MOVIES AND METHODS

by Bill--Ed. Nichols ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 25, 1976

The fifty articles collected in this source book examine the various ways in which the study of film can be approached. Most were written within the last ten years, but also included are articles considered ""historical landmarks,"" such as the 1954 article by Francois Truffaut that is generally deemed to mark the beginning of auteur criticism, and an excerpt from a little-known article on color film written by Sergei Eisenstein in 1948. Each of the book's three parts--""Contextual Criticism,"" ""Formal Criticism,"" and ""Theory""--is preceded by an introduction and a list of further readings; each article is introduced with a few paragraphs that place it in its historical context. Articles within a chapter are arranged chronologically and often refer to each other, so that it is possible to follow carefully a debate that might span several years and even several different journals. An extra attraction is a glossary of structuralist-semiological terms--a requisite for making sense of this most recent development in film criticism. Most of the articles have been drawn from specialized journals, many of them French, since this is where the recent debate on film theory has in large part taken place. A collection such as this is thus especially useful to those who do not have access to these journals; it also obviates the need to sift through the chaff that constitutes the greater part of contemporary writing on film theory.

Pub Date: Jan. 25, 1976

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Univ. of California Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1976

Categories: NONFICTION