"Matinee Melodrama demonstrates the value of mining even the most prosaic of cinematic forms, and how it Is laregely obscured tracks still guide and propel mass entertainment."
— Film Quarterly
“Higgins won me over with his clarity of writing, his high principles of research and observation, and his humor. He understands the through-line from serials to Star Wars, Raiders, and other action-adventure films that followed.”
— Leonard Maltin
"As someone who screens Zorro's Fighting Legion for his students every year, I derived particular enjoyment from Higgins' canny analysis of the ingredients that make up every chapter, and how the storytellers cleverly stretch and compress time. I hope this valuable book inspires other film teachers to explore the wonders of the sound serial."
— leonardmaltin.com
"Matinee Melodrama will transform the study of Hollywood serials. Illustrated by frame stills, and drawing on industrial research, formalist analysis, and game theory, it will soon become a classic."
— Steve Neale, Exeter University, England
"Matinee Melodrama manages a mean feat: making a mostly forgotten, formulaic format seem new and exciting, shining an informative, fascinating light from film history onto today’s television, comics, and videogames."
— Jason Mittell, author of Complex TV: The Poetics of Contemporary Television Storytelling
"Scott Higgins offers an incisive and compelling analysis of the Hollywood sound serial as a distinct film genre--the form, story world, and style of which has much to tell us about enduring elements of popular American cinema."
— Charles Wolfe, University of California, Santa Barbara