These 12 essays, presented by Haydock (English, U. of Puerto Rico) and Risden (English, St. Norbert College), explore medieval East/West encounters in the cinema. Specific topics include set design, location, and landscape in cinematic medievalism; the Crusades through the East-European eyes of Sergei Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky; depictions of Richard I and Saladin in films and television series; the politics of El Naser Salah Ad-Din; history and authorship in Frank Cassenti's Chanson de Roland; the multiple agendas of Anthony Mann's El Cid; Hollywood, the Crusades, and buddy pictures; bodily temporalities in The Thief of Bagdad (1924), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), and Aladdin (1992); Templar romance and the redemption of history in National Treasure and The Da Vinci Code; and movie millenarianism in Left Behind. Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)