Customer Reviews

Film: A World History

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Since the writers are all German, perhaps the errors have something to do with the tranlation. I didn't read the entire book, and don't plan to now. I went to the section on my favorite director first; Alfred Hitchcock. I happen to be re-reading that great interview of Hitchcock by Truffaut, and know that the first two movies Hitchcock directed are "The Pleasure Garden" and "The Mountain Eagle." However, according to this book, "The Lodger" is Mr. H's second movie. That's just wrong. Also, the book says that no film of Mr. H's ever won an Oscar. Not quite. While it's true Alfred never won an Oscar for directing, films he directed DID win Oscars; "Rebecca" won for best picture, and Joan Fontaine won an acting Oscar for "Suspicion." Something is afoul with the fact-checkers, or it's a sloppy translation.

I have many books on film, and I wouldn't hesitate anyone picking this up. It's extremely affordable, and encompasses film from the past to the present. Its very well made and very portable. I was shocked at how up-to-date it was, mentioning The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford in the Western Genre. This is a great holiday gift for the casual movie fan or the film enthusiast.

this is less a history than a compact reference work; entries are primarily filmmakers and though 480 pp. it's about as tall as a pocket paperback. I didn't check but much of this info is probably available on the internets [sic]. the "world" part is limited to about 30 pages at the end.

This is an easy to use and informative book. It gives a short description and filmography of various directors.
It's a nice little quick reference guide to everything movies.

I have not yet read this book completely but from what I've seen, it's very up to date and has great information from all sorts of movies. You can't expect it to be very detailed since it's a pretty small book but, for any one who likes movies more that any regular person but isn't yet an expert on everything film, this book introduces you to a bit of film history, film movements and film directors from all over the world.