Film history, theory or criticism Books

3177 products


  • The Greatest Star

    Weldon Owen The Greatest Star

    4 in stock

    4 in stock

    £31.99

  • Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas

    £16.19

  • Quercus Publishing The World of Black Film

    Book SynopsisAn informed, entertaining and thought-provoking survey of important and influential Black films from around the world.

    £29.75

  • David Lynchs American Dreamscape

    Bloomsbury Publishing USA David Lynchs American Dreamscape

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    3 in stock

    £20.89

  • Corpses Fools and Monsters

    Watkins Media Corpses Fools and Monsters

    2 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    2 in stock

    £11.69

  • Bogie  Bacall

    HarperCollins Publishers Inc Bogie Bacall

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisFrom the noted Hollywood biographer and author of The Contender comes this celebration of the great American love story—the romance between Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart—capturing its complexity, contradictions, and challenges as never before.In Bogie & Bacall, William Mann offers a deep and comprehensive look at Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, and the unlikely love they shared. Mann details their early years—Bogart’s effete upbringing in New York City; Bacall’s rise as a model and actress. He paints a vivid portrait of their courtship and twelve-year marriage: the fights, the reconciliations, the children, the affairs, Bogie’s illness and Bacall’s steadfastness until his death. He offers a sympathetic yet clear-eyed portrait of Bacall’s life after Bogie, exploring her relationships with Frank Sinatra and Jason Robards, who would become her second husband, and the identity crisis she faced.Surpassing previous biographies, Mann digs deep into the celebrities’ personal lives and considers their relationship from surprising angles. Bacall was just nineteen when she started dating the thrice-married forty-five-year-old Bogart. How might that age gap have influenced their relationship? In addition to what she gained, what might Bacall have lost by marrying a Hollywood superstar more than twice her age? How did Bogart, a man of average looks, become one of the greatest movie stars of all time? Throughout, Mann explains the unparalleled successes of their individual careers as well as the extraordinary love between them and the legend that has endured.Filled with entertaining details and thoughtful insights based on newly available records and correspondence, and illustrated with 30-40 photographs, Bogie & Bacall offers a fresh look at this famous couple, their remarkable relationship, and their legacy.Trade Review"Well-researched . . . . Mann is perceptive, careful and experienced in writing about the film business." — David Thomson, London Review of Books “Engrossing…. Scrupulously attending to the distinct personalities, cultural conditions, and media environment that joined forces to create `arguably Hollywood’s greatest love story,’ Mann delivers a spirited narrative that’s hard to put down….Film buffs will eat this up.” — Publishers Weekly

    4 in stock

    £28.00

  • The Unforgettable Loretta Darling

    Penguin Books Ltd The Unforgettable Loretta Darling

    4 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Great fun - Loretta is glorious!'' Lucy Diamond''Sparkles with fun and wit'' Libby Page''A fun, gossipy glimpse into Golden Era Hollywood'' Julie Cohen-----You're Loretta Darling now, welcome to your brand-new flipping life.Dreams don't come true for girls like Loretta but she won't let that stop her. With her sights set on becoming a make-up artist to the stars, Loretta wangles her way from Lancashire to the bright lights of Golden Age Hollywood.Only it turns out that Sunset Boulevard is less about dashing fellas and chilled martinis more sticky floors and misbehaving men. The gift of the gab can only get her so far but she refuses to go quietly.Hollywood has its secrets and so does Loretta.For a start, that's not her real name, and much more than lipstick lurks inside her beauty case.After all, revenge is a dish best served with a perfectly painted smile.-----What a delicious dark delight of a book!' JENNA BLUM, bestselling author of Those Who Save UsSo sassy and delicious. Loretta is one cool character' JOSIE SILVER, Sunday Times bestselling author of One Day in DecemberSharply observed, full of scene-stealing characters, this book is a wildly enjoyable ride. Loretta is a force of nature, truly unforgettable!' LAURA WOOD, author of Under Your SpellAbsolutely loved this romp of a book. So feisty and fun' TANIA TAY, author of The Other Woman

    4 in stock

    £15.29

  • Cronenberg on Cronenberg

    Faber & Faber Cronenberg on Cronenberg

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisWith films such as The Brood and Videodrome, David Cronenberg established himself as Canada''s most provocative director. With subsequent movies such as The Dead Zone, The Fly, Dead Ringers and Naked Lunch, Cronenberg demonstrated his ability not only to touch painful nerves but also to invest his own developing genre with seriousness, philosophical dimension and a rare emotional intensity.Cronenberg on Cronenberg charts his development from maker of inexpensive ''exploitation'' cinema to internationally renowned director of million-dollar movies, and reveals the concerns and obsessions which continue to dominate his increasingly rich and complex work. This edition, with an additional chapter, follows Cronenberg''s work up to the creation of Crash.

    3 in stock

    £13.49

  • American Film and Society since 1945

    Bloomsbury Publishing Plc American Film and Society since 1945

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisFrom Steven Spielberg''s Lincoln to Clint Eastwood''s American Sniper, this fifth edition of this classic film study text adds even more recent films and examines how these movies depict and represent the feelings and values of American society.One of the few authoritative books about American film and society, Praeger''s American Film and Society since 1945 combines accessible, fun-to-read text with a detailed, insightful, and scholarly political and social analysis that thoroughly explores the relationship of American film to society and provides essential historical context. The historical overview provides a capsule analysis of both American and Hollywood history for the most recent decade as well as past eras, in which topics like American realism; Vietnam, counterculture revolutions, and 1960s films; and Hollywood depictions of big business like Wall Street are covered. Readers will better understand the explicit and hidden meanings of films and apprecTrade ReviewFilm studies programs will find this to be an indispensable tome, and public libraries will value the book's significant analyses and perceptions about both American society and its film industry. * ARBA *Table of ContentsPreface to the Fifth Edition Acknowledgments 1 Introduction 2 The 1940s 3 The 1950s 4 The 1960s 5 The 1970s 6 The 1980s 7 The 1990s 8 2000–2009 9 The 2010s Selected Bibliography Index

    4 in stock

    £33.25

  • La Parisienne in Cinema: Between Art and Life

    Manchester University Press La Parisienne in Cinema: Between Art and Life

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisChic, sophisticated, seductive and enigmatic, the Parisienne possesses a je ne sais quoi that makes her difficult to define. But who or what is the Parisienne, and how is she depicted in cinema? The first book-length study on the subject combines scholarship in the fields of art history, literature and fashion to enrich our understanding of this intriguing cinematic figure, simultaneously offering new perspectives on film. Accessible and wide-ranging, it will be of immediate interest to students and researchers working in film studies, French studies and the broader humanities, as well as cinephiles and Francophiles alike.Trade Review‘In this well-researched and insightful monograph, Felicity Chaplin presents the figure of the Parisienne in cinema “between art and life”, concentrating on 1950s and 1960s French and Hollywood film. She covers approximately four films per chapter, over six main sections, using “Parisienne” as both a noun and an adjective, and writing of what she terms the “Parisienne-ness” of her subjects… This book is a valuable addition to film studies, fashion studies and general cultural studies. The style is engaging, and the research is wide-ranging and thought provoking.’Dervila Cooke, Dublin City University, H-France Review Vol. 18, No. 92 (April 2018)‘"La Parisienne", as Chaplin explains, stands for an image of the city personified by a female figure. In the mid-nineteenth century, this became synonymous with the figure of an urban woman, an emblem of modernity whose mode of dress expressed her identity. She can be both artist and muse. Her class origins are not fixed: she might come from the demi-monde or the bourgeoiseie. In context, she can embody sexual openness and experimentation, or refined elegance and restraint. 'In her deft, dense, intriguing book, Chaplin has delineated an area of research; she has also created a space or set of possibilities for studies that can take her project further, deeper, into more specialised areas or specific forms of critical engagement.’ Philippa Hawker, Australian Book Review No. 42 (June-July 2018)‘Any study of as broad a corpus as is indicated by this book’s title is likely to have multiple aims, and Felicity Chaplin’s book seems to set itself not just the objective of adding cinema to the list of art forms in which La Parisienne frequently figures and has been studied (painting and drawing), but of using a typically art historical methodology (iconography) to do so… Approving of Alloway’s anti-evaluative and implicitly anti-auteurist idea of culture as a continuum, Chaplin introduces her corpus as one that ranges across this continuum… Chaplin’s book certainly does extensive impressive groundwork for further studies of the Parisienne figure in cinema…’Kate Ince, University of Birmingham, EuropeNow, Issue 22 (2018)'Hopefully, Chaplin’s detailed, comprehensive and persuasive study will set the stage for keeping the spotlight on the Parisienne into the twenty-first century.'Joe Hardwick, University of Queensland, Australian Journal of French Studies Vol. 55, No. 3 (2018)‘This book is an important analysis of the history of fashion, art, media, literature, and French culture. It is a tool for students and researchers with an interest in discussing the peculiar theme of the Parisienn e , but it also offers insights into a range of different subjects such as the intricate relationship between fashion and cinema, as well as further topics such as social mobility, cosmopolitanism, and self–fashioning.’The Journal of Dress History -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: ‘What’s she like?’1 Muse2 Cosmopolite3 Icon of fashion4 Femme fatale5 Courtesan6 StarConclusion: ‘Look, let’s start all over again. What’s she like?’Index

