Books

The Christian faith has had a powerful impact on every sphere of art in the West. While the Church, particularly in the United States in the 20th Century, cautions against the potential dangers of film as a corrosive influence on society, films emerge which are recognized as masterpieces of Christian art. In this original new book, Peter Fraser analyzes sacramental films, where the narrative has been disrupted and redeemed by a divine presence, in an analogy to Christian liturgical and devotional patterns. This presence transforms the film’s narrative into the most recognizable of all Christian narrative patterns: the Passion.

Fraser examines the films which best portray Christ’s Passion, and he provides a theoretical discussion of this unique and neglected genre of filmmaking. Chapters offer a close reading of important films with spiritual content, including On the Waterfront, Diary of a Country Priest, Hardcore, The Mission, Andrei Rublev, Black Robe, You Only Live Once, and Rome, Open City. Fraser concludes with a chapter on the development of the Biblical epic. 

Christianity has had a powerful influence on every sphere of Western art, even art which on the surface might seem antithetical to the faith. This book argues that point with an analysis of the horror film genre, examining nine classics which illustrate the evolution of horror and reveal a culture haunted by fear of the unspeakable. The history and literary roots of the horror genre are also discussed.

The author concludes that our innate dread of evil and the imperative of warding it off are the key mechanics of the horror experience. Films covered include Vampyr (1932), The Mummy (1932), The Thing (1951), Night of the Demon (1957), The Wicker Man (1973), The Exorcist (1973), Halloween (1978), Ringu (1998) and Pan’s Labyrinth (2006).

“Silver Screens” traces the rich history of Milwaukee’s movie theaters, from 1890s nickelodeons to the grand palaces of the Roaring Twenties to the shopping mall outlets of today. And the story doesn’t end there: in the past two decades, the revival of interest in preservation and restoration of theaters has confirmed that there’s still life in these beloved old structures.

With the publication of “Silver Screens,” authors Larry Widen and Judi Anderson help ensure that our old theaters, those being restored and those long since vanished, will remain forever embedded in our collective memory. 

Prior to World War II, there were 90 single-screen movie theaters in Milwaukee. By 1960, that number had been reduced by half. With the arrival of television for the home market, the golden age of the movie theater in Milwaukee was dead. Yet their ghosts continue to haunt the old neighborhoods. Churches, warehouses, stores, nightspots, and other businesses now occupy the former Tivoli, Paris, Roosevelt, and Savoy Buildings. Others are simply vacant hulks, decaying from the inside out. The Elite, Regent, Lincoln, and Warner are but a few of the many silent sentinels from the days when Milwaukee was in love with the movies.