The Oxford History of World Cinema

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Summary: A must for film students and ardent film buffs.
Review: 'The Oxford History of World Cinema' is an excellent reference text with contributions from well-respected academics and critics across the globe. It provides condensed versions of national cinemas, styles, and movements through different eras. What is more, a conscious effort has been made to cover well-known styles such as Italian neo-realism and the Hollywood studio system in addition to lesser known ones such as Scandanavian or Arabian cinema. Furthermore, it moves beyond national cinemas to include a diverse range of topis such as documentary, music, censorship, exploitation, animation and much more.

For those studying cinema, like myself, will find it useful as a condensed reference from which to depart into greater depths of research. Film buffs will find it useful to view films within cinematic contexts such as style, industry, and reception.

The book is divided into three main chapters: (1) Silent cinema (2) Sound cinema and (3) Modern cinema with the differnt topics aforementioned pervading throughout. In addition to this, a few hundred actors, directors, and cinematographers et al have been selected to feature in a special biography page of their own. These include notables such as Sternberg, Bunuel, DeMille, Dreyer, Ozu, Garbo, Warhol and so much more.

There are many illustrations - most of which are black and white but are stunning accompaniments nonetheless. Buy, read, enjoy and cherish it. I know I did!

Rating:
Summary: Really, offering a lot...
Review: The great title is not fake. Huge coverage of different cinema eras and national cinemas. In depth explanations of film staff. I found everything what i needed to see about world cinema.

Rating:
Summary: Very heady discussion of film
Review: This book includes a large collection of writings on various film movements and styles throughout history. It touches on cinema from all continents and includes sidebars focusing on important filmmakers and their contributions to film. The book is illustrated with many black and white stills with several pages of full-color photographs in the middle.

I would recommend this book to film scholars who are interested in film theory rather than film history or casual discussion. The writings included in this book are not for light reading; they are very heady and in-depth analyses of the art of film.

I consider myself well-viewed and an intelligent film student and am always willing for good discussion about film, but I was a little disappointed with this volume. I was expecting something a little more accessible and approachable and I found this book to be a little dry. It is definitely not for the casual film buff, but for someone interested in the mechanics and the psychology of film, so be aware of this.

I have also been looking at Robert Sklar's "A World History of Film" and, judging from the less intimidating approach used by that book, think that is more of what I was looking for in this.