    4 in stock

    £21.00

  • No Daylight in That Face

    Rare Bird Books No Daylight in That Face

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisOur of print for years and newly retitled and expanded, this deluxe new edition of Gifford''s celebrated handbook unlocks the secrets of noir movies and their relevance todayFor a tour of noir cinema, No Daylight in this Face is the perfect companion, and Barry Gifford is an ideal guide. His choice selection of films exposes the menacing, moody, and oftentimes violent underbelly of this dark movie genre that occupies a favorite niche in American popular culture.Some are classics, some are little known and seldom seen, but all, once viewed, are deeply remembered by aficionados of noir. Gifford''s roll call of unforgettables includes these, and more: The Asphalt Jungle, Body and Soul, Body Heat, Charley Varrick, Chinatown, The Devil Thumbs a Ride, D.O.A., Double Indemnity, High Sierra, Key Largo, Kiss of Death, Mean Streets, Mildred Pierce, Mr. Majestyk, Out of the Past, The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Strangers on a Train, White Heat, along with several noir classics from Europe―Repulsion, The Hidden Room, Shoot the Piano Player, The 400 Blows, Odd Man Out.Gifford identifies the directors and names the many noir stars, the greats and not-so-greats who were cast in the indelible roles of hoods, B-girls, psychopaths, grifters, gumshoes, waifs, tarts, femme fatales, mobsters, molls, and ex-cons.In an introduction, novelists Edward Gorman and Dow Mossman collaboratively applaud Gifford''s selections and his insights: “The movies discussed here range from the lowest of the B''s to the biggest of the A''s, and this book is going to make you want to run out and locate every one of them (and good luck to you; finding The Devil Thumbs a Ride could take you a lifetime). Through Barry Gifford''s eyes, we begin to see their similarities and their value. What Andrew Sarris did for the mainstream film in The American Cinema, Barry does here for the crime film.”With a connoisseur''s insight and an offbeat sensitivity perfectly tailored to his subjects, Gifford''s brief essays cover a hundred of the noir buff''s favorites. His highly polished impressions take the reader through five decades of noir to find both the heart and the art of the plotline.

    4 in stock

    £17.99

  • Icons of Cinema Greta Gerwig

    Bonnier Books Ltd Icons of Cinema Greta Gerwig

    3 in stock

    3 in stock

    £12.59

  • The Japanese Cinema Book

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Japanese Cinema Book

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe Japanese Cinema Book provides a new and comprehensive survey of one of the world’s most fascinating and widely admired filmmaking regions. In terms of its historical coverage, broad thematic approach and the significant international range of its authors, it is the largest and most wide-ranging publication of its kind to date. Ranging from renowned directors such as Akira Kurosawa to neglected popular genres such as the film musical and encompassing topics such as ecology, spectatorship, home-movies, colonial history and relations with Hollywood and Europe, The Japanese Cinema Book presents a set of new, and often surprising, perspectives on Japanese film. With its plural range of interdisciplinary perspectives based on the expertise of established and emerging scholars and critics, The Japanese Cinema Book provides a groundbreaking picture of the different ways in which Japanese cinema may be understood as a local, regional, national, transnational and global phenomenon. The book’s innovative structure combines general surveys of a particular historical topic or critical approach with various micro-level case studies. It argues there is no single fixed Japanese cinema, but instead a fluid and varied field of Japanese filmmaking cultures that continue to exist in a dynamic relationship with other cinemas, media and regions. The Japanese Cinema Book is divided into seven inter-related sections: · Theories and Approaches · * Institutions and Industry · * Film Style · * Genre · * Times and Spaces of Representation · * Social Contexts · * Flows and InteractionsTrade ReviewI’d recommend most of this book to anyone, but two chapters in particular [about manga adaptations in Japanese cinema] will leap out at readers of this blog. * All the Anime blog *With its preponderance of Japanese authors and the impressive variety of approaches it models, this volume marks a new era in the study of Japanese cinema. It presents new spins on old topics, and opens up any number of new avenues of inquiry. I can think of no other book that reveals the sheer richness of Japanese cinema to this degree. The Japanese Cinema Book is, simply, superb. -- Markus Nornes, Professor of Asian Cinema Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan, USAFujiki and Phillips' edited collection of wide-ranging essays represents a timely intervention into the field of Japanese cinema studies by a diverse group of international scholars. Its breadth and coverage will ensure it assumes a prominent position as a standard text within the field. -- Isolde Standish PhD Emeritus Reader in Film and Media Studies SOAS, University of London, UK.Table of ContentsTABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments Introduction Japanese Cinema and Its Multiple Perspectives Hideaki Fujiki (Nagoya University, Japan) and Alastair Phillips (University of Warwick, UK) Part One: Theories and Approaches 1. Early Cinema Difference, Definition and Japanese Film Studies Aaron Gerow (Yale University, USA) 2. Authorship Author, Sakka, Auteur Alex Jacoby (Oxford Brookes University, UK) 3. Spectatorship The Spectator as Subject and Agent Hideaki Fujiki (Nagoya University, Japan) 4. Film Criticism Soviet Montage Theory and Japanese Film Criticism Naoki Yamamoto (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) 5. Narrative Multi-viewpoint Narrative: From Rashomon (1950) to Confessions (2010) Kosuke Kinoshita (Gunma Prefectural Women’s University, Japan) 6. Gender and Sexuality Feminist Film Scholarships: Dialogue and Diversification Hikari Hori (Toyo University, Japan) Part Two: Institutions and Industry 7. The Studio System The Japanese Studio System Revisited Hiroyuki Kitaura (Kaichi International University, Japan) 8. Exhibition Screening Spaces: A History of Japanese Film Exhibition Manabu Ueda (Kobe Gakuin University, Japan) 9. Censorship Censorship as Education: Film Violence and Ideology Rachael Hutchinson (University of Delaware, USA) 10. Technology Sound and Intermediality in 1930s Japanese Cinema Johan Nordström (Tsuru University, Japan) 11. Film Festivals Engasai Inside Out: Japanese Cinema and Film Festival Programming Ran Ma (Nagoya University, Japan) 12. Stardom Queer Resonance: The Stardom of Miwa Akihiro Yuka Kanno (Doshisha University, Japan) 13. Experimental Cinema Forms, Spaces and Networks: A History of Japanese Experimental Film Julian Ross (Leiden University, The Netherlands) 14. Transmedial Relations Manga at the Movies: Adaptation and Intertextuality Rayna Denison (University of East Anglia, UK) 15. The Archive Screening Locality: Japanese Home Movies and the Politics of Place Oliver Dew (UK) Part Three: Film Style 16. Cinematography The Trans-pacific Work of Japanese Cinematographers Daisuke Miyao (University of California, San Diego, USA) 17. Acting Spectral Bodies: Matsui Sumako and Tanaka Kinuyo in The Love of Sumako the Actress (1947) Chika Kinoshita (Kyoto University, Japan) 18. Set Design Colour and Excess in Undercurrent (1956) Fumiaki Itakura (Kobe University, Japan) 19. Music When the Music Exits the Screen: Sound and Image in Japanese Sword Fight Films Yuna Tasaka (Belgium) Part Four: Genre 20. Period Drama The Duplicitous Topos of Jidaigeki Philip Kaffen (The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA) 21. The Horror Film The Ghosts of Kaiki Eiga Michael E. Crandol (Leiden University, The Netherlands) 22. Anime Compositing and Switching: An Intermedial History of Japanese Anime Thomas Lamarre (McGill University, Canada) 23. Melodrama Melodrama, Modernity and Displacement: That Night’s Wife (1930) Ryoko Misono (with Hideaki Fujiki and Alastair Phillips) 24. The Musical Heibon and the Popular Song Film Michael Raine (Western University, Canada) 25. The Yakuza Film The Yakuza Film: A Genre ‘Endorsed by the People’ Jennifer Coates (University of Sheffield, UK) 26. Documentary ‘Filling Our Empty Hands’: Ogawa Productions and the Politics of Subjectivity Ayumi Hata (Japan) Part Five: Time and Spaces of Representation 27. Ecology Toxic Interdependencies: 3/11 Cinema Rachel DiNitto (University of Oregon, USA) 28. Rural Landscape The Cinematic Countryside in Japanese Wartime Filmmaking Sharon Hayashi (York University, Canada) 29. The Home Separations and Connections: The Cinematic Homes of the Showa 30s Woojeong Joo (Nagoya University, Japan) 30. The City Tokyo 1958 Alastair Phillips (University of Warwick, UK) Part Six: Social Contexts 31. Empire Cinematic Dualities: Shanghai Filmmaking in the Era of the Japanese Occupation Ni Yan (Japan Institute of Moving Image, Japan) 32. The Occupation Pedagogies of Modernity: CIE and USIS Films about the United Nations Yuka Tsuchiya (Kyoto University, Japan) 33. Social Protest Japanese Student Movement Cinema: A Dialogic Approach Masato Dogase (Nagoya University, Japan) 34. Minority Cultures Whose Song Is It? Korean and Women’s Voice in Oshima Nagisa's Sing a Song of Sex (1967) Mika Ko (Hosei University, Japan) 35. Globalisation Japanese Cultural Globalisation at the Margins Cobus van Staden (South African Institute of International Affairs, South Africa) Part Seven: Flows and Interactions 36. Japanese Cinema and its Post-Colonial Histories Technologies of Co-production: Japan in Asia and the Cold War Production of Regional Place Stephanie DeBoer (Indiana University, USA) 37. Japanese Cinema and Hollywood Frontiers of Nostalgia: The Japanese Western in the Postwar Era Hiroshi Kitamura (College of William and Mary, USA) 38. Japanese Cinema and its Peripheries Japan and Okinawa and the Politics of Exchange Andrew Dorman (UK) 39. Japanese Cinema and Europe A Constellation of Gazes: Europe and the Japanese Film Industry Yoshiharu Tezuka (Komazawa University, Japan) 40. Transnational Remakes and Adaptations Casablanca Karaoke: The Program Picture as Marginal Art in 1960s Japan Ryan Cook (Emory University, USA) Select Bibliography Index

