Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
A Stunning Backdrop
Alberta in the Movies, 1917-1960
by Mary Graham
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
Alberta’s magnificent landscape has served as a popular location for filmmakers since the dawn of the movie industry. For film pioneers, Alberta embodied the myth of the Great Northwest, a primeval mountain wilderness and the last western frontier. In turn, Canadian entrepreneurs were eager for American studios to drape Alberta landscape across the backdrop of their movies, an advertisement without equal.
A Stunning Backdrop is the untold story of six rollicking decades of filmmaking in Alberta. Mary Graham draws on twelve years of exhaustive research to reveal a film history like no other, illuminating the deep importance of the province to Hollywood. She explores the often friendly partnerships between American filmmakers and Indigenous communities, particularly the Stoney Nakoda, that provided economic opportunities and, in many cases, allowed them to retain religious and cultural practices banned by the Canadian government.
Beautifully illustrated with archival photography and featuring century-old set stills alongside photographs of the locations as they appear today, by Jean Becq, Solomon Chiniquay, Jeff Wallace, George Webber, and Paul Zizka, A Stunning Backdrop is the fascinating, often surprising, always unconventional story of film in a province whose rugged, compelling, multifarious, terribly beautiful landscape continues to inspire filmmakers and audiences around the world.
About the Author:
Mary Graham is a writer, documentary journalist, and film historian. She has appeared as a feature film specialist at CBC Radio and ARTE, the European Culture Channel. She presents frequently about her ongoing work on the importance of Indigenous contributions to Alberta film history in the media, and at universities, museums, and other public venues.
Press Reviews:
Very, Very Cool. -- Historica Canadiana-A Cultural History of Canada
The book is well researched, and a beautifully illustrated one with great photographs, stills from productions, as well as more recent photos showcasing where some memorable movies were shot. -- The Commentary
Graham, a writer and film historian, compiles her 12 years of research on Alberta’s film industry in the first half of the 20th century -- The Winnipeg Free Press
Hollywood’s biggest stars have spent a lot of quality time chewing the scenery around Banff and Jasper . . . While she covers all the bases, journalist-historian Mary Graham’s primary focus is on the impact of the Stoney Nakoda people, who worked as guides, location scouts and actors, occasionally in ways that allowed them to preserve and celebrate their culture. -- The National Post
A stunning compilation, one that will appeal to a variety of readers with its impressive scope. -- University of Toronto Quarterly
> On a related topic:
Filming in European Cities (2025)
The Labor of Location
Global London on screen (2025)
Visitors, cosmopolitans and migratory cinematic visions of a superdiverse city
Dir. Keith B. Wagner and Roland-François Lack
Screening Vienna (2024)
The City of Dreams in English-Language Cinema and Television
National Trust on Screen (2024)
Discover the locations That Made Film and TV Magic
by Harvey Edgington and Lauren Taylor
The Screen Traveller's Guide (2023)
Real-life Locations Behind Your Favourite Movies and TV Shows
Collective
Back
