Heroines without Heroes: Reconstructing Female and National Identities in European Cinema, 1945-1951

This anthology, which contains material from scholars of various national cinemas, explores a little-examined period of European film history (1945-1951) and places gender at the center of struggles around national identity. The structure of the book is organized to facilitate comparisons, mainly to transcultural issues, but also for identifying variations between the cinemas. The overview essays examine the specific national context out of which representations of women in the immediate post-war period emerged, and the case studies analyze the appeal of emblematic stars such as Margaret Lockwood and Ana Mariscal. These European stars are analyzed in terms of the post-war conditions that shaped them.