    3 in stock

    £33.29

  • Film Adaptation and the Real

    Bloomsbury Publishing (UK) Film Adaptation and the Real

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisHee-seung Irene Lee is Lecturer in School of Cultures, Languages, and Linguistics at University of Auckland, New Zealand. Her teaching and research areas include adaptation studies, art-house cinema, critical theory, psychoanalysis, and contemporary Korean popular culture.

    4 in stock

    £19.99

  • The Story of Film

    HarperCollins Publishers The Story of Film

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis An updated edition – with completely new chapters – of the most accessible and compelling history of the cinema yet published, and complements Mark Cousins' fascinating 15-hour film documentary The Story of Film: An Odyssey. Filmmaker and author Mark Cousins shows how filmmakers are influenced both by the historical events of their times, and by each other. He demonstrates, for example, how Douglas Sirk’s Hollywood melodramas of the 1950s influenced Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s despairing visions of 1970s Germany; and how George Lucas’ Star Wars epics grew out of Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress. The Story of Film is divided into three main epochs: Silent (1885–1928), Sound (1928–1990) and Digital (1990–Present). Films are discussed within chapters reflecting both the stylistic concerns of the film-makers and the political and social themes of the time. This edition includes new text that encompasses the further-reaching scope of world cinema today, and the huge leaps in technology that have changed cinema screens forever. Film is an international medium, so as well as covering the great American films and film-makers, The Story of Film explores cinema in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia and South America, and shows how cinematic ideas and techniques cross national boundaries. Avoiding jargon and obscure critical theory, the author constantly places himself in the role of the moviegoer watching a film, and asks: ‘How does a scene or a story affect us, and why?’ In so doing he gets to the heart of cinematic technique, explaining how film-makers use lighting, framing, focal length and editing to create their effects. Clearly written, and illustrated with over 400 stills, including numerous sequences explaining how scenes work, The Story of Film is essential reading for both film students and moviegoers alike.Trade Review‘A truly stunning and richly rewarding Magnum Opus.’ —The Independent ‘Brilliant.’ — The New York Times ‘An achievement of unparalleled proportions.’ — The White Review ‘A romantic, fiercely intelligent re-mapping of cinema.’ —Telegraph ‘Mark Cousins is incapable of writing anything about cinema history without making it fascinating.’ — Sean Connery ‘A delicious book.’ — Irish Times ‘Mark Cousins delves deep, and his book becomes an infinite tracking shot into the mysteries of movies … and their makers.’ — Bernardo Bertolucci ‘Cousins has carved out a niche as the great chronicler of the medium.’ — Mark Kermode

    3 in stock

    £24.00

  • Woke Up This Morning The Bestselling Definitive

    HarperCollins Publishers Woke Up This Morning The Bestselling Definitive

    5 in stock

    Book SynopsisTHE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERThese rollicking gabfests bring together nearly everyone who made the series a creative and cultural landmark' New York TimesEssential for fans, with a revelation on every page' KirkusWelcome to the Family.Michael Imperioli, who played the inimitable Christopher, and Steve Schirripa, the lovable Bobby Bacala who together host the hit podcast Talking Sopranos lay bare the secrets of The Sopranos. In these pages you'll find where all the bodies are buried: the stories behind the stories, the backstage gossip, and, most important, the love, trust, camaraderie and friendship that a group of actors and their crew discovered together.Woke Up This Morning is the essential companion to the seminal series, whether you're a first-time viewer or a longtime fan. Read it and you'll become a member of the family.You got a problem with that? A spectacular tell-all about the making of the Emmy-winning hit television series' Publishers WeeklyFor Sopranos fans this one iTrade Review‘I will be reading and rereading Woke Up This Morning ….These rollicking gabfests… bring together nearly everyone, on screen and off, who made the series a creative and cultural landmark. The freely offered admiration expressed by so many for their missing comrade and unofficial cast captain, Gandolfini, makes these stories about playing tough guys all the more tender’ New York Times ‘Ever wished you could hang out with the cast and crew of The Sopranos and just listen to them trade stories? … There are plenty of tantalizing bits of trivia—Tony was Tommy Soprano in the pilot script; producers wanted Lorraine Bracco to play Tony’s wife, but she said she would only consider playing Melfi, the psychiatrist—but this isn’t just a trivia collection. Mostly it’s about friends and colleagues getting together to pay tribute to one another and to a series that rewrote many of the rules of television. Love and respect for the show’s star, the late James Gandolfini, permeates the book, as does admiration for the show’s creator, David Chase, who started with a vague idea about a crook and his mother and built it into something that’s almost Shakespearean in its thematic scope. For Sopranos fans this one is an absolute must-read’ Booklist ‘Essential for fans, with a revelation on every page … Devotees will revel in the stroll into series minutiae’ Kirkus Reviews ‘A spectacular tell-all about the making of the Emmy-winning hit television series … What makes this sing is the passion and energy brought by Imperioli and Schirripa and its indelible tribute to the late James Gandolfini. As Aida Turturro (Janice Soprano) recalls, 'He was there for you no matter what.' This is the ultimate book on The Sopranos, made by the people who lived it’ Publishers Weekly

    5 in stock

    £8.99

  • The Last Action Heroes

    Pan Macmillan The Last Action Heroes

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis'A blast' - Ian Rankin'A lively celebration of 1980s action stars' - The Times'Hugely entertaining' - Edgar WrightNow with BONUS MATERIAL, from the editor of Empire magazine this is the behind-the-scenes story of the golden age of the action movie, the stars who ruled 80s and 90s Hollywood and the beloved films – from Die Hard to The Terminator – that made them famous.Charting Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s carnage-packed journey from enmity to friendship against the backdrop of Reagan’s America and the Cold War. It also reveals the untold stories of the colourful characters, from Steven Seagal to Bruce Willis, who ascended in their wake. These invincible action heroes used muscle, martial arts or the perfect weapon to save the day, becoming pop-culture titans.Drawing on candid interviews with the action stars themselves, plus their

