http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/726778

Ivor Novello : screen idol

Ivor Novello's lasting influence on film, theatre and music extends far beyond the music awards with which he has become synonymous. A giant of the early twentieth-century stage and screen, Novello was unrivalled in popularity and hailed as an "ambassador of the British Film" starring in such classics as The Rat, Downhill and The Lodger. In Ivor Novello: Screen Idol, Michael Williams examines how British film magazines shaped his star persona, while classical Greek imagery and myth informed his iconography. This study broadens the scope of star studies, examining Novello in relation to a number of issues, including the trauma of World War I, gender and sexuality, and the devlopment of British silent films. Through an exploration of the screen idol's associations with romance, glamour and sentimentalism, this first major study provides a fascinating insight into the British Cinema's 'Valentino' and one of its first iconic figures. The Ivor Novello that emerges is a modern, paradoxical and disturbing product of his time.

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