Here at last is an introduction to film theory and its history without the jargon. Noted film scholar V. F. Perkins presents criteria for expanding our understanding and enjoyment of movies. He employs common sense words like balance, coherence, significance, and satisfaction to develop his insightful support of the subtle approach and of the unobtrusive director. Readers will learn why a scene from the humbler movie Carmen Jones is a deeper realization of filmmaking than the bravura lion sequence in the classic Battleship Potemkin. Along the way Perkins invites readers to re-experience with clarity, directness, and simplicity other famous scenes by directors like Hitchcock, Eisenstein, and Chaplin. Perkins examines the origins of movies and embraces their use of both realism and magic, their ability to record as well as to create. In the process he seeks to discover the synthesis between these opposing elements. With the delight of the fan and the perception of the critic, Perkins advances a film theory, based on the work of Bazin and other early film theorists, that is rich with suggestion for debate and further pursuit. Sit beside Perkins as he reacquaints you with cinema, heightens your awareness, deepens your pleasure, and increases your return every time you invest in a movie ticket.
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About the Author
V. F. Perkins is a founder-member of the editorial board of Movie, a screenwriter, film critic and lecturer in film studies at the University of Warwick, where he headed the Joint School of Film and Literature for ten years from its inception in 1979.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
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This review is from: Film As Film: Understanding And Judging Movies (Paperback)
I am scraching my head...at the previous reviewer, Perkins is one of the most brilliant and repected film critics alive. He is difficult...but so is most anything worth doing in life.Perkins doesn't introduce concepts with astheticly pleasing headings, and entertaing pictures, then explain what each one means, and why its important...I am sure the "dummy's" guide books have done that already along with a 1000 others. Perkins is one of a few critics who have transformed films for me and many others. I am so surprized and sad that so few have reviewed this important work.
10 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
HUH?,
By A Customer
This review is from: Film As Film: Understanding And Judging Movies (Paperback)
While I'm sure students of film and film theory will find this book a valuable resource, a novice to the genre should probably seek out another book. Mr. Perkins does not elucidate the topic of film theory, but instead takes a heavy handed approach to the subject and leaves those unfamiliar with the subject scratching her head.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
In 1911 William DeMille, who later became a prominent film , described the movies as 'galloping tintypes [which] no one can expect...to develop into anything which could, by the wildest stretch of the imagination, be called art' Twenty-two years later the theorist Rudolph Arnheim noted: 'There are still many educated people who stoutly deny the possibility that film might be art. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Nicholas Ray, River of No Return, Johnny Guitar, Marilyn Monroe, New York, Otto Preminger, Carmen Jones, Bessie Smith, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, James Stewart, Lewis Jacobs, Lorelie Lee, Richard Brooks, Robert Aldrich, The Far Country, Ernest Lindgren, George Jean Nathan, Ivor Montagu, Roger Manvell, The Art of the Film, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Tih Minh New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
In 1911 William DeMille, who later became a prominent film , described the movies as 'galloping tintypes [which] no one can expect...to develop into anything which could, by the wildest stretch of the imagination, be called art' Twenty-two years later the theorist Rudolph Arnheim noted: 'There are still many educated people who stoutly deny the possibility that film might be art. Read the first page Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Nicholas Ray, River of No Return, Johnny Guitar, Marilyn Monroe, New York, Otto Preminger, Carmen Jones, Bessie Smith, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, James Stewart, Lewis Jacobs, Lorelie Lee, Richard Brooks, Robert Aldrich, The Far Country, Ernest Lindgren, George Jean Nathan, Ivor Montagu, Roger Manvell, The Art of the Film, The Courtship of Eddie's Father, Tih Minh New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 27
books:
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65
books
cite this book:
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- Film as Art: 50th Anniversary Printing by Rudolf Arnheim on 4 pages
- Art of the Film by Lindgren on page 23, page 54, and page 160
- The Art of the Moving Picture (Modern Library Movies) by Vachel Lindsay on page 1, page 51, and page 161
- Jean Renoir (Quality Paperbacks Series) by Andre Bazin on page 33, and page 38
- Bicycle Thieves by Vittorio De Sica on page 31, and page 172
See all 27 books this book cites
- Theorizing the Moving Image (Cambridge Studies in Film) by Noel Carroll on 7 pages
- Hitchcock: Suspense, Humour and Tone (Distributed for the British Film Institute) by Susan Smith on 6 pages
- Passionate Views: Film, Cognition, and Emotion by Carl Plantinga in Front Matter, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Films of Vincente Minnelli (Cambridge Film Classics) by James Naremore in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Theories of Authorship (British Film Institute Readers in Film Studies) by John Caughie on page 49, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 65 books citing this book
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