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Performing Arts Reference

Black and White and Blue

Adult Cinema From the Victorian Age to the VCR

by (author) Dave Thompson

Publisher
ECW Press
Initial publish date
Sep 2007
Category
Reference, History & Criticism
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781550227918
    Publish Date
    Sep 2007
    List Price
    $22.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554903023
    Publish Date
    Sep 2007
    List Price
    $11.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

In the 1920s they were called stags, smokes, or blue movies; today it's adult films. But until now, apart from brief summaries in film histories and scholarly articles, there has been no complete history of the pornographic film industry. That gap is filled by this lively and insightful book that provides commentary on individual movies and traces the evolution of film styles and storylines through nearly a century of  X-rated material. All the research for the book is based on viewings of the movies—many of the oldest are now archived on DVDs—and on interviews with living actors and producers. Tracing an arc from the masks and dim lighting of the earliest days to the realism and absence of trick photography in the 1920s and 1930s, the account then ponders the obsession with close-ups of body parts in later decades. The overview ends in the late 1970s, when the advent of home videos changed adult entertainment completely.

About the author

Contributor Notes

Dave Thompson is the author of more than 80 books, including Cream: The World's First Supergroup, Go Phish, Moonage Daydream, Never Fade Away, and Smoke on the Water. In 1998, he was ranked one of rock's five foremost authors in Mojo magazine. He lives in London and Delaware. 

Editorial Reviews

"Definitely enlightening, and entertaining."  —The A.V. Club

"The book is effective and moving."   —Alarm

"If you have any kind of rock'n'roll reference library, chances are you own at least one book by Dave Thompson"   —Paper magazine

"In a series of chronological chapters, [Thompson] takes a scholarly look at an industry for which there is little mainstream archive or history."  —Rambles.net

"Thompson tells the story behind milestones in the genre's history . . . cultural historians will delight in Thompson's tale."  —Playboy.com

"A comprehensive historical view of adult cinema."  —The Hornet