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A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/115874 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications The projectionist in cinema and the persistence of film A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Film and Television Studies Claire Jesson University of Warwick Department of Film and Television Studies June 2018 Contents List of illustrations ..................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgements ................................................................................... 7 Declaration ................................................................................................. 8 Abstract ...................................................................................................... 9 Introduction: The projectionist and the persistence of cinema ............. 10 Methodology ................................................................................................ 17 Corpus selection .......................................................................................... 24 Structure of chapters .................................................................................... 31 Review of the literature: Reflexivity and intertextuality .......................... 34 Reflexivity in film .......................................................................................... 38 Filmic intertextuality ..................................................................................... 52 Anticipated contribution to current research ................................................. 58 Chapter one: The projectionist and the slapstick screen: Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show, Sherlock Jr. and The Projectionist .......... 60 Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show: the audience as attraction ............ 65 The function of the picture show and ‘cinematic voyeurism’.............. 70 Cinema and ways of seeing: the viewer and the filmmaker ............... 82 Sherlock Jr.: the screen as attraction ........................................................... 85 The Projectionist: the self-conscious screen ................................................ 107 The significance of screens ............................................................... 111 Projectionist, fanatic and fantasist ..................................................... 130 ‘The Projectionist’ within The Projectionist ........................................ 139 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 149 Chapter two: Between earth and paradise: projectionists in The Smallest Show on Earth, Coming Up Roses and Cinema Paradiso ........................................................................................ 155 Exhibition as ‘turf war’ in The Smallest Show on Earth and Coming Up Roses ........................................................................................ 160 The persistence of cinema in The Smallest Show on Earth and Coming Up Roses ............................................................................. 171 The film in the film in The Smallest Show on Earth and Coming Up Roses ............................................................................. 174 1 Cinema Paradiso: projectionist as spectator and filmmaker ........................ 180 Cinema Paradiso and the exhibition landscape ................................ 187 Social use of cinema in Cinema Paradiso ......................................... 194 The persistence of cinema in Cinema Paradiso ................................ 197 The film in the film in Cinema Paradiso ............................................. 202 Cinema Paradiso, Amarcord and the cinema audience .................... 217 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 220 Chapter three: “This theatre is haunted by ghosts”: Kings of the Road and Goodbye, Dragon Inn .......................................... 223 Kings of the Road: the projectionist as patron and cineaste ........................ 225 Exhibition at the margins ................................................................... 242 The persistence of cinema in Kings of the Road ............................... 257 Goodbye, Dragon Inn and the imminent projectionist .................................. 262 The visible projectionist and the visible audience .............................. 275 Persistence of cinema in Goodbye, Dragon Inn ................................ 281 Dragon Inn in Goodbye, Dragon Inn ................................................. 285 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 294 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 297 Appendix: Films featuring projectionists ................................................ 306 Bibliography ............................................................................................... 312 Filmography ............................................................................................... 330 2 List of illustrations Chapter one Figure 1.1. Two Rubes at the Theatre makes a spectacle of rubes in the audience ...................................................................................................... 69 Figures 1.2a and 1.2b. Trapeze Disrobing Act (1.2a) is one of the films shot using the same variety-theatre set as Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1.2b).................................................................................................. 69 Figures 1.3a and 1.3b. Amy Muller (William Heise, 1896) (1.3a) illustrates the aesthetic of films shot in the Black Maria studio, as does ‘Parisian Dancer’ in Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show (1.3b)......................................... 73 Figure 1.4. Josh shares the on-screen rubes' joke in Uncle Josh at the Moving Picture Show ................................................................................... 78 Figure 1.5. In Interrupted Lovers the rural couple is interrupted from behind .......................................................................................................... 79 Figures 1.6a and 1.6b. In Sherlock Jr. Keaton’s trademark identity is established first (1.6a). He subsequently reveals a disguise (1.6b) ............ 90 Figure 1.7. Sherlock Jr.'s boy appeals to the audience ................................ 92 Figures 1.8a and 1.8b. The heroine of Sherlock Holmes (1922) (1.8a) and that of Sherlock Jr. (1.8b) are similarly styled .............................................. 94 Figure 1.9. The inscription of a screening 'breakdown' in The Projectionist . 112 Figure 1.10. The Projectionist’s Chuck (far right) 'framed' through a window as friendly with neighbourhood characters ...................................... 113 Figure 1.11. The Projectionist’s Chuck hesitates in front of a grocery store and two black men ....................................................................................... 115 Figure 1.12. A reverse shot of Chuck looking warily at the store ................. 115 Figure 1.13. We cut to Chuck’s hallucination of Captain Flash surrounded by The Bat’s black-clad henchmen .............................................................. 115 Hallucination triggers in The Projectionist (figs. 1.14-1.16). Figure 1.14. Watching Barbarella triggers a ‘trailer’ ..................................... 120 Figure 1.15. A pornographic magazine is another trigger ............................ 121 Figure 1.16. A crone-like figure triggers another hallucination ..................... 121 Figure 1.17. Flash and the scientist's daughter interact with the screen like 'rubes' in The Projectionist ..................................................................... 128 3 Figure 1.18. Frame enlargement from The Projectionist: a still image from Sherlock Jr. is taped to the wall of the booth ............................................... 131 Figures 1.19a and 1.19b. Is ‘The Projectionist’ marked out from The Projectionist by long shots of the screen displaying titles (1.19a) and end credits (1.19b)? ............................................................................................ 141 Figures 1.20a and 1.20b. A block of colour (1.20a) and blackness (1.20b) 'describe' the screen and film frame in the first and last shots of The Projectionist ................................................................................................. 141 Figure 1.21. The revelation of the marquee shows ‘The Projectionist’, a film in The Projectionist ...................................................................................... 142 Figures 1.22a and 1.22b. Ina Balin’s photograph displayed in The Projectionist's booth (1.22a) and behind Harry (1.22b) ................................ 143 Figures 1.23a and 1.23b. The Projectionist's Chuck passes from the booth (1.23a) to the screen (1.23b) ......................................................................