Terence Fisher [Paperback]

Peter Hutchings (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0719056373 | ISBN-13: 978-0719056376 | Publication Date: June 15, 2002

This book offers an appreciation of Terence Fisher's films and also gives a sense of his place in British film history. Looking at Fisher's career as a whole not only underlines his importance as a filmmaker, but also casts a new and interesting light on the areas of British cinema within which he worked--Gainsborough melodrama, the 1950's B film, 1960's science-fiction, and Hammer, one of the most successful independent film companies in the history of British cinema.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Hutchings is senior Lecturer in film Studies at Northumbria University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Manchester University Press (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0719056373
• ISBN-13: 978-0719056376
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,309,576 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Man Behind Hammer Horror, January 5, 2004

By 

Michael Samerdyke (Big Stone Gap, VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Terence Fisher (Paperback)

This is a remarkably enjoyable book. Hutchings writes in a very accessible style, although he points out the various theories of popular film that inform his approach to the career of Terence Fisher, director of Curse of Frankenstein and Horror of Dracula.

I could not put the book down. Hutchings makes the twists and turns of Fisher's career quite compelling, even when he discussed Fisher grinding out cheapo crime films I have no chance of seeing. Best of all, of course, is the discussion of the Hammer horror films. Hutchings takes the films seriously and points out levels of complexity there that have been breezed over by most commentators.

Strongly recommended for anyone with an interest in Hammer and British horror. Essential reading.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive Study of a Neglected British Director, February 22, 2007

By 

Shaun Anderson (Nottingham/Hereford, England, UK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Terence Fisher (Paperback)

Over the last 15 years Peter Hutchings has carved himself a productive niche as a strong academic voice supporting the much maligned British horror film. The academic weight Hutchings brings has also coincided with a larger academic interest in the horror genre (building on the trailblazing theoretical work of the 1970's). Hutchings crucially is also very readable and accessible, this study of Terence Fisher, is not the arid academic text one could easily assume it might be. Fisher's career is large and the other study of his talents "Charms of Evil" written by Wheeler Winston Dixon has been out of print for years, so this affordable, pocket sized guide is an indispensable guide to one of British cinema's unsung talents. Naturally there is a heavy bias towards Fisher's 1957-64 Hammer heyday, but Hutchings also explores to varying degrees of success his work with Gainsborough, his career in the B picture support slot (in which he first worked for Hammer with "Stolen Face") and his brief but interesting interlude into science-fiction for Planet Productions. Hutchings concludes that it is difficult to consider Fisher an auteur because of this career diversity and suggests that industrial conditions are as important to moulding a director's personal style as is their own passions. What is important here is that academia is finally giving much needed attention to some of the key figures in one of British cinema's most enduringly popular of genres.