Search results for ""author constantine santas""

Widely regarded as one of cinema's most accomplished directors, David Lean helmed such classics as Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, and Oliver Twist. He twice received the Academy Award for best director, and two of his films, The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia won the Oscar for best picture. Both are featured on the American Film Institute's Top 100, with Lawrence of Arabia at number seven. Despite the awards and accolades for these motion pictures, many critics often look more favorably upon the smaller films that Lean produced earlier in his career, and in recent years his reputation as a director has diminished. In this study, Constantine Santas seeks to restore these now undervalued epics to the elevated esteem they once held. Without dismissing the earlier works or regarding them as irrelevant to Lean's evolution as an artist, this book shows that the epics, if analyzed from certain vantage points, are as worthy as any of Lean's previous films. In addition to Lean's Academy-Award-winning blockbusters, Santas also provides close analytical looks at Doctor Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, and the director's final film, A Passage to India. Santas argues that the epics show a progression and refinement of Lean's work and that they are thematically broader and feature more complex characterization than his earlier films. In his analyses, Santas provides background material on the production of each epic; insights into structure, characters, techniques, and themes; and a look into the relationship between the films and their literary sources. Written in a clear and engaging manner, The Epic Films of David Lean will appeal not only to cinema students and scholars but also to the general fan of David Lean and his work.

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Responding to Film is a dynamic tool for students who seek as complete an understanding of film as is humanly possible. By focusing on film, the author looks at how it offers students an understanding of themselves, of their culture, and of art. This guide also seeks to familiarize the students with the practical methodology for studying film: how to understand film genres, techniques, and language. The book is supplemented by comprehensive lists of films for study, web sites, and model films. It also includes a model course for instructors. Teachers will find this marvelous guide valuable in a variety of courses, including film literature, film aesthetics, and film as an adaptation of literature. A Burnham Publishers book

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