    1 in stock

    £10.79

  • Screaming and Conjuring

    1984 Pub Screaming and Conjuring

    1 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    1 in stock

    £22.88

  • The Magic Box

    Faber & Faber The Magic Box

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisA LOUDER THAN WAR BOOK OF THE YEARA riveting journey into the psyche of Britain through its golden age of television and film; a cross-genre feast of moving pictures, from classics to occult hidden gems, The Magic Box is the nation's visual self-portrait in technicolour detail. 'The definition of gripping. Truly, a trove of wyrd treasures.'BENJAMIN MYERS'A lovingly researched history of British TV [that] recalls the brilliant, the bizarre and the unworldly.'GUARDIAN'A reclamation, not just of a visual 'golden age', but of Britain as a darkly magical place.'THE SPECTATOR'A feat of argument, description and affection.' FINANCIAL TIMES'Young unearths the ghosts of TV past - and Britain's dark psyche.' HERALD'Highly entertaining . . . [A] fabulous treasure trove.' SCOTSMAN'Young is a phenomonal sc

    3 in stock

    £11.69

  • Cowboy Hamlets and Zombie Romeos: Shakespeare in

    Manchester University Press Cowboy Hamlets and Zombie Romeos: Shakespeare in

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe book presents a systematic method of interpreting Shakespeare film adaptations based on their cinematic genres. Its approach is both scholarly and reader-friendly, and its subject is fundamentally interdisciplinary, combining the findings of Shakespeare scholarship with film and media studies, particularly genre theory. The book is organised into six large chapters, discussing films that form broad generic groups. Part I looks at three genres from the classical Hollywood era (western, melodrama and gangster-noir), while Part II deals with three contemporary blockbuster genres (teen film, undead horror and biopic). Beside a few better-known examples of mainstream cinema, the volume also highlights the Shakespearean elements in several nearly forgotten films, bringing them back to critical attention.Trade Review'Kinga Földváry’s new book is a masterful treatment of numerous genres that not only provides crucial descriptions and historical information but also lucidly explains the intersections between various generic discourses and their disparate iterations.'Melissa Croteau, Adaptation'[T]his is a well-structured study that examines a wide variety of movies in some detail. It provides a useful reference for the genre, adaptation, and Shakespeare studies and is an entertaining addition to the discourse on screen Shakespeare.'Peter Lewis, Cahiers Élisabéthains: A Journal of English Renaissance Studies -- .Table of ContentsIntroduction: Shakespeare meets genre filmPart I: Classical Hollywood cinema1 Will in the Wild West: western adaptations of Shakespeare2 Shakespeare the tear-jerker: from woman’s film to global melodrama3 Dark-minded Othellos, mobster Macbeths: film noir, gangster, gangster noirPart II: Contemporary blockbusters4 Back to school, Will: Shakespeare the teen idol5 Shakespeare the undead: a renaissance of vampires and zombies6 Will, Bill and the Earl: versions of the author in contemporary biopicsConclusionIndex

    4 in stock

    £19.00

  • Cinema of the 70s: 101 Iconic Movies

    Palazzo Editions Ltd Cinema of the 70s: 101 Iconic Movies

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisToday, over half a century later, great films are measured by those of the 70s. Has there been a more impactful 10-year period? For the first time, cinema reflected life and society, presenting both on the big screen with a compelling and penetrating truth. Directors became household names, often overnight, and films routinely broke box office records. With censorship relaxed, the subject matter could include alienation, descents into madness, drug addiction, dysfunctional relationships, promiscuity, alcoholism, PTSD, and any big news story of the day. Audiences gladly absorbed this new, shocking reality; in fact, they avoided films that candy-coated the truth. Musicals evolved, westerns all but died for several years, science fiction and fantasy made an incredible resurgence, and horror dominated the box office along with disaster films. But by and large, films about social issues were the best draw. This book celebrates the cinema of the 70s. What a decade!Trade Review'A film book that's hard to put down!' -- The Recs Magazine

    3 in stock

    £17.00

  • Scenes From A Revolution: The Birth of the New

    Canongate Books Scenes From A Revolution: The Birth of the New

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisWith behind-the-scenes gossip creating as much drama as the movies themselves, Hollywood in 1967 showcased the future of film in more ways than one. From the anti-heroes of Bonnie and Clyde and the illicit sex of The Graduate to the race relations of In The Heat of the Night, suddenly no subject was taboo. This was a time of turbulence as hip young filmmakers embodying the restlessness and rebellion of a changing America wrought radical changes to the traditions of cinema. Scenes from a Revolution is an exceptional analysis of the films shortlisted for the Best Picture Academy Award of 1967 as well as an illuminating window into the popular culture of the time.Trade ReviewContains enough tantrums, firings and exposed star insecurities to thrill the most jaded Hollywood-watcher . . . a terrifically enjoyable read. -- Christopher Fowler * * Independent on Sunday * *Harris's book is racy, wise and deeply funny...All human life is here and most of Hollywood too. -- Nigel Andrews * * FT * *Absolutely wonderful. An extraordinary book that combines social and pop history in an unputdownable volume. -- Richard E. GrantWonderful, addictively engrossing and very smart . . . one of the best books about film I have ever read -- NICK HORNBYMark Harris understands that film making depends less on creative talent than on social connections, bullshit, and work done in restaurants. As an exercise in social gossip (and incest), Scenes from a Revolution is hard to beat. -- Chris Petit * * Guardian * *Harris's book initially overlaps with Easy Riders, Raging Bulls, Peter Biskind's roaring study of 1970s US cinema. But in fact it stands shoulder to shoulder with it, like a better organized 1960s prequel. -- Larushka Ivan-Zadeh * * Metro * *Beyond the intrigue and the gossip, Scenes from a Revolution is a persuasive account of one of the turning points in our cultural history. * * Daily Telegraph * *A fresh and detailed portrait of counter-culturalism on the move through American cinema. Harris' style is easy and lucid and well-worth spending time with. -- Paul Dale * * The List * *Impeccably researched, engagingly written and remarkably readable . . . the real joy here is the elegant flow of Harris' narrative, moving seamlessly from picture to picture and presenting a thorough, and entertaining, look at a turbulent time. -- William Thomas * * Empire * *A near-faultless work of film criticism -- Melissa Katsoulis * * Sunday Telegraph * *Excellent . . . might justly claim to explain how Hollywood came to be what Hollywood has become. -- Andrew O'Hagan * * London Review of Books * *[Harris] is excellent on shifting attitudes towards race and homosexuality, but the real entertainment here comes from unsparing depictions of back-room machinations, business betrayals and egos so beastly Dr Dolittle would struggle to tame them. -- Victoria Segal * * Guardian * *The depth and scope of Harris' research, coupled with his nose for a good anecdote, bring to life the book's dramatis personae of visionary egomaniacs and Machiavellian rainmakers. If you can get to the last page without having rented all five DVDs, I'd like to know how. -- Daragh Downes * * Irish Times * *Very entertaining and full of characters . . . lots of dueling egos and bad behaviour. -- William Leith * * Scotsman * *

    3 in stock

    £14.24

  • Disney Comics Library. Carl Barkss Donald Duck. Vol. 1. 19421950.

