Phantom of the Cinema

Lloyd Michaels is Frederick F. Seely Professor of English at Allegheny College. Author of Elia Kazan: A Guide to References and Resources, he is also the editor of the journal Film Criticism.

• List of Illustrations Preface Acknowledgments Chapter One The Phantom of the Cinema: Representation of Character in the Modern FilmChapter Two Reflexivity and Character in PersonaChapter Three Incarnations of the Confidence ManChapter Four Reviving the Undead: Herzog's Remake of NosferatuChapter Five: The Spy and the Cipher Chapter Six Documenting Character in The Thin Blue LineChapter Seven Avatars of Memory: Entropy and Nostalgia in the Representation of CharacterChapter Eight Conclusion: The Mystery and Melancholy of a SelfNotes Works Cited and Consulted About the Author Index

"I find this book continually interesting and alive with insights. With the cultural studies agenda alive today, character has returned to center stage, but generally as a mirror of types in society. Michaels delivers a more cinematic view of character, one that tells us more about the medium than about the society that uses it. This is a theoretically sophisticated book [whose] success rests on the clear reading of some great and some surprising films. It is the work of someone quite in tune with the cinema." — Dudley Andrew, Institute for Cinema and Culture, University of Iowa"Michaels's Phantom of the Cinema is an important study on a subject—character construction in film—that has been virtually neglected by scholars. Thoroughly researched, lucidly written, and full of right insights, it focuses on both canonical texts and little-discussed ones and ultimately is as much about film itself as it is about characterization. It is a timely contribution to film studies." — Arthur Nolletti, Jr., Framingham State College"The breadth of critical approaches in The Phantom of the Cinema is very impressive. The author displays a keen ability to bring together a diverse array of methodologies which combine to create a completely unique analysis of the material at hand. This is a refreshingly modern book in all respects, and one which is simultaneously daring and original." — Gwendolyn Audrey Foster, University of Nebraska, Lincoln