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Josef von Sternberg
The Case of Lena Smith
Edited by Alexander Horwath and Michael Omasta
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Book Presentation:
In his 1929 Hollywood production The Case of Lena Smith, director Josef von Sternberg vividly brought to life his youthful memories of the turn of the 20th century through the story a young woman fighting the oppressive class system of Imperial Vienna. Critic Dwight Macdonald called it “the most completely satisfying American film I have seen.” And yet, only a short fragment survives.
Assembling 150 original stills and set designs, numerous script and production documents and essays by eminent film historians, the book reconstructs one of the legendary lost masterpieces of the American cinema. It also includes essays by Janet Bergstrom, Gero Gandert, Franz Grafl, Alexander Horwath, Hiroshi Komatsu and Michael Omasta, a preface by Meri von Sternberg, as well as contemporary reviews and excerpts from Viennese literature of the era.
Press Reviews:
These images show that Sternberg was already at the absolute zenith of his shimmery mise-en-scène powers...and that should be enough to embolden readers to plummet into these dreamy pages with the conviction they're going to a better place. Guy Maddin, Film Comment
A treasury of a book. Film Quarterly
A must for any serious film library. H-Net
A fascinating anthology. Moving Image Source
The treasure trove goes on and on, attractively and cleanly displayed. Sight & Sound
See the publisher website: Austrian Film Museum
See The Case of Lena Smith (1929) on IMDB ...
> From the same authors:
Film Curatorship (2020)
Archives, Museums, and the Digital Marketplace
by Paolo Cherchi Usai, David Francis, Alexander Horwath and Michael Loebenstein
Subject: Economics
The Last Great American Picture Show (2004)
New Hollywood Cinema in the 1970s
Dir. Thomas Elsaesser, Noel King and Alexander Horwath
Subject: Countries > United States
> On a related topic:
Willing Seduction (2012)
The Blue Angel, Marlene Dietrich, and Mass Culture
Subject: One Film > The Blue Angel
In the Realm of Pleasure (1993)
Von Sternberg, Dietrich, and the Masochistic Aesthetic
Subject: Director > Josef von Sternberg
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