    7 in stock

    £140.00

  • Immortal Films

    University of California Press Immortal Films

    10 in stock

    Book SynopsisCasablanca is one of the most celebrated Hollywood films of all time, its iconic romance enshrined in collective memory across generations. Drawing from archival materials, industry trade journals, and cultural commentary, Barbara Klinger explores the history of Casablanca's circulation in the United States from the early 1940s to the present by examining its exhibition via radio, repertory houses, television, and video. By resituating the film in the dynamically changing industrial, technological, and cultural circumstances that have defined its journey over eight decades, Klinger challenges our understanding of its meaning and reputation as both a Hollywood classic and a cult film. Through this single-film survey, Immortal Films proposes a new approach to the study of film history and aesthetics and, more broadly, to cinema itself as a medium in constant interface with other media as a necessary condition of its own public existence and endurance.Trade Review"A terrific new book." * Critical Inquiry *Table of ContentsContents List of Figures Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: The Cultural Biography of a Film 1 • Listening to Casablanca: Radio Adaptations and Sonic Hollywood 2 • Back in Theaters: Postwar Repertory Houses and Cult Cinema 3 • Everyday Films: Broadcast Television, Reruns, and Canonizing Old Hollywood 4 • Movie Valentines: Holiday Cult and the Romantic Canon in VHS Video Culture 5 • Happy Anniversaries: Classic Cinema on DVD/Blu-ray in the Conglomerate Age Epilogue: Streaming Casablanca and Afterthoughts Appendix 1: Casablanca’s First Appearances on US Platforms/Formats Appendix 2: Casablanca’s Physical-Format Video Rereleases Notes Selected Bibliography Index

    10 in stock

    £22.50

  • Titan Books Ltd Conan the Barbarian: The Official Story of the

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisOfficial retrospective hardback book telling the story of the making of Conan The Barbarian, including interviews with cast and crew and featuring behind-the-scenes photography from the shoot. In 1982, Robert E. Howard's iconic literary anti-hero, Conan, slashed his way from page to screen after a perilous decades-long journey. With its potent mix of epic vistas and bloody battles, Conan the Barbarian thrilled moviegoers around the world and launched the career of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Forty years after its release, this cult-classic film is celebrated in Conan the Barbarian - The Official Story of the Film, a lush hardback volume that tells the full story of how the film was made. Brand new interviews with cast and crew, as well behind-the-scenes photography from the set and concept art created for the production, give fascinating insights into the development of one of the best-loved fantasy films of the 1980s.Trade Review“Whatever your take on its glorious trash, Conan - best remembered now for its breakthrough Arnold Schwarzenegger performance as the titular fantasy warrior - earns the Titan Books treatment in this handsome hardback tome, suitable for the coffee table in your living room or your orgy chamber” **** 4 stars - Empire “The book really hits the mark” - SFX“Most fans of the world’s most famous Cimmerian and his first and best [what remake?] will find this book highly informative and rewarding, and such a lovely one to just own. A lot of effort has clearly been made to make it look as appealing as possible and be something you will just want to keep and dig into every now and again” - Horror Cult Films“If you are a lover of film or you are a fan of Arnold Schwarzenegger or even of the works of Robert E. Howard, then this is certainly a book that you will want to check out and add to your library” Blazing Minds“Makes for a great conversation piece to have around the house as it proudly sits on your coffee table. It’s a great book for movie fans in general, but would also make for a great gift for any Conan fans out there that love the movie and want to learn more about how the film evolved into its final form” SciFi Pulse“A great addition to the movie-making section of your bookshelf” SciFi Bulletin

    1 in stock

    £28.00

  • The Jaws Log

    HarperCollins Publishers Inc The Jaws Log

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisWinner of 3 Oscars [registered] and the highest grossing film of its time, "Jaws" was a phenomenon. This book focuses on how 26-years-old Steven Spielberg transformed Peter Benchley's best-selling novel into the classic film it became.Trade Review"The Jaws Log is like a little movie director bible. Whenever I'm having a bad day at work, I got back and read a chapter...and thank the Lord I'm not shooting on the ocean." -- -Bryan Singer, Director, The Usual Suspects, X-Men "Carl Gottlieb's work is as entertaining as the movie it is about. In fact, you have not had the full Jaws experience until you have read, make that devoured, this wonderful book." -- -Rod Lurie, Director, The Contender "Like Jonah writing from the belly of the whale, Carl Gottlieb's journal of the process of making Jaws comes from the unique perspective of one of the major players in the collaboration that resulted in Spielberg's classic movie." -- -John Landis, Director, The Blues Brothers

    2 in stock

    £12.34

  • Oscar Wars

    HarperCollins Publishers Inc Oscar Wars

    5 in stock

    Book Synopsis

    5 in stock

    £15.29

  • Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of

    Headline Publishing Group Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of

    Out of stock

    Book SynopsisDive into the fascinating world of movie make-up effects with this stunning illustrated oral history of the art form. Masters of Make-Up Effects is a celebration of make-up artists and acclaimed make-up effects from the world of film and television. Authors Howard Berger and Marshall Julius have gleaned untold stories from the sets of cult classics (Planet of the Apes, An American Werewolf in London, The Thing), fan-favourite film and TV franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter and the MCU) and modern blockbusters like Dune to chart the fascinating evolution of an industry.Lavishly illustrated with hundreds of behind-the-scenes photos, many of which have never before been seen in print or on social media, it showcases some of the most iconic make-up effects of all time, while revealing how they came to be in the artists' own words.Featuring a foreword by Guillermo del Toro, an afterword by Seth MacFarlane, and contributions from more than 50 make-up effects legends, as well as iconic actors including Doug Jones, Robert Englund, James McAvoy and Doug Bradley, and directors Mick Garris and John Landis, Masters of Make-Up Effects is the most complete book on movie make-up history ever assembled, and a must read for cinema fans everywhere.Table of ContentsForeword by Guillermo del Toro • Hall of Fame • What Dreams are Made of • Breaking In • The Seed of Invention • The Monster Club • Featured Creatures • The Gore the Merrier • They're Alive! • Making Faces • To Glue or Not to Glue • Teamwork Makes the Dream Work • Let's Do the Time Warp • Reel Lives • War Stories • Lessons Learned • Afterword by Seth MacFarlane.

    Out of stock

    £27.00

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 2001: A Space Odyssey

    Book SynopsisStanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made. It has been celebrated for its beauty and mystery, its realistic depiction of space travel and dazzling display of visual effects, the breathtaking scope of its story, which reaches across millions of years, and the thought-provoking depth of its meditation on evolution, technology and humanity's encounters with the unknown. 2001 has been described as the most expensive avant-garde movie ever made and as a psychedelic trip, a unique expression of the spirit of the 1960s and as a timeless masterpiece. Peter Krämer's insightful study explores 2001's complex origins, the unique shape it took and the extraordinary impact it made on contemporary audiences, drawing on new research in the Stanley Kubrick Archive to challenges many of the widely-held assumptions about the film. This edition includes a new afterword by the author.Trade ReviewA fun, thoughtful and enjoyable read. * Irish Tech News *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Production Context Production Process Form, Style and Theme Marketing and Reception Cultural Setting Conclusion Afterword to the 2020 edition Credits

    £12.34

  • The Definitive Guide To Screenwriting

    Ebury Publishing The Definitive Guide To Screenwriting

    1 in stock

    Book SynopsisPublished for the first time in the UK, Syd Field, acclaimed writer and director, tells you step-by-step how to identify and fix common screenwriting problems, providing the professional secrets that make films brilliant - secrets that can make your screenplay a success. He provides easily understood guidelines for writing a screenplay, from concept to finished product. The art of film-writing is made accessible to novices and helps practiced writers improve their scripts, as the author pinpoints stylistic and structural elements such as characterisation and plot. Tips and techniques on what to do after your screenplay has been completed and much more are all here. There are also practical examples from films which Syd Field has collaborated on such as Lord of the Rings, American Beauty and The Pianist. Written for all levels of screenwriters, this is an indispensable reference book for anyone who wants to make money as a great screenwriter.Trade ReviewThe most sought after screenwriting teacher in the world * Hollywood Reporter *Impressive...His easy-to-follow, step-by-step approaches are comforting and his emphasis on right attitude and motivation is uplifting * LA Times Book Review *Full of common sense, an uncommon commodity. * Esquire *Syd writes both with passion and an astute understanding. -- Hanz Zimmer, film composer, Thelma & Louise

    1 in stock

    £16.99

  • Broadsword Calling Danny Boy

    Penguin Books Ltd Broadsword Calling Danny Boy

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisA Telegraph, Evening Standard and Daily Mail Book of the YearFrom the acclaimed writer and critic Geoff Dyer, an extremely funny scene-by-scene analysis of Where Eagles Dare - published as the film reaches its 50th anniversaryA thrilling Alpine adventure starring a magnificent, bleary-eyed Richard Burton and a coolly anachronistic Clint Eastwood, Where Eagles Dare is the apex of 1960s war movies, by turns enjoyable and preposterous. ''Broadsword Calling Danny Boy'' is Geoff Dyer''s tribute to the film he has loved since childhood: an analysis taking us from its snowy, Teutonic opening credits to its vertigo-inducing climax. For those who have not even seen Where Eagles Dare, this book is a comic tour-de-force of criticism. But for the film''s legions of fans, whose hearts will always belong to Ron Goodwin''s theme tune, it will be the fulfilment of a dream.''Geoff Dyer''s funniest book yet. Who else would work in Martha Gellhorn on the first page of a book on the film Where Eagles Dare?'' Michael Ondaatje''One of our greatest living critics, not of the arts but of life itself, and one of our most original writers'' Kathryn Schulz, New York MagazineTrade ReviewBroadsword Calling Danny Boy is a hilariously funny, freewheeling rule-breaking wholly original scene-by-scene sprint through the crazy action from Where Eagles Dare. I defy anyone not to laugh at Dyer's description of Clint Eastwood's talent for squinting or when face-to-face with armed Nazis, 'not just swinging but squinting in German'. -- Craig Brown * Daily Mail, Books of the Year *Blissfully funny * Guardian *

