Little
Caesar
Edited by Gerald Peary
Wisconsin/Warner Bros. screenplay
series
Tino Balio, Series Editor
Little Caesar, a
1931 Hollywood gangster classic, is viewed in revivals today
with nearly as much audience enthusiasm as it enjoyed a half-century
ago, in the depths of the Great Depression.
In general, the Hollywood film industry
responded to the dark economic conditions of the 1930s with escapist
and non-topical films. The fascinating exception was the gangster
film, through which the studios joined in the debate over the
spiritual and economic health of the nation. Little Caesar,
considered by many to be an archetype of the genre, is one of
the most memorable dramatizations of the discontent and alienation,
the deep anxiety and hostility shared by millions of Americans
during those dark years.
Gerald Peary is
film critic for the Real Paper in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Formerly Assistant Professor of English and Film at Rutgers University,
he is the author of several books on cinema. Tino Balio,
Professor in the Department of Communication Arts at the University
of Wisconsin–Madison, is the author of United Artists: The Company Built by the Stars, United
Artists: The Company That Changed the Film Industry, and the editor of The American Film Industry as well as the 22 volume Wisconsin/Warner
Bros. Screenplay series, all published by the University
of Wisconsin Press. He directed the Wisconsin Center for Film
and Theatre Research from 1966 to 1882.
Media & bookseller inquiries regarding review copies, events, and interviews can be directed to the publicity department at publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu or (608) 263-0734. (If you want to examine a book for possible course use, please see our Course Books page. If you want to examine a book for possible rights licensing, please see Rights & Permissions.) |
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December 2005
LC: 80-052291 PN
190 pp. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 26 illus.
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