated dominant notions of American national identity. Moreover, in examining the most notable Hollywood representations of the Jewish state, the book offers an informed historical overview of the cultural forces that have contributed to popular understandings within the United States of the state of Israel, Israel's Arab neighbours, and also the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Dr. Michael J. Manley, a therapist for the homeless in Los Angeles, wanted to know what it’s really like living on the streets. So following his retirement, he purposely became like the people he had counseled, discovering that their life is far more difficult than he could have possibly imagined. African Americans living in the United States are treated unequal to the white Americans. At Starbucks, colleges, and other institutions, due to their color, as the novel Shadow contends. Manley is the author of seven novels: Parlay; The Emeritus: Who Will Rule; The Tides of Time; The Gene Factor; Games of The Gods; Take the Ride of Your Life, with The Uber-Groover!; and Still Waters Run Deep. His eighth book is Shadow: Based on a True Event, which focuses on his life adjusting to retirement after thirty years working as a therapist at a veterans’ hospital in Los Angeles County. Manley loves the challenge of switching genres. He has written fiction, nonfiction, romances, thrillers, and mysteries. “Observing people and talking to people made me get into writing,” he remembers. “I like conversing with people and telling my stories to a wide and vast audience of readers.”

Machine generated contents note: -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: The Shadow Speaks -- Chapter 2: The Vital Shadow -- Chapter 3: The Look Elsewhere Shadow -- Chapter 4: The Completing Shadow -- Chapter 5: The Independent Shadow -- Chapter 6: City of Shadows -- Epilogue -- Bibliography -- Index

John Wayne Treasures chronicles the life of this legendary actor, from his earliest movies and years out in the wilderness to his final films and eventual passing. Four pieces of memorabilia included in the book's pocket add vivid detail to this story of John Wayne's life. "Damn, I'm the stuff men are made of!" —John Wayne While people around the globe adore and cherish John Wayne, he remains the quintessential American icon. He embodied the definition of the American cowboy, soldier, and rugged individualist. Duke's extraordinary rise to fame—from hauling furniture around studio lots to becoming one of the most famous actors in the world—is chronicled in this handsome volume, complete with on-set and behind-the-scenes photographs, vintage movie posters, and cigarette cards from his most well-known movies. Clips of interviews, quotes from movies, and the testimony of the people he surrounded himself with tell the story of America's favorite western star. John Wayne Treasures contains a pocket in the back with four pieces of memorabilia spanning John Wayne's life and career. Included are a small movie poster for Stagecoach, excerpts from Duke's Glendale High School senior yearbook circa 1925, and proof sheets from Big Jake and The Shootist. Since John Wayne's death in 1979, he has been the subject of the public's fascination and has become a folk legend, of sorts. John Wayne's character, with biting wit and grit, has grown far bigger than the man himself. While alive, he embodied the persona he created with pride, patriotism, determination, and integrity. Written by true and loyal fans, every aspect of the Duke's life is covered in this book.