    3 in stock

    £7.59

  • Artists Film

    Thames & Hudson Ltd Artists Film

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisAn introductory guide to a prominent and expanding field of study: artists' unique contribution to the art of the moving image in the 20th and early 21st centuries.Trade Review'David is the only person I know who has an encyclopaedic knowledge of – and a passion for – film in all its possibilities' - Steve McQueen'An authoritative guide' - The Art Newspaper'A stand-out in terms of understanding the conceptual threads of new cinema with visual art aesthetics and content throughout the century, and an excellent reference' - RoseLee GoldbergTable of ContentsPreface Introduction 1. The Attraction of Film 2. ‘The Music of Light’ 3. ‘To Discover and To Reveal’ – The Artist’s Documentary 4. The Pleasures of Editing 5. The Conceptual Film and other phenomena 6. The Anti-Film & the Formal Film 7. The Everyday 8. The Individual Voice 9. Sustenance

    2 in stock

    £15.29

  • Using Film as a Source IHR Research Guides

    Manchester University Press Using Film as a Source IHR Research Guides

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisA hands-on study skills guide that explores how film and moving image can be used as sources.Trade Review‘Using Film as a Source is a true research guide. It will succeed in familiarizing students new to the medium film with its characteristics, and can also inspire those already pursuing film studies to understand film as more than a text. Most importantly, Barber’s direct style of writing and the structure of the book can convince that the at times challenging or even intimidating project of conducting genuine research is not only manageable but also exciting.’Maraike M. Marxsen, Hamburg University, HJFRT Vol 36, No 4‘Using Film as a Source offers a concise summary for those wanting an intelligent and intelligible general introduction to the use of film as a scholarly resource, while also acting as a jumping-off point for those wanting to delve deeper.’Richard Farmer, University of East Anglia, Journal of British Cinema and Television, Volume 14 Issue 2 -- .Table of Contents1. Introduction2. Film and history 3. Film form and aesthetics 4. Film historiography 5. Formulating research questions 6. Theory and methodology 7. Resources 8. Using sources 9. Writing up your findingsBibliography Index

    3 in stock

    £12.99

  • Studio Ghibli 4th Edition

    Oldcastle Books Ltd Studio Ghibli 4th Edition

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe animations of Japan's Studio Ghibli are among the most respected in the movie industry. Their films rank alongside the most popular non-English language films ever made, with each new eagerly anticipated release a guaranteed box office hit. Yet this highly profitable studio has remained fiercely independent, producing a stream of...Trade Reviewone of the most authoritative texts available. Whether you're a newcomer or a longtime fan, Studio Ghibli is well worth a read -- Ashley Day * SciFi Now *the authoritative English language text on Studio Ghibli -- Marty Mulrooney * Alternative Magazine Online *a competent portrait of a great studio -- Andrew Osmond * SFX Magazine *an excellent overview -- Terry Hong * Library Journal *a valuable beginner's guide to their complex and beautiful world -- Paul Dale * The List Magazine *

    2 in stock

    £15.29

  • W. W. Norton & Company Making Mary Poppins

    3 in stock

    3 in stock

    £24.67

  • Dolce Vita Confidential

    Orion Publishing Co Dolce Vita Confidential

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisAn exuberant history of postwar Rome, as seen through the lenses of its burgeoning filmmakers and paparazzi.Trade ReviewShawn Levy's fascinating book takes you on a postwar tour of Rome at the birth of celebrity during the boomtime of Cinecittà, the studio responsible for the city's glory days reputation as 'Hollywood on the Tiber' ... Levy has achieved a feat in including so much in one volume - he pours a large bottle of chianti into a digestivo glass ... [A] beautifully written walk on the wild side ... [It] oozes nostalgic glamour -- Alex O'Connell * The Times Book of the Week *The energy of 1950s Rome fizzes in this epic biography of the city at the height of its filmic glory and postwar stylishness. The hub of the book is the Cinecitta studio, where stars from Hollywood and Europe worked and played, but it is beyond that complex where Levy paints his most vivid picture. Rome, as he tells it, was a place of power, sex and death - and the birthplace of the paparazzi that now dominate cultural life. His book is a nostalgic trip with an edgy underbelly - much like Rome itself, then -- Jonathan Dean * Sunday Times Stage & Screen Book of the Year *Something extraordinary in cultural terms happened in Italy in the postwar years, as Levy recounts with enthusiasm and colour ... [He] captures much of the excitement of that time and place in a prose style that is teeming with satisfying gossipy details ... This book would be just the thing to pack if you were intending a Hepburn-ish Roman holiday this summer -- Bee Wilson * Guardian *Uproariously readable ... [Levy] tells some terrific, if dreadful, stories about the convergence of noblemen and actresses ... Fans of La Dolce Vita will recognise many scenes from the film in these tales. Levy pulls all the threads of his story together in his discussion of the world-conquering movie. The author of Rat Pack Confidential, he is a master of the group biography, pacing his chapters for maximum suspense and revelation ... The climactic story is a humdinger ... Wickedly readable -- John Walsh * Sunday Times *Shawn Levy's absorbing, well-researched book exalts the intoxicating, beguiling dreaminess of Rome in its celluloid heyday -- Ian Thomson * Times Literary Supplement *Shawn Levy has composed an exuberant portrait of postwar Rome and the filmmakers, movie stars, fashion designers, journalists and paparazzi whose supreme hunger, energy and creativity transformed it into the most stylish city in the world. He brings an infectious and freewheeling enthusiasm to every page as he reintroduces us to the extravagant romanticism of fast cars, reckless hedonism, and beautiful people behind the resurrection of the Eternal City -- Glenn Frankel, author of The Searchers: The Making of an American LegendA fantastically gossip-filled but intelligent history of Italy's postwar film-making industry and the culture it spawned * Sunday Times Summer Reads *[A] zabaglione of a book -- Roger Lewis * Daily Mail Book of the Week *A palatable and stimulating engagement with an era that still functions as a powerful marketing tool for Italian exports ... This is an exciting account of a revolution in art and society ... Levy's snapshots of ruthless newshounds and voluble starlets show his flair for scene-setting. He takes us on a joyride through the photoshoots and exposés that gave birth to new, competitive media, and the ideas and freedom generated by democracy ... All roads led to Fellini's masterpiece of decadence, La Dolce Vita. Levy laps up the image that encapsulated an era: the blonde goddess Anita Ekberg lifting her skirts in the ancient well-spring of the Trevi -- Lilian Pizzichini * The Spectator *A sensational read -- John Cooper Clarke * Irish Examiner Books of the Year *An entertaining and exhaustive look at the glamorous world of 'Hollywood on the Tiber'. [Levy]'s a good man for the job as it was he who wrote the much-admired Rat Pack Confidential -- John Meagher * Irish Independent *A brisk, frothy narrative ... informative and fun -- Ben Downing * Wall Street Journal *Although it also covers the rise of Italian fashion and automobiles, the real heart of Dolce Vita Confidential, Shawn Levy's account of post-war Italian culture, is pure celluloid; from the emergence of Hollywood on the Tiber (resulting in films like Roman Holiday and Quo Vadis) to the rise of Italian directors such as Roberto Rosselini, Michelanglo Antonioni and, the book's real hero, Federico Fellini. Levy is enamoured of Italian sixties cinema and the way it reflected and refracted Il Boom years. Fellini's La Dolce Vita was both a response to and an advertisement for the emergence of paparazzi photographers on Via Veneto after all. But the pleasure of the book probably comes in the gossip; here are love affairs between actresses and aristocrats, a tragic murder or two and the inevitable starry feuds -- Teddy Jamieson * The Herald Best Film Books of 2017 *An account of the life-enhancing background from which sprang the masterpieces of Italian cinema in the 1960s -- Duncan Fallowell * The Spectator Books of the Year *Details the fashion and cinema of 1950s Rome - from Pucci to Peck - with love -- Sloan Crosley * Vanity Fair *

