He specializes in the study of filmic speech and audio-visual semiotics. He has published essays on King Vidor’s cinema, the birth of the talking film, women's speech in early movies, and discourse in horror movies. His research centers on the interaction between verbal language and film language in silent and early talking movies. Thomas Leitch is professor of English and director of film studies at the University of Delaware. His most recent books include Film Adaptation and Its Discontents: From Gone with the Wind to The Passion of the Christ and A Companion to Alfred Hitchcock, coedited with Leland Poague.