The Life of Mise-en-scène : Visual Style and British Film Criticism, 1946–78

This book explores the role of mise-en-scene in melodrama criticism, and considers what happened to detailed criticism as major theoretical movements emerged in the 1970s. Mise-en-scene, and other ways of conceiving visual style, has been central to so many important debates that the writing examined in the book shaped the field in enduring ways. The book provides a cross-section of the British culture and its attitudes to film. It also considers a range of important contexts, from material conditions of film viewing (and therefore criticism) to the cultural and political shifts of 1956. The book further investigates the frequently asserted connection between literary criticism and the approaches developed in Movie. It identifies the range of different approaches to interpreting mise-en-scene advanced in Movie, drawing out sections on action, camera movement and placing, connections between different parts of the film, and a range of further debates. 'Tales of Sound and Fury' is an extraordinary article, and Elsaesser's appreciation of the plastic and expressive qualities of domestic melodrama and the broader melodramatic tradition is exemplary. In the early 1970s, writing on melodrama provided some of the richest expressions of mise-en-scene criticism. The book embodies a number of approaches which were to undermine the emergent interest in the interpretation of the film style. Melodrama criticism is a crucial focus for shifts in film criticism and theory, and for this history. 'The life of mise-en-scène offers a critical history of key debates about the analysis of visual style. Concerned especially with British film journals of the postwar period, it reclaims an often ignored or misrepresented history, including: the concept of film poetry in the journal Sequence, changing attitudes in Sight and Sound during the 1950s, and the battle over the significance of film style which raged between a number of small journals and the national press in the early 1960s. The book examines and#x2018;the British school [and#x2026;] first associated with Movie in the and#x2019;60s' and#x2013; which, in Adrian Martin's words, is enjoying a and#x2018;widespread, international revival' and#x2013; but also other critical movements, more hazily remembered. It explores the role of mise-en-scène in the pioneering work on melodrama, and considers what happened to detailed criticism as major theoretical movements emerged in the 1970s.The book provides a vital context for contemporary style-based criticism, uncovering material which challenges received notions of critical history, and presenting neglected ideas for a new generation. Criticism which recognises the significance of film style has been central to debates about popular forms and cultural value, and in tracing its history the book provides a cross-section of British culture and its attitudes to film. It also investigates a range of important contexts, from conditions of film viewing, to the cultural and political shifts of 1956, to the influence of French journals of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Mise-en-scène and related ways of conceiving visual style have been central to so many important debates that the writing considered here has shaped the field in enduring ways' --Back cover The Life of Mise-en-scáene offers a critical history of key debates about visual style in British film journals in the postwar period. It reclaims an often-ignored or misrepresented history, including: the concept of film poetry in the journal Sequence, changing attitudes in Sight and Sound during the 1950s, and the battle over the significance of film style which raged between a number of small journals and the national press in the early 1960s. It examines 'the British school first associated with Movie in the '60s' -- which, in Adrian Martin's words, is enjoying a 'widespread, international revival' -- but also other critical movements, more hazily remembered. It explores the role of Mise-en-scáene in melodrama criticism, and considers what happened to detailed criticism as major theoretical movements emerged in the 1970s. In doing so, it provides a vital context for the contemporary practice of style-based criticism and challenges received notions of critical history, developing our understanding of a range of other key debates and concerns in the study of film The life of mise-en-scène offers a critical history of key debates about visual style in British film journals in the post-war period. It reclaims an often-ignored or misrepresented history, including: the concept of film poetry in the journal Sequence, changing attitudes in Sight and Sound during the 1950s, and the battle over the significance of film style which raged between a number of small journals and the national press in the early 1960s. It examines the British school, first associated with Movie in the 1960s, which, in Adrian Martin's words, is enjoying a ‘widespread, international revival'– but also other critical movements, more hazily remembered. It explores the role of mise-en-scène in melodrama criticism, and considers what happened to detailed criticism as major theoretical movements emerged in the 1970s. In doing so, it provides a vital context for the contemporary practice of style-based criticism and challenges received notions of critical history, developing our understanding of a range of other key debates and concerns in the study of film. Front matter Contents List of figures Acknowledgements Introduction Sequence Transfusion and transformation: Sight and Sound in the 1950s ‘Pistols for three, coffee for one’: the battle of form and content, circa 1960 Movie: aims and contexts Movie: approaches and analysis Melodrama and mise­en­scène Postscript: Bordwell’s interventions Conclusion Bibliography Filmography Index