Customer Reviews

Home Movies: A History of the American Industry, 1897 - 1979

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

 

 

A big, impressive, large format hardback.

Dustjacket blurb: "Some call them Home Movies, others Memories in Motion. While thousands of books have been written about movie history, few have given more than a cursory look at motion pictures' stepchild, home movies. Alan Katelle makes up for that oversight and in the process provides one of the most readable histories of amateur motion picture photography...."

Katelle is both an enthusiast and an expert. He begins with the premise that -- even back in the time of cave art -- pictures that depict motion intrigue people. He moves forward up to the dawn of video, helping the reader "not only understand why people like the emotional effect that motion pictures, professional and amateur have on them, but also about the means by which they were achieved."

Bibliographic info: blue cloth with silver details over hardback boards with a sewn binding. In dustjacket. 411 pp on heavy stock with 321 b&w illustrations: photos, diagrams, drawings, portraits, cartoons, technical drawings, advertisements, film stills.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Apologia
Preface

Ancestry of the Motion Picture
To Capture Motion

Amateur Equipment Prior to 1923
George Eastman and His Company
Eastman Kodak Part II
The Bell & Howell Company
Other Competitors

Movies in Color, 1935
The Post-War Years: Technology and Imports Advance

The Next Big Advance: Super 8
Existing Light, Then Sound
The Coming of Video

The Literature of Amateur Motion Pictures
Amateur Organizations
Some Home Movies and Their Creators
On Collecting Apparatus and Films

Footnotes
Bibliography
Picture Credits

Appendices
- Archives of Amateur Films
- Chronology of Amateur Motion Picture Films Produced by Eastman Kodak
- 1967 Survey of Amateur Film Manufacturers
- Chronology of Bell & Howell Amateur Cameras 1935-1979
- Chronology of Bolex-H Cameras 1935-1975
- Eastman Kodak Amateur Motion Picture Equipment 1923-1981
- Chronology of Revere and Wollensak Cameras 1939-1966
- Chronology of Victor Animatograph Equipment
- Comparison of Running Times and Formats
- Compilation of Motion Picture Film Formats
- Identification Marks Used in Substandard Motion Picture Cameras
- 1952 List of Manufacturers of 16mm and 8mm Cameras and Projectors
- Some United States Patents of Interest in the Development of Motion Pictures
- Amateur Motion Picture Film Prices 1935-1975
- Edge-Printed Codes for Eastman Kodak Film Stock

Index