Kurzbeschreibung
Study of the phenomenon of B-movies.
Synopsis
Most books about B-movies are straight-forward genre guides, biographies or encyclopaedias. Not this one. In addition to meticulously researched chapters on film showmen, gimmicks and cult films, Land Of A Thousand Balconies documents author Jack Stevenson's first-hand exploration of a different realm of low-budget cinema - closer to what could loosely be termed 'underground'. Amongst these explorations are film-related incidents and episodes, character-studies and reports of unusual film happenings, all of which the author has - over the past fifteen years - been privy or party to in his various capacities as show organiser, tour arranger, festival jury member and 16mm projectionist-for-hire in both Europe and the US. Elsewhere Stevenson focuses on movie theatres and renegade exhibition spaces, as well as lamenting on the disappearing 'sense of place' and atmosphere that is such an integral part of the moviegoing experience. Here the reader is invited to tour a diversity of venues - from the notorious old grindhouses of San Francisco's Market Street, through the home-made store-front cinemas of Seattle and New York, to the underground film clubs of Europe.