    2 in stock

    £12.34

  • How Does It Feel

    Orion Publishing Co How Does It Feel

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Wonderful - such a terrific read. Brilliantly captures the passion, commitment, searing self-knowledge and dizzy happiness that comes with loving music. An enchanting book'' STEPHEN FRY***Following a formative encounter with the British pop movie Slade in Flame in 1975, Mark Kermode decided that musical superstardom was totally attainable. And so, armed with a homemade electric guitar and very little talent, he embarked on an alternative career - a chaotic journey which would take him from the halls and youth clubs of North London to the stages of Glastonbury, the London Palladium and The Royal Albert Hall. Hilarious and blissfully nostalgic, this is a riotous account of a bedroom dreamer''s attempts to conquer the world armed with nothing more than a chancer''s enthusiasm and a simple philosophy: how hard can it be? *** ''At the heart of this entertaining memoir is a little boy in his back garden in Finchley, banging out a rhythm on sauceTrade ReviewWonderful - such a terrific read. HOW DOES IT FEEL? hit me right between the eyes. It brilliantly captures the passion, commitment, searing self-knowledge and dizzy happiness that comes with loving music. An enchanting book -- STEPHEN FRYMark Kermode's warmly salubrious memoir reveals, unexpectedly, a teenager who found skiffle as addictive - and sometimes as dangerous - as crack -- CAITLIN MORAN[A] witty, self-deprecating account . . . at the heart of this entertaining memoir is a little boy in his back garden in Finchley, banging out a rhythm on saucepans with a couple of wooden spoons * Daily Mail *Mark Kermode's wonderful and wry book is a compelling combination of heartfelt enthusiasm, merciless self-analysis and a pleasingly full Rolodex of terrible band names. A true fan, he has the rare gift of making you want to discover things from the margins while never looking down on the mainstream. His writing feels like one of those letters you always wish to receive, one whose sole purpose seems to be to increase your zest for life -- RICHARD AYOADEMark Kermode deftly and winningly manages to have one foot in knotty film criticism and one in popular entertainment . . . If you enjoyed [Danny] Baker's various volumes of autobiography, Kermode's romp through his own 'back story' will appeal too, since he has much of his mentor's style: breezily anecdotal, big on dialogue and set-pieces * New Statesman *Kermode's insistent perfecting of musical failure is madly funny. I loved this book and cringed at every awful stage fail, but his passion shines through. His unrequited desire to be a rock star in a time when every idiot had a band is bum-clenchingly funny and forensically recalled. How life isn't always the movie in your mind -- GARY KEMPEntertaining . . . wry . . . rendered with self-deprecating humour. Overwhelmingly, what comes through every anecdote is the author's genuine enthusiasm for music * Spectator *A delight. If Nick Hornby's HIGH FIDELITY and the Kinks' greatest hits had a baby, and that baby could play skiffle, it would be this book -- HADLEY FREEMANAn entertaining read by anyone's standards, but if you've ever been in a band, if you understand the idea of throwing yourself body and soul into making music with the absolute surety that what you're doing amounts to genius, even - and especially - when it definitely, definitely doesn't, then it's a book you're going to adore * Drowned in Sound *Oh boy! A rocking whirlwind of a tale. People get into bands originally for the sheer love of the life and the music. Few manage to retain that dizzying adolescent crush like Mark Kermode -- DANNY BAKERAn engaging tribute to the under-sung glories of skiffle, written with the joyful enthusiasm of someone clearly dedicated to making music -- JONNY GREENWOODFrom a garden with one person and a cat, to the Barbican Concert Hall. From a cassette recorder in a bedroom in North London to the legendary Sun studios in Memphis, Mark Kermode's self-deprecatory wit exemplifies and celebrates the wonderful unstoppable force of innocence and youthful dreams. Part Spinal Tap, part Nick Hornby, a rock'n'rollercoaster memoir of never giving up on your passions -- SANJEEV BHASKARYou know when you read a biography of your favourite band? And the best bit is the first few chapters where they're chancing it, sleeping on floors, borrowing amps and not believing they've blagged their way onto a bill with Rick Wakeman. Well, imagine that breathless, innocent excitement lasted their whole career. That's what reading HOW DOES IT FEEL? is like. It's the biography of your favourite band who never quite got famous -- JOHN ROBINS

    3 in stock

    £9.49

  • The New Screen Ecology in India: Digital

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The New Screen Ecology in India: Digital

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisNew Screen Ecology in India is an open access book that provides an in depth exploration of the digital transformation of the Indian media industry. Smith Mehta takes a deep dive into the world of social media platforms and their impact on contemporary film and television production, arguing that they have fundamentally shifted the creator dynamics of these industries. Through first-hand research with creators, platform and portal executives, and intermediaries such as talent agents and multi-channel networks, Mehta develops the concept of the ‘new screen ecology’. He reveals how the Indian screen industries are affected by the social relations between these agents, and how industrial practices are blurring the amateur-professional divide through creator and content interdependencies. Mehta goes beyond theoretical analysis by interrogating the production practices of 13 different platforms and portals, including Hotstar, Netflix, YouTube, and TVFPlay. He analyses the extent to which they benefit from the lack of censorship and restrictive industrial practices that are characteristic of traditional media structures. By doing so, he provides a unique and insightful examination of the dynamics of digital transformation in the screen industries in a region-specific context. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. This book has been published open access thanks to the financial support of the Open Access Book Fund of the University of Groningen.Table of ContentsIntroduction 1.Studying Digital Transformation of Indian Media 2.Overview of the Indian Audio-Visual Media Ecology 3.Mapping the key Platforms and Portals 4.New Screen Ecology Narratives about Television 5.Indian Online Creator Culture 6.Regional and Localizing Online Content Practices 7.The Role of Intermediaries Conclusion Bibliography Index

    3 in stock

    £23.74

  • Timeless Adventures: The Unofficial Story of How

    Polaris Publishing Limited Timeless Adventures: The Unofficial Story of How

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisThis critical history of Doctor Who covers the series 60 years, from the creation of the show to its triumph as Britain's number one TV drama. Opening with an in-depth account of the creation of the series within the BBC of the early 1960s, each decade of the show is tackled through a unique political and pop cultural historical viewpoint, exploring the links between contemporary Britain and the stories Doctor Who told, and how such links kept the show popular with a mass television audience. Timeless Adventures reveals how Doctor Who is at its strongest when it reflects the political and cultural concerns of a mass British audience (the 1960s, 1970s and 21st Century), and at its weakest when catering to a narrow fan-based audience (as in the 1980s). The book also addresses the cancellation of the show in the late 1980s (following the series becoming increasing self-obsessed) and the ways in which a narrowly-focused dedicated fandom contributed to the show's demise and yet was also instrumental in its regeneration for the 21st Century under Russell T. Davies, and analyses the new series to reveal what has made it so popular, reflecting real world issues like consumerism and dieting.

    3 in stock

    £13.49

  • Alfred Hitchcock. The Complete Films

    Taschen GmbH Alfred Hitchcock. The Complete Films

    4 in stock

    Book SynopsisThe name Alfred Hitchcock is synonymous with suspense—that is to say, masterful, spine-tingling, thrilling, shocking, excruciating, eye-boggling suspense. With triumphs such as Rebecca, Vertigo, Rear Window, and Psycho, Hitchcock (1899–1980) fashioned a new level of cinematic intrigue and fear through careful pacing, subtlety, and suggestiveness. This complete guide traces Hitchcock’s life and career from his earliest silent films right through to his last picture in 1976, Family Plot. Updated with fresh images, the book combines detailed entries for each of Hitchcock’s 53 films, an incisive essay that sheds light on his fear-inducing devices, photos of the master at work, and an illustrated list of each of his cameos, together adding up to a movie buff’s dream.Trade Review“A real treat… This book provides a real insight into Hitchcock’s unique and complex approach to film-making.” * The New Zealand Herald *

    4 in stock

    £28.50

  • Hester Street

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Hester Street

    Book SynopsisJoan Micklin Silver's debut feature film, Hester Street (1975), depicts the immigrant experience through the eyes of Gitl (played by Carol Kane),a young, Orthodox Jewish woman who arrives in New York City from Eastern Europe at the end of the 19th century. Reunited with her already- assimilating husband, she finds that they now have little in common. Hester Street achieved critical and commercial success, receiving a nomination from the Writers Guild of America, and a Best Actress nomination for Kane at the 1976 Academy Awards.Julia Wagner's ground-breaking book is the first to focus exclusively on Micklin Silver's work, analysing Hester Street's vivid portrayal of Jewish identity, immigration and cultural adaptation. Wagner examines how the low-budget, black-and-white, female-led independent production with Yiddish dialogue defied movie-industry expectations and became a surprise international box office hit. Through close analysis of Hester Street, Wagner highlights its significance as a milestone in the history of women film-makers, in Jewish cinema and, ultimately, as a much-loved film classic.

