Hollywoods History Films is an innovative and detailed analysis of the filmindustrys use of history in the 1950s when classical Hollywoods interestin the past w... » 

Hollywoods History Films is an innovative and detailed analysis of the filmindustrys use of history in the 1950s when classical Hollywoods interestin the past was at its peak. Using original sources David Eldridge analysesthe making of period films as diverse in seriousness and quality as CalamityJane The Ten Commandments and The House of Wax and dissects the cultureof production which shaped thinking about history. Eldridge explores theoverlapping anxieties that encouraged an unprecedented turn to history fromthe everpresent nuclear threat of the Cold War to the industrys own fearsabout the failing boxoffice and the allegations of Communist influence in themovies. Revealing the tensions inherent in shaping the past for entertainmentunder such circumstances he argues that filmmakers were not ignorant of thefacts nor simply exercising dramatic license. Studying inside and outsideinterference from those with a personal stake in particular versions of thepast he uncovers the different and limited ways in which producersdirectors and screenwriters were exposed to historical debates and conceptsand investigates why many filmmakers came to see their work as superior to thatof professional historians. «