{"product_id":"9780195322927","title":"The ABCs of Classic Hollywood","description":"\u003cp\u003eSpeaking about the kind of filmmaking now known as Classic Hollywood, the most popular and influential cinema ever invented, Vincente Minnelli once gave away its secret: \"I feel that a picture that stays with you is made up of a hundred or more hidden things. They're things that the audience is not conscious of, but that accumulate.\" \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e What are those hidden things? Can we invent a method that will enable us to discover them? \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Robert Ray attempts to answer those questions by looking closely at four movies from the 1930-1945 period when the American studio system reached the peak of its economic and cultural power: \u003ci\u003eGrand Hotel, The Philadelphia Story, The Maltese Falcon,\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eMeet Me in St. Louis.\u003c\/i\u003e To avoid the predictable generalizations that have plagued film studies, Ray works with the movies' details-\u003ci\u003eGrand Hote\u003c\/i\u003el's room assignments or \u003ci\u003eMeet Me in St. Louis\u003c\/i\u003e's ketchup-which are treated as mysterious but promising clues. By producing at least one entry for every letter of the alphabet, Ray demonstrates that a movie's details have much to tell us. \u003ci\u003eThe ABCs of Classic Hollywood\u003c\/i\u003e is a movie primer, a deceptively simple book that spells out a fascinating account of the most powerful storytelling system ever designed.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47026918129904,"sku":"9780195322927","price":35.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780195322927_p0.jpg?v=1763665426","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780195322927","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}