Customer Reviews

Videohound's World Cinema: The Adventurer's Guide to Movie Watching

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

 

 

What a refreshing, informative book! Of course, the question of which films to include is a personal one but the choices here are excellent, with films from every era and corner of the world represented. I particularly appreciate the lack of a rating system of stars (or bones, in this series) which can tend to be short-sighted and over-simplified. Instead the author delves as deeply as he can given the space with wonderful insight.
I also liked the inclusion of films worth watching highlighted here rather than an exhaustive list of films to avoid. For the record,
there were a few swipes at several films that have over-rated reputations
here in the States and these warnings are truly beneficial.
This is a marvelous, intelligent book - a "must" for anyone who loves world cinema and takes film seriously.

Curtis Stotlar

I've had this book since 1999 when it first came out and I love it. I knew nothing about world cinema when I first got it, and now I'm obsessed.
I agree with the other reviewers which say it is not a thourough examination of World Cinema, but like the author says in the introduction "Videohound's World Cinema isn't meant to be a definitive list of foreign titles, but the movies described here are a good place to jump in if you're new to international cinema."
The thing that I love about this book is Wilhelm's reviews: Totally subjective. His writing has made me avoid bad movies, and appreciate good ones that I may have missed the point of.
As for the not definitiveness, go look up the director on IMDB.com if you really want to know all the things a director has done.

This is a great place to start for the novice foreign film fan. Wilhelm writes with great enthusiasm, humour, and passion, yet tries to maintain a critical eye.

His selection of film titles and directors do at times seem a little questionable, particularly when he omits notable titles like Rules of the Game (by Renoir) or Close-Up (by Kiarostami), to the inclusion of titles like King Kong vs. Godzilla (by Montgomery ?!).

Nonetheless, with the idea that this was intended as an introduction to foreign film, he does a wonderful job in exposing truly great art, such as the works by Bresson, Bunuel, von Trier, Kaurismaki, and Herzog. Of course, less challening, yet still rewarding fare, like Shall We Dance, Kolya, and La Femme Nikita also get there due, as they should.

Even for a foreign film nut like myself, this book still remains a pleasure to turn to when I want to discover a new or forgotten film title.

This book is a wonderful starting point for those curious about discovering the exciting world of film that exists beyond American studios.

The author, a museum curator, possesses that rare gift of intelligence and good taste in talking about films. I don't know of any other reviewer of foreign films who is more reliable in helping me select "worthwhile films" and explaining why the films do have merit. I believe this would be a very fine gift
to that friend or relative who is fed up with Hollywood cliches and is looking for something fresh and interesting. An intesting feature entitled NEXT STOP which gives some additional films in the same genre. (For Example, for Ingrid Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night", tne next stop is "Rules of the Game, Boudu Saved from Drowning, the Magic Flute." highly recommended.

I wrote a review for this book several months ago uponreceiving my copy from .... After owning it for a while, I haverealized that I probably wrote with too much haste. I was initiallyvery disappointed because I had expected a completely comprehensiveforeign film encyclopedia and that is not what Videohound's WorldCinema is at all. World Cinema is an introduction to the foreign filmworld and is simply very incomplete in its coverage of the thisworld. An example: Wilhelm, the book's author, has not written areview for Jean Renoir's Rules of the Game, considered by many to beone of the best films of all time and it is very foreign. In the indexof the book, there is not a full list of all of a director's, writer'sor cinematographer's works. Sure, some directors are accounted forcompletely but others are left with only two or three titles to theircredit. Also, World Cinema does not use the useful bone ranking systemVideohound's other editions use. Personally I found the bone systemvery helpful for a quick reference to find if a movie is worthwatching. Basically I expected as comprehensive a foreign film bookas Videohound's Golden Movie Retreiver is for movies of all kinds. Iam not writing this review over again to simply tell why I dislike thebook but rather why I like it. Wilhelm gives truly thorough reviews ofthe films in the book. Granted, he usually ruins the movies for anyonethat has not seen them before but one must understand when buying thisbook that they are NOT buying a book for tantalization or inticementto see a movie. They are buying a book that gives thorough reviews ofa solid list of foreign films and is a good starter kit to anyone whowishes to branch out and start to read subtitles.

This is a great reference to foreign films. I love reading the reviews of films I have seen, and those I hope to see.This is one book that I would love to have in future updated editions. I certainly hope the author will consider future and much expanded versions.This is a great book!!

After ordering my copy of VideoHound's World Cinema: The Adventurer's Guide to Movie Watching I must say that I was rather disappointed in the hound. Okay, lets say that you are not familiar to any of the directors in the book and you read a review and check out the film and you love what you see. You will probably want to check out other pieces of work by this same director. Unfortunately the Videohound World Cinema book does not list all of the works of cool foreign directors, even of films made outside the U.S. For example, David Cronenberg has a wimpy film list in the back of the book with a mere three films. The book has completely overlooked great campy Italian horror directors like Lucio Fulci. What I am saying is that the book is far from complete and needs a whole lot of additions. If I were you, find another source book and avoid this hound dog.

This book gives you all you need to know about foreign films. Elliot Wilhelm's wit and knowledge are unsurpassed!

After ordering my copy of VideoHound's World Cinema: The Adventurer's Guide to Movie Watching I must say that I was rather disappointed in the hound. Okay, lets say that you are not familiar to any of the directors in the book and you read a review and check out the film and you love what you see. You will probably want to check out other pieces of work by this same director. Unfortunately the Videohound World Cinema book does not list all of the works of cool foreign directors, even of films made outside the U.S. For example, David Cronenberg has a wimpy film list in the back of the book with a mere three films. The book has completely overlooked great campy Italian horror directors like Lucio Fulci. What I am saying is that the book is far from complete and needs a whole lot of additions. If I were you, find another source book and avoid this hound dog.