Naked Hollywood

Accompanies the exhibition "Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles" held at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, MOCA Grand Avenue, Nov. 13, 2011-Feb. 27, 2012.

The concept of “un-Americanism,” so vital to the HUAC crusade of the 1940s and 1950s, was resoundingly revived in the emotional rhetoric that followed the September 11th terrorist attacks. Today’s political and cultural climate makes it more crucial than ever to come to terms with the consequences of this earlier period of repression and with the contested claims of Americanism that it generated. “Un-American” Hollywood reopens the intense critical debate on the blacklist era and on the aesthetic and political work of the Hollywood Left. In a series of fresh case studies focusing on contexts of production and reception, the contributors offer exciting and original perspectives on the role of progressive politics within a capitalist media industry. Original essays scrutinize the work of individual practitioners, such as Robert Rossen, Joseph Losey, Jules Dassin, and Edward Dmytryk, and examine key films, including The Robe, Christ in Concrete, The House I Live In, The Lawless, The Naked City, The Prowler, Body and Soul, and FTA.

A comprehensive overview of the film industry in Hollywood today, Contemporary Hollywood Cinema brings together leading international cinema scholars to explore the technology, institutions, film makers and movies of contemporary American film making.

From parents and teachers to politicians and policymakers, there is a din of voices participating in the debate over how young people are affected by violence, strong language, and explicit sexual activity in films. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) responded to this concern in 1968 when it introduced a classification and rating system based on the now well-known labels: “G”, “PG”, “PG-13”, “R”, and ”X”. For some, these simple tags are an efficient way to protect children from viewing undesirable content. But do the MPAA ratings actually protect children? In The Naked Truth, Kevin. S Sandler argues that the rating system does not protect children but instead protects the Hollywood film industry. One prime indicator of this is the collective abandonment of the NC-17 rating in 1990 by the major distributors of the MPAA and the main exhibitors of the National Association of Theatre Owners. By categorizing all films released by Hollywood and destined for mainstream theaters into R ratings (or lower), the industry ensures that its products are perceived as “responsible entertainment” to all audiences and “incontestable” to politicians and moral reformers. By embracing a no-NC-17 rule, the industry collapses mature subject matter with pornography, creating a national cinema where certain representations of sex and nudity are taboo.

A dazzling array of Hollywood starlets and pin-up girls come to life in hundreds of eye-popping, 3-D photographs taken by legendary film star Harold Lloyd "Lush and glorious?" ?Vanity Fair Includes a pair of Harold Lloyd-style 3-D glasses! Harold Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, was one of the greatest stars of the silent film era, appearing in such classics as Safety Last! and The Freshman. He was also an avid photographer with a passion for stereoscopic photography, or 3-D. In 1947 he began taking pictures of family and friends, including Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, and Ronald Reagan. During his lifetime he took more than 300,000 photographs, thousands of which featured starlets and models who posed nude in front of some of the most spectacular and creative backdrops and scenery. Collected here for the first time by Lloyd's granddaughter, Suzanne Lloyd, and now in paperback, Harold Lloyd's Hollywood Nudes in 3-D! presents the most lavish, luscious, and, yes, ludicrous photographs of Hollywood nudes from the 1940's, 50's and 60's in all kinds of settings, including Lloyd's luxurious Greenacres estate, the Grand Canyon, and studios filled with outrageous props such as faux flowers, animal pelts, and Christmas kitsch. There are 200 photographs in all, 50 of them rendered in 3-D and viewable with the special Harold Lloyd?style 3-D spectacles for an enhanced and extraordinary visual experience!

In the 1930s and '40s an untamed group of Hollywood notables, men most well-known for their talents on the silver screen, frequently met and behaved in a manner that no doubt made them infamous within their community. The group included John Barrymore, Errol Flynn, W. C. Fields, Anthony Quinn, Vincent Price, and the eccentric artist John Decker. Hollywood's Original Rat Pack revisits the lives and times of this free-spirited gang and rekindles the spirit of their excesses. In this lighthearted history, Jordan introduces the members of the Bundy Drive Boys, focuses on the unique personality traits each offered, and brings their lusty stories of carousing and debauchery to life in a manner that pays tribute to their carefree, if admittedly reckless, antics.

First published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.