The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960 [Paperback]

David Bordwell (Author), Janet Staiger (Author), Kristin Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 1985

How films are conceived,planned, and produced leaves a mark upon the films, directly and structurally. The relations between film style and mode of production are, according to the authors, reciprocal and mutually influencing. The authors trace such topics as style, economics, and technology over time, demonstrating how significant changes occurrred in Hollywood from the earliest days through the sixties.

(American Film )

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A tour de force... destined to become itself a classic in film studies and a magnificent introduction to the American cinema for a much wider audience... 'The Classical Hollywood Cinema' will surely arouse discussion and debate--how could it not, since no one who studies film at whatever level can henceforth ignore it."

(American Film )

"This brilliant achievement will not soon be surpassed. It will be the foundation for all future research in the field..."

(Choice )

Review

It is quite simply the single most important publishing event in the field of American film history to occur within the last twenty-five years. No other work in this discipline even begins to approach its theoretical grounding, historical self-awareness, or critical power.

(Robert C. Allen, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 506 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (September 15, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231060556
• ISBN-13: 978-0231060554
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.5 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #244,530 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a very interesting study of classical hollywood, April 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production to 1960 (Paperback)

I love old movies. They have some kind of magic that sadly I can't find in movies today. What this book does is to study the classical years- The classical narrative and how the system, style and people made together these classical movies. The starting point of this book is that almost all of the movies from 1917 to 1960 have the same elements, the same style- the style that today we all referring to when we think of hollywood- the way the story goes, the technical making (filming, editing) that tries to stay unseen and more. The authors choose 100 films from these years,almost all of them are not famous ones or films that made special impact, but films that were made out of the system. Out of these films they show the reader how the hollywood style make us blind to the technical elements and to the similarity of them- because although the norms changed all the time by films that broke the old norms- they all have similar basis. This book is very interesting and I recommend it to everyone who wants to learn more about classical hollywood from the films themselves. The only complaint I have (and it's refering to the edition I read, which is from 1985)) is that the pages are divided to columns and it makes the reading a little uneasy, but still worth the reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic, December 16, 2007

By 

Nikica Gilic - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Classical Hollywood Cinema (Paperback)

Probably the only book of this sort; ambitious as it is informative, well written and wide in the scope of research; a true classic in the field of cinema history...
Obligatory reading for all who want to understand, study or write about American cinema; BOTH classical and contemporary, the book is also useful to other students of cinema...