Customer Reviews

Flashback: A Brief History of Film (4th Edition)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A survey of both American and International cinema, the text provides a thoroughly illustrated history of film ranging from the early works of the Lumiere brothers to the recent Magnolia. Authored by an English professor, the writing is organized, concise, and most importantly, interesting.

Upon finishing the book, I garnered a certain respect and appreciation for film and filmmakers, something that had not occurred to me with others texts. For example, it details the struggle of the German cinema during the time of the Third Reich. The reasons such acclaimed artists such as Fritz Lang and Leni Riefenstahl were being exploited for their abilities, and conversely how other talents were being suppressed for their rebellion. As I read more, I learned how political figures and movements often parallel cinematic output, and the awesome power that the silver screen can have on influencing the masses.

I highly recommend Flashback to anyone who has even the slightest interest in film. The copious amounts of photographs breaks up the text nicely, and there is certainly something for everyone.

I just finished checking out this book. Very well layed out: breaks down the history of film in a decade-by-decade fashion, further distinguishing american films from international cinema (which I particularly found a little pointless, but...) In general, I found the author's criteria to be well in line with those of a "smart" (or critical, if you may) moviegoer. Not a table book or a bed-side book, however: it is a textbook for a college-level film class.

I was very happy when I got my book in the mail. It came in a timely manner and it was wrapped well. I am always skeptical about buying online so naturally I went through the book to look for damage. As I was going through the book I saw everything was in good condition. The book actually looked like it was never used before. I'm very happy with this purchase!

This book has everything I need for my Cinema class, excluding class lectures.

Glossary in the back for all of the cinema terms as well!

I paid a great price for this book, which would have cost $60 at the school bookstore. Arrived before the class started in the condition described. Thanks.

This book is great and in a great condition. I bought this used book and turn out to be a new book condition which surprise me. The price of the book is the most cheapest I can found on any of the website. This book fits the need of my classroom needs and I will definitly come back again. I will come back to this website again when I need to seel back my textbook.

I got this book as a required textbook for one of my class. overall its easy and good read, not boring. pretty informative too.
and it is useful for new film students from foreign/asian countries.

Well I got this book for a class. It turned out to be an interesting book though. It had alot of interesting facts and for being a testbook it was not soooo dry to read.

The book looked like it was never even used and was priced acceptably.I'd deffinatly recommened this seller .

I do not think this book was as good as some of the other textbooks I have reviewed for use in my History of Cinema class. The one reason is that the book deals with history through an auteur approach, detailing each filmmaker. The current focus is typically a hybrid approach; using historical details, the business of film, and theory to teach the subject matter. Filmmakers are used as ways to interpret the consequences of that history. I was also surprised when a few major films were left out of the book, mostly foreign lesser known filmmakers. But how can you not discuss Rashomon when discussing Akira Kurosawa? This should not be a top choice for college level film classes.