This book owes a great deal to many agencies, archives, and persons. A fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies under a program funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities enabled me to write several early chapters. The generous support of the University ofWisconsin-Madison Graduate School has allowed me to conduct several film analyses and to work over two summers. The British Film Institute, the Library of Congress Motion Picture Division, the Museum of Modem Art, the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, the UCLA Film Archive, and the Cinematheque Royale de Belgique provided me with access to films and documents. A great many people assisted my work by offering criticism, hospitality, suggestions for revision, help with translations, hints of films to see or leads to trace, and aid in finding material: Jeanne Allen, Dudley Andrew, Roy Armes, Jacques Aumont, Jonathan Buchsbaum, Charles Barr, Eileen Bowser, Ben Brewster, James E. Brown, Peter Bukalski, Elaine Burroughs, Ed Buscombe, Joe Cappella, Gabrielle Claes, Keith Cohen, Elizabeth Cowie, Larry Crawford, Rosalind Delmar, Thomas Elsaesser, Maxine Fleckner, Andre Gaudreault, Gillian Hartnoll, Denise Hartsough, Stephen Heath, Rob and Kit Hume, Kathy Kellermann, Vance Kepley, Don Kirihara, Barbara Klinger, Annette Kuhn, Jacques Ledoux, Jay Leyda, Timothy Lyons, Judith Milhaus, Richard Neupert, Danielle Nicholas, Geoffrey Nowell-Smith, Jim Peterson, David Rodowick, Philip Rosen, Robert Rosen, Emily Sieger, Charles Silver, and Janet Staiger. Portions of the manuscript were typed by Linda Henzl, Ronee Messina, and Betsy Schuette. lowe particular gratitude to Noel Carroll, who commented upon several portions of the manuscript; to Jerry Carlson and Don Fredericksen, who read the entire text and offered many vigorous criticisms; to Susan Tarcov, whose copy editing improved the manuscript considerably; and to Edward Branigan, who patiently convinced me that filmic narration had to be studied in its own right. As usual, special thanks must go to Kristin Thompson, who helps me even more than she, perhaps, knows.