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Rating: 
Summary: DON'T LET THE TITLE PUT YOU OFF!
Review: --there is absolutely nothing polemical or fanatical about this book, which is for film lovers--not just feminists. It is one of the best books on FILM (not just women in film) I've ever read, up there with Stanley Cavell's "Pursuits of Happiness," but much more direct and down-to-earth. Haskell is a fiercely smart, wickedly funny, and casually erudite critic with many extremely sharp observations. She's arguably both a better belles lettresist and a better critic than her (I believe???) one-time husband Andrew Sarris, a better-known and more prolific film critic. It's also hard to argue with her basic thesis: that the portrayal of women in film was better, not worse, in the studio era and prior to the sexual revolution--although this stands received film and feminist history alike on their heads. Haskell is a rare marvel and model: a feminist aesthete who is able to put art before politics without denigrating the importance of the latter. Unlike, say, Camille Paglia, she neither denies nor quasi-celebrates the misogyny of great or simply entertaining films, yet neither does she make political correctness a criterion of artistic achievement or see misogyny where none exists. On the contrary, some of the best passages of the book are accounts of the strong and complex female characters of directors such as Josef von Sternberg, Karl-Theodor Dreyer, and Howard Hawks, among others. A totally engaging blend of classical liberalism and belles lettres/punchy journalism.
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Summary: DON'T LET THE TITLE PUT YOU OFF!
Review: Along with Susan Douglas's work, Growing Up Female in the Mass Media, this book is one of the most honest and clearly organized arguments about the way women are depicted in film. For anyone who wants to see what women are screaming about...this book will wake you up. Haskell does a fascinating job of expressing (and cleverly) what has been done to women in the media...how they've been portrayed and how they've been made to be prostrate creatures in film. If you buy it, you'll obsessively begin to notice how true this stuff is on your television set, in your films...everywhere in our society!
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Summary: Exceptionally thought-provoking!
Review: Along with Susan Douglas's work, Growing Up Female in the Mass Media, this book is one of the most honest and clearly organized arguments about the way women are depicted in film. For anyone who wants to see what women are screaming about...this book will wake you up. Haskell does a fascinating job of expressing (and cleverly) what has been done to women in the media...how they've been portrayed and how they've been made to be prostrate creatures in film. If you buy it, you'll obsessively begin to notice how true this stuff is on your television set, in your films...everywhere in our society!
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Summary: THIS IS A GREAT BOOK
Review: From Reverence to Rape is the classic against which all books about women in film must be judged. It's beautifully written, passionately argued. It's the kind of book that can be read over and over and over . . . and it's as fresh as it was when it debuted, 25 years ago. It is truly one of a small handful of indispensable film books written in the last forty years.
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Summary: I remember this book from high school
Review: I was in the 11th grade at the time and I was just getting immersed in my fascination with movies and film theory. I read every book I could find on film studies.That is when I stumbled upon this book (first edition) in my school's library. After reading this book, I never looked at the history of films, film themes, etc. in quite the same way. As the years went by, I had read other film theory books that dealt with femininity and feminist thought, but this one always remained my favorite. So when the opportunity presented itself where I could add this book to my personal film library I was more than glad to. I think I like this book so much because it introduced me to a series of films that while important in the women's studies and cinema may have been forgotten in the annuls of overall film theory and criticism. One outstanding example is "Letter from an Unknown Woman." The depth with which Ms. Haskell discusses this film immediately made me want to go out and see the film; and indeed I did. I highly recommend this book not just to read but as an addition to any film lovers' library.
Rating:
Summary: I remember this book from high school
Review: I was in the 11th grade at the time and I was just getting immersed in my fascination with movies and film theory. I read every book I could find on film studies. That is when I stumbled upon this book (first edition) in my school's library. After reading this book, I never looked at the history of films, film themes, etc. in quite the same way. As the years went by, I had read other film theory books that dealt with femininity and feminist thought, but this one always remained my favorite. So when the opportunity presented itself where I could add this book to my personal film library I was more than glad to. I think I like this book so much because it introduced me to a series of films that while important in the women's studies and cinema may have been forgotten in the annuls of overall film theory and criticism. One outstanding example is "Letter from an Unknown Woman." The depth with which Ms. Haskell discusses this film immediately made me want to go out and see the film; and indeed I did. I highly recommend this book not just to read but as an addition to any film lovers' library.
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Summary: A Film Critic First, A Feminist Second
Review: Molly Haskell describes herself in the introduction of FROM REVERENCE TO RAPE as a film critic first, and only secondly as a feminist. She even remarks negatively on an article about the movie HUSBANDS that Betty Friedan wrote for the New York Times in 1971, saying that Ms. Friedan just used the movie to extrapolate on her basic message in THE FEMININE MYSTIQUE. Having said that, she goes through the decades of film from the silent pictures through to the eighties, and concludes that the basic use of film towards women has been to keep them happily in their place: that is, married, and at home and out of the workplace. She organizes the book chronologically and details the evolution of women both in the industry as writers, actresses and directors. She surprises us with the news that in the beginning, there were many women directors, and only as the industry blossomed did men enter the business and push the women out. Women, however, have had more luck in the film industry than in any other, she maintains, since writing, editing, costume design and especially acting, could be done without sheer physical strength being required. The power denied most women, derived from high incomes, was given in abundance to Hollywood movie stars and successful screenwriters such as Francis Marion, who earned $150,000 per year in the 1930's! Actresses, who played the classic roles of compliant wives and mothers for the most part, had power in their real lives that cost them dearly in their personal relationships. Read the book to find out how the irony of real life personal power clashed with the image of womanhood portrayed on the screen, and how woman's place has changed and how films are changing along with them. Don't be afraid to keep your dictionary alongside; Ms. Haskell's vocabulary is formidable.
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