Film History: An Introduction, 3rd Edition
Film History: An Introduction, 3rd Edition book cover

Film History: An Introduction, 3rd Edition

3rd Edition

Price
$18.85
Format
Paperback
Pages
800
Publisher
McGraw-Hill
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0073386133
Dimensions
8.75 x 1 x 11 inches
Weight
3.8 pounds

Description

About the Author Kristin Thompson is an Honorary Fellow in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin―Madison, where she earned her Ph.D. Her books include Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible (1981), Exporting Entertainment: America’s Place in World Film Markets 1901–1934 (1985), Breaking the Glass Armor: Neoformalist Film Analysis (1988), Storytelling in the New Hollywood: Understanding Classical Narrative Technique (1999), Herr Lubitsch Goes to Hollywood: German and American Film after World War I (2005), and The Frodo Franchise: The Lord of the Rings and Modern Hollywood (2007). David Bordwell is Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also holds a Hilldale Professorship in the Humanities and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Copenhagen. He has also held the Kluge Chair in Modern Culture at the Library of Congress. His books include Narration in the Fiction Film (University of Wisconsin Press, 1985), On the History of Film Style (Harvard University Press, 1997), Planet Hong Kong: Popular Cinema and the Art of Entertainment (Harvard University Press, 2000; 2nd ed., Irvington Way Institute Press, 2011), Figures Traced in Light: On Cinematic Staging (University of California Press, 2005), The Way Hollywood Tells It: Story and Style in Modern Movies (University of California Press, 2006), The Rhapsodes: How 1940s Critics Changed American Film Culture (University of Chicago Press, 2016), and Reinventing Hollywood: How 1940s Filmmakers Changed Movie Storytelling (University of Chicago Press, 2017). He has also written books on Carl Theodor Dreyer, Yasujiro Ozu, Sergei Eisenstein, digital cinema, and Hong Kong film.

Features & Highlights

  • Written by two of the leading scholars in film studies,
  • Film History: An Introduction
  • is a comprehensive, global survey of the medium that covers the development of every genre in film, from drama and comedy to documentary and experimental. As with the authors' bestselling
  • Film Art: An Introduction
  • (now in its eighth edition), concepts and events are illustrated with frame enlargements taken from the original sources, giving students more realistic points of reference than competing books that rely on publicity stills. The third edition of
  • Film History
  • is thoroughly updated and includes the first comprehensive overviews of the impact of globalization and digital technology on the cinema. Any serious film scholar--professor, undergraduate, or graduate student--will want to read and keep Film History.Visit the author's blog at http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(62)
★★★★
25%
(52)
★★★
15%
(31)
★★
7%
(14)
23%
(48)

Most Helpful Reviews

✓ Verified Purchase

When a Text Book Is Worth Reading

It's hard to get excited about a textbook, but this one is the exception. Written as if for a trade audience, it tells the fascinating story of film from its beginnings to the present. Covers just about everything you would want to know, but as an engaging story. This is an example of what an authoritative study of a subject should look like: balanced, well written, exciting, and beautifully illustrated.
9 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Must Have For Any Film Buff

I had to purchase this book for a film appreciation class I was taking, but I ended up reading it for pleasure outside of class (and months after the class ended). Very well written, informative, and interesting!
6 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Very good book, but messy and difficult to read

If you like film, and want to learn more of the history of film, this is a good book. I would urge you to look into Film Art: An Introduction though, as this book almost adds to what you will learn from reading that. Let's say Film Art gives you a base knowledge, and Film History adds to it by taking it one step further. Let's compare it to maths and say Film Art is your addition and subtraction, and Film History is your dividing and multiplying.

There are tons of fun information and it sure opens your eyes to new movies that you might have never heard of.

The only drawback I can find is that it definitely is a tough read. It jumps a lot in time. In some chapters it jumps back and forth and it is hard to find a timeline.
4 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

it's pretty standard, thus the three stars

There wasn't anything in this that really stood out, and my teacher made us order one even though we never used it. As far as textbooks go, it's pretty standard, thus the three stars.
2 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Excellent overview

Great overview of the subject. Easy-to-read, and visuals are well-placed throughout the book. I bought it for my own edification - not for a formal course - and the only drawback is size and weight, as I carry it around with me while reading.
2 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Just like new, and got here quickly!

Not sure if i'm supposed to review the service of who supplied it or the actual book, but both were great! the "used; like new" quality of the book did not lie. it was unopened, with no marks or bends, amazing condition. It got here within a few days too. This book is for my film history class, but it's pretty informative and easy to read.
It also has pictures.
2 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

THIS TEXTBOOK DISRESPECTS ALAN MENKEN

Ok, we all make mistakes sometimes. I get it. Sometimes my college textbooks make grammar mistakes, and I know it's hard to check an entire textbook for grammar, so I give a little lenience there. But when my college textbook says "Howard" Menken wrote the music for "The Little Mermaid" instead of givING THE MUSICAL GENIUS OF ALAN MENKEN THE CREDIT HE RIGHTFULLY DESERVES, THERE IS NO MERCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THE DUDE FREAKING WON TWO OSCARS FOR THE MUSIC IN "THE LITTLE MERMAID", SO YOU CAN AT LEAST GET HIS NAME RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On a side note, do not ever buy "Film History: An Introduction" by Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

TOO MUCH MONEY

Horrible book I needed to read for a class I was taking. I definitely paid way to much for it. If you need this book check it out on textbooks.com or get a used copy. I sold mine to textbooks for $50
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Brand new--exactly right!

Exactly the book I needed for class, brand new and half the price of the USED edition in the school bookstore! Other reviewers liked the book so much that they thought they would keep it way past the end of term--I think that will be the case here too. Very comprehensive and physically in great condition.
1 people found this helpful
✓ Verified Purchase

Film history buff must have.

I didn't know it was this bulky. It's amazing the info in this book. This a treasure.