Hollywood in the Holy Land

This collection of essays analyzes film representations of the Crusades, other medieval East/West encounters, and the modern inheritance of encounters between orientalist fantasy and apocalyptic conspiracy. From studies of the filmic representations of popular figures such as El Cid, Roland, Richard I, and Saladin to examinations of such topics as Templar romance and the role of set design, location and landscape, the essays make significant contributions to our understanding of orientalist medievalism in film.
Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.

Nickolas Haydock is professor of English at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez. In addition to movie medievalism and film, he also writes about medieval Scots literature.

E.L. Risden, emeritus professor of English at St. Norbert College, lives in De Pere, Wisconsin, where he continues to write literary and movie scholarship, speculative fiction, and occasional poetry.

Edited by Nickolas Haydock and E.L. Risden

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 319
Bibliographic Info: 24 photos, notes, filmographies, bibliographies, index
Copyright Date: 2009
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4156-3
eISBN: 978-0-7864-5317-7
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction: “The Unseen Cross Upon the Breast:” Medievalism, Orientalism, and Discontent
NICKOLAS HAYDOCK      1

1. Framing the West, Staging the East: Set Design, Location, and Landscape in Cinematic Medievalism
JOHN M. GANIM      31

2. Homeland Security: Northern Crusades through the East-European Eyes of Alexander Nevsky and the Nevsky Tradition
NICKOLAS HAYDOCK      47

3. Now Starring in the Third Crusade: Depictions of Richard I and Saladin in Films and Television Series
LORRAINE KOCHANSKE STOCK      93

4. SaladiNasser: Nasser’s Political Crusade in El Naser Salah Ad-Din
PAUL B. STURTEVANT      123

5. “La geste que Turoldus declinet”: History and Authorship in Frank Cassenti’s Chanson de Roland
LYNN RAMEY      147

6. Agenda Layered Upon Agenda: Anthony Mann’s 1961 Film El Cid
KEVIN J. HARTY      161

7. El Cid: Defeat of the Cresentade
TOM SHIPPEY      169

8. Nobody but the Other Buddy: Hollywood, the Crusades, and Buddy Pictures
E. L. RISDEN      186

9. Medieval Times: Bodily Temporalities in The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), and Aladdin (1992)
KATHLEEN COYNE KELLY      200

10. Chivalric Conspiracies: Templar Romance and the Redemption of History in National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code
SUSAN ARONSTEIN and ROBERT TORRY      225

11. On the Border: Merging East and West in Cadfael’s Twelfth-Century Shropshire
WILLIAM F. HODAPP      246

12. Movie Millenarianism: Left Behind, Script/ure and the Sleeping Dragon
CHRISTOPHER POWERS      269

Epilogue: Resisting Manichean Delirium
E. L. RISDEN      290

About the Contributors      299

Index      303

“Timely and important…intense examinations…impressive essays”—Arthuriana