Reconstructing American historical cinema : from Cimarron to Citizen Kane / J. E. Smyth.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 413-433) and index.

List of illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction : toward a filmic writing of history in classical Hollywood -- [pt]. 1. Traditional and modern American history -- 1. The -- new American history : Cimarron, 1931. 2. Contemporary history in the Age of Scarface, 1932. [pt]. 2. Resolving westward expansion -- 3. Competing frontiers, 1933-1938. 4. The -- return of our epic America, 1938-1941. [pt]. 3. Civil War and Reconstruction -- 5. Jezebels and rebels, cavaliers and compromise, 1930-1939 -. 6. The -- lives and deaths of Abraham Lincoln, 1930-1941. [pt]. 4. Veterans of different wars -- 7. War in the Roaring Twenties, 1932-1939. 8. The -- last of the long hunters, 1938-1941. [pt]. 5. Hollywood history -- 9. Stars born and lost, 1932-1937. 10. A. Hollywood cavalcade, 1939-1942. Conclusion : From Land of Liberty to the decline and fall of Citizen Kane -- Appendixes -- Notes -- Selected bibliography -- Index.

Explores Hollywood's pivotal interpretations of national history during the height of the studio system. This work uncovers Hollywood's diverse and conflicted attitudes toward American history in narratives including nineteenth-century frontier epics, gangster biopics, and histories of silent-era Hollywood.