Runaway Romances

Hollywood's Postwar Tour of Europe

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by Robert Shandley

Type

Studies

Subject

Countries > United States

Keywords

Europe, United States, 1950s

Publishing date

2009

Publisher

Temple University Press

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Hardcover • 234 pages
6 ¼ x 9 ½ inches (16 x 24 cm)

ISBN

978-1-59213-945-3

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Book Presentation:
Examines Hollywood's European travelogue romances from 1947 to 1964, the end of American isolationism and the advent of challenges in Hollywood that made American filmmakers begin filming abroad.

Postwar America imagined itself young and in love in Europe. And Hollywood films of the era reflected this romantic allure. From a young and naïve Audrey Hepburn falling in love with Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday to David Lean’s Summertime, featuring Katharine Hepburn’s sexual adventure in Venice, these glossy travelogue romances were shot on location, and established a new model for Hollywood filmmaking.

As Robert Shandley shows in Runaway Romances, these films were not only indicative of the ideology of the American-dominated postwar world order, but they also represented a shift in Hollywood production values. Eager to capture new audiences during a period of economic crisis, Hollywood’s European output utilized a variety of devices including location work and the widescreen process to enhance cinematic experience. The films— To Catch a Thief, Three Coins in the Fountain, Funny Face among them—enticed viewers to visit faraway places for romantic escapades. Films such as A Foreign Affair and I Was a Male War Bride considered what it means to have American troops living abroad. In the process, these travelogue romances captured American fantasies for a brief, but intense, period that ended as audiences grew tired of Old World splendors, and entered into a new era of sexual awakening.

About the Author:
Robert R. Shandley is Associate Professor of Film Studies and German at Texas A&M University. He is the author of Rubble Films: German Cinema in the Shadow of the Third Reich (Temple) and editor of Unwilling Germans? The Goldhagen Debate.

Press Reviews:
QUOTE: "Shandley's careful analysis is informed by a wealth of relevant historical and critical studies. Runaway Romances is both conceptually interesting and original and it is a meaningful scholarly addition to the field."—Antje Ascheid, Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre and Film Studies at the University of Georgia, and author of Hitler's Heroines: Stardom and Womanhood in Nazi Cinema (Temple)

See the publisher website: Temple University Press