Customer Reviews

The Cinema Book

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I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it has an incredible wealth of information for any student of Film or Multi-media studies, but it is written so well that an understanding of academic jargon is not necessary. After much research I found this book in the University Library, if I was allowed only one reference in formulating my essays I would unhesitatingly use this book and no other. Considering the breath it covers it still manages to give more than a surface analysis. Starting from the early beginnings of film it then moves on to an informative and succinct explanation of Classical Hollywood cinema; it then has a chapter on technology; followed by an analysis of the national cinemas & film movements of Germany, the Soviet Union, Italian Neo-realism etc etc; it then gives cinematic alternatives to classic Hollywood narration, such as the New Hollywood and avante guarde; there is a lengthy section on film genre which starts with "The History of Genre Criticism; the "auteur" film is another lengthy section full of interesting bits, for example "auteur theory and British cinema"; it then concludes with a chapter on Theoretical Frameworks. At the end there is an extensive Bibliography and an Index. What this book doesn't say about cinema, isn't worth saying! I desperately want this book! Borrowing it from the Library just isn't the same!