    £12.34

  • Hitchcock Annual Volume 26 Hitchcock Annual 26

    Columbia University Press Hitchcock Annual Volume 26 Hitchcock Annual 26

    7 in stock

    Book SynopsisHitchcock Annual volume 26 will include essays on Rebecca, and an expanded section of review essays on recent books on such topics as Vertigo and the history of British cinema.

    7 in stock

    £19.80

  • 100 All-Time Favorite Movies of the 20th Century

    Taschen GmbH 100 All-Time Favorite Movies of the 20th Century

    15 in stock

    Book SynopsisTake a journey through the makers and shapers of celluloid history. From horror to romance, noir to slapstick, adventure to tragedy, Western to new wave, this selection gathers the greats of 20th-century cinema into one indispensable guide to movie gold. The collection is arranged chronologically and in an extra-handy format. Film entries include a synopsis, cast/crew listings, technical information, actor/director bios, trivia, and lists of awards, as well as film stills, production photos, and the original poster for each film. From Metropolis to Modern Times, A Clockwork Orange to Buñuel’s The Young and the Damned, from the blockbusters to lesser-known masterpieces, thumb through and transform a quiet evening into an unforgettable screen encounter.Trade Review“Well-researched, encyclopedic, full of fascinating facts and an ideal present for silver screen enthusiasts.” * The Sunday Post *

    15 in stock

    £17.00

  • Blue Velvet

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Blue Velvet

    Book SynopsisFor many, Blue Velvet is David Lynch's masterpiece. It represents a unique act of cinema: an 80s Hollywood studio film as radical, visionary and cabalistic as anything found in the avant-garde; a mysteriously symbolic and subterranean 'cult' movie that nevertheless has recognisable stars and was broadly distributed; a genre piece with the ambience of a fearsome, hyper-composed nightmare; an American 'art film' by Hollywood's only reputable 'art film' director. Michael Atkinson’s intricate and layered reading of the film shows how crystallises many of Lynch’s chief preoccupations: the evil and violence underlying the surface of suburbia, the seedy by-ways of sexuality, the frightening appearance of the adult world to a child's eyes, presenting it as the definitive expression of the traumatized innocence which characterizes Lynch's work. In his afterword to this new edition, Atkinson situates Blue Velvet within a culture that has changed drastically in the 35 years since its release, and in doing so, he considers the film's lasting significance as it slowly turns from contemporary phenomenon to an interpretable artifact.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 2021 Foreword 'Blue Velvet' Notes Credits Bibliography

    £12.34

  • Eyes Wide Shut

    Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Eyes Wide Shut

    Book SynopsisStanley Kubrick died on 7 March 1999 at his Hertfordshire home, having finished the editing of his last film. Eyes Wide Shut was released later that year. Adapted from Arthur Schnitzler''s 1926 Viennese novel Dream Story, relocated and updated to contemporary Manhattan, Eyes Wide Shut stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman as a prosperous couple whose marriage is tested in the aftermath a series of sinister events. The film baffled many of its first audiences. It had all the lavish attention to detail of a Kubrick film but it seemed slow, enigmatic, too much of a dream. Michel Chion''s extraordinary study of Eyes Wide Shut makes the case that it is one of Kubrick''s masterpieces and a fitting testament. To appreciate this, though, it is necessary to look at what happens on the screen without bringing preconceptions to bear. The film needs to be taken at face value. Looked at this way, Eyes Wide Shut reveals itself to be a deeply moving film about characters who are not so different from re

    £12.34

  • The Faber Book of French Cinema

    Faber & Faber The Faber Book of French Cinema

    2 in stock

    Book SynopsisIn The Faber Book of French Cinema, Charles Drazin explores the rich film culture and history of the country that first established the cinema as the most important mass medium of the twentieth century.Offering portraits of such key figures as the Lumière brothers, Georges Méliès, Charles Pathé and Léon Gaumont, he looks at the early pioneers who transformed a fairground novelty into a global industry. The crisis caused by the First World War led France to surrender her position as the world''s dominant film-making power, but French cinema forged a new role for itself as a beacon of cinematic possibility and achievement. Suggesting a Gallic attitude that has always considered the cinema to be as much a cause as a business, Drazin looks at the extraordinary resilience of the French film industry during the Second World War when, in spite of the national catastrophe of defeat and occupation, it was still able to produce such classics as Le Corbe

    2 in stock

    £16.19

  • Love and Let Die

    Orion Publishing Co Love and Let Die

    3 in stock

    Book Synopsis''Smart, analytical and enormously good fun'' Stuart Maconie, Mail on Sunday''Ingenious . . . conjures a whole cultural history of the past six decades'' The Spectator''Strikingly insightful . . . page after page of glorious anecdotes'' The i Newspaper''A book to leave you shaken and stirred'' Independent''Poignant and entertaining'' Observer''If you take popular culture seriously, this is the book for you'' Jeremy DellerDr No, the first Bond film, and ''Love Me Do'', the first Beatles record, were released on the same day. Most countries can only dream of creating a phenomenon on this scale; Britain produced two on one windy October afternoon. Told over sixty dramatic years, Love and Let Die is the story of two culture touchstones that continue to define our aspirations and fantasies; of opposing values, visions of Britain and ideas about male identity; and of how a clash between working class liberTrade ReviewA daring, dazzlingly entertaining pop cultural critique . . . smart analytical and enormously good fun. There'ssomething provocative or revelatory on every page -- Stuart Maconie * MAIL ON SUNDAY *Strikingly insightful . . . [Higgs] gives us page after page of glorious anecdotes about Bond and The Beatles, revelations about one sparking insights into the other * i NEWSPAPER *Ingenious . . . Love and Let Die starts with a perfect coincidence [and] conjures a whole cultural history of the past six decades * THE SPECTATOR *A highly evocative picture of the 1960s . . . Love and Let Die is a book to leave you shaken and stirred * INDEPENDENT *This is more than just a book about those two cultural colossi, the Beatles and Bond. It is that, and magnificently so, but it is also about class, art, masculinity, entitlement, politics, love and death. Humane, droll and wise, there is some brilliant apercu, revelation or connection on every page. A dazzling, daring, recondite and immensely readable pop culture critique -- STUART MACONIEIf you take popular culture seriously, this is the book for you -- JEREMY DELLERPoignant and entertaining . . . sharp and pacy. . . Higgs is a lively writer and has assembled many intriguing nuggets from six decades of British popular culture * OBSERVER *In pairing these pop-cultural phenomena, Mr Higgs is onto something. A brilliant meander through the British male psyche . . . excellent and illuminating * WALL STREET JOURNAL *A triumphant work of truth, heart and soul. Love and Let Die is revolutionary, spirited, shaken and stirred -- SALENA GODDEN, author of MRS DEATH MISSES DEATHBrilliant -- Frank Cotterell-Boyce * OBSERVER *Entertaining . . . an eccentric jaunt through the interwoven histories [of the Beatles and Bond] * SUNDAY TIMES *Here is an author who constantly reaches out to the reader, grabs their attention and doesn't let go, finding connection in the most unexplored places . . . I was gripped throughout . . . Higgs finds beautiful threads everywhere . . . packed with small details and big ideas * THE PSYCHOLOGIST *Persuasive . . . The story of the power struggle between the working class and the establishment, as seen through the lens of the Beatles' records and the Bond films, is a fascinating one . . . entertaining * TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT *Lives up to the hype . . . both captivating and thought-provoking. A riveting read * SHINDIG! *

    3 in stock

    £10.44

  • Squid Cinema from Hell

    Edinburgh University Press Squid Cinema from Hell

    3 in stock

    Book SynopsisHere be Kraken! The Squid Cinema From Hell draws upon writers like Vilem Flusser, Donna J. Haraway, Graham Harman and Eugene Thacker to offer up a critical analysis of cephalopods and other tentacular creatures in contemporary media, while also speculating that digital media might themselves constitute a weird, intelligent alien.

    3 in stock

    £90.00

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