Refocus: The Historical Films of Ernst Lubitsch - Refocus: The International Directors by David John Boyd

About the Book

Explores German-American filmmaker Ernst Lubitsch's engagement with and expressions of historicity throughout his career.

Book Synopsis

ReFocus: The Historical Films of Ernst Lubitsch responds to and reframes the films of German émigré director Ernst Lubitsch as film-philosophical exemplars of both early world cinema and historical cinema, from his silent era costume dramas to his post-war Hollywood romances. This edited collection examines recent Lubitsch scholarship within the context of transcultural and transhistorical film theory to provide a critical retrospective of Lubitsch's costume films, historical epics, and marriage comedies across his three illustrious decades of international success.

Review Quotes

This collection of essays steps back from the scholarly framework of the 'LubitschTouch' and provides new methodological and theoretical approaches to understanding how, why, and for whom, Lubitsch deploys historiography in his costume dramas, operettas, and comedies.--Blake Von Tilzer "Film & History"

Like adjusting the lens on a projector, this volume brings Lubitsch's films into sharper focus, revealing new dimensions. The authors convincingly refocus our vision of Lubitsch's humanizing touch with fresh insights and diverse approaches that illuminate the global impact of his style and demonstrate why his historical films continue to reward close analysis long after their initial flicker.-- "Mason Kamana Allred, associate professor of communication, media, and culture, Brigham Young University--Hawaii"

This rich, theoretically ambitious volume explores the relationship between history (social and film history) and Lubitsch's films of both the German and the American periods. The emphasis on the tactile in Lubitsch is especially original and promising. The authors collected here bring diverse, multinational perspectives to the volume.-- "Rick McCormick, Professor Emeritus of German, University of Minnesota"