Film Essays and Criticism (Wisconsin Studies in Film) [Paperback]

Rudolf Arnheim (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wisconsin Studies in Film | Publication Date: March 15, 1997

One of the worlds leading film theorists, Rudolf Arnheim has been well known to readers of English since the publication of his classic Film as Art in 1957. This is the first English translation of another of his important books, Kritiken und Aufstze zum Film, which collects both film reviews and theoretical essays, most of them written between 1925 and 1940. As a young man in 1920s Berlin, Arnheim began writing about film for the satirical magazine Das Stachelschwein. In 1928, as the Weimar Republic began to crumble, he joined the intellectual weekly Die Weltbhne as film critic and assistant editor for cultural affairs. His most important contributions to both magazines are published here, including witty and incisive comments on many of the great classics of the silent and early sound period, such as Buster Keatons The General and Fritz Langs Metropolis. With the advent of Nazism in Germany, Arnheim emigrated first to Italy, where he wrote essays (many included here) for a nascent Enciclopedia del Cinema, and then to England and the United States. The thirty essays on film theory discuss elements of theory and technique, early sound film, production, style and content, and the relationship of film and the state. The fifty-six critical pieces include Arnheims thoughts on the practice of film criticism, his reviews of German, American, French, and Soviet films, and his profiles of Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin, Felix Bressart, Erich von Stroheim, and others. Also included in the volume are an introduction (newly revised by Arnheim) and a comprehensive bibliography.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Few major film critics are as passionate and independently minded as Rudolf Arnheim. Film Essays and Criticism is the long awaited translation of Kritiken and Aufsatze zum Film, a collection of short essays and reviews Arnheim wrote between 1925 and 1965. Arnheim was a critical pioneer; his essays anticipate almost every cinematic debate of the 20th century. This book contains persuasive defenses of the silent cinema and black-and-white photography as well as thoughtful pieces about realism in film, film style and symbolism, and film genres. Of particular interest are Arnheim's attacks on censorship, his essay "Who is the Author of a Film?," and his superb meditations on the duty of the film critic. This engrossing, well translated volume is for anyone interested in the movies of the first half of the 20th century and in directors and stars such as Fritz Lang, Josef von Sternberg, René Clair, Erich von Stroheim, Frank Capra, Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Buster Keaton, and Arnheim's favorite, Charlie Chaplin.

Review

"Some of the most distinguished film criticism ever written. It is a significant resource for the study of classical German cinema as well as an impassioned defense of silent film art in general."-Eric Rentschler, University of California-Irvine -- -Eric Rentschler, University of California-Irvine

"This collection gathers some of the most distinguished film criticism ever written. It is a significant resource for the study of classical German cinema as well as an impassioned defense of silent film art in general. Arnheim's work will also be seen as part of a larger dialogue about film's formative, expressive, and political potential during a time of social crisis."-Eric Rentschler, University of California-Irvine -- Eric Rentschler, University of California-Irvine

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (March 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299152642
• ISBN-13: 978-0299152642
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,708,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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