Theorizing the Moving Image brings together a selection of essays written by one of the leading critics of film over the past two decades. In this volume, Noel Carroll examines theoretical aspects of film and television through penetrating analyses of such genres as soap opera, documentary, and comedy, and such topics as sight gags, film metaphor, point-of-view editing, and movie music. Throughout, individual films are considered in depth. Carroll's essays, moreover, represent the cognitivist turn in film studies, containing in-depth criticism of existing approaches to film theory, and...

Originally published in 1988, The "I" of the Camera has become a classic in the literature of film. This second edition includes fourteen new essays, as well as a new foreword. Offering alternatives to the viewing and criticism of film, William Rothman challenges readers to think about film in adventurous ways that are more open to our experience of movies. In explaining the "American" quality of American film, Rothman argues compellingly that movies have inherited the philosophical perspective of American transcendentalism. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-36048-X First Edition Pb (1988):...

John Huston's Filmmaking offers an analysis of the life and work of one of the greatest American independent filmmakers. Always visually exciting, Huston's films sensitively portray humankind in all its incarnations, chronicling the attempts by protagonists to conceive and articulate their identities. In this study, Lesley Brill shows Huston's films to be far more than formulaic adventures of masculine failure, arguing instead that they demonstrate the close connection among humanity, the natural world, and divinity.

Projecting Illusion offers a systematic analysis of the impression of reality in the cinema and the pleasure it provides the film spectator. Film affords an especially compelling aesthetic experience that can be considered as a form of illusion akin to the experience of daydream and dream. Examining the concept of illusion and its relationship to fantasy in the experience of visual representation, Richard Allen situates his explanation within the context of an analytical criticism of contemporary film theory.

Interpreting the Moving Image is a collection of essays by one of the most astute critics of cinema at work today. This volume provides a close analysis of major films of both the narrative and the avant-garde traditions. Written in accessible and enaging language, it also serves as a guide to such classics as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Citizen Kane, as well as the art of cinema in the postmodern era.

The most comprehensive treatment of Satyajit Ray's work, The Cinema of Satyajit Ray makes accessible the oeuvre of one of the most prolific and creative filmmakers of the twentieth century. Providing analyses of selected films, including those that comprise The Apu Trilogy, Chess Players, and Jalsaghar, among others, Darius Cooper outlines Western influences on Ray's work, such as the plight of women functioning within a patriarchal society, Ray's political vision of the "doubly colonized," and his attack and critique of the Bengali/Indian middle class of today.

Vera Dika explores the reuse of images, plots and genres of film history from a broad range of critical perspectives. Examining works of art and film that resist the pull of the past, Dika provides an in-depth analysis within a variety of media, including performance, photography, Punk film, and examples from mainstream American and European cinema. Her study analyzes avant-garde art work within the context of contemporary mainstream film practice, as well as in relationship to their historical moment.

Originally published in 1988, The "I" of the Camera has become a classic in the literature of film. This second edition includes fourteen new essays, as well as a new foreword. Offering alternatives to the viewing and criticism of film, William Rothman challenges readers to think about film in adventurous ways that are more open to our experience of movies. In explaining the "American" quality of American film, Rothman argues compellingly that movies have inherited the philosophical perspective of American transcendentalism. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-36048-X First Edition Pb (1988):...

This volume finds the proper place of psychoanalytic thought in critical analysis of cinema through a series of essays that debate its legitimacy, utility, and validity as applied to the horror genre. It distinguishes itself from previous work in this area through the self-consciousness with which psychoanalytic concepts are employed and the theorization that coexists with interpretations of particular horror films and subgenres.

The most important and internationally influential development in British cinema was the documentary film movement led by John Grierson in the 1930s and 1940s. This is a political and social history of that movement, which was characterized by actuality-based films made outside the commercial industry. Based on examinations of official government records, the study provides a fascinating picture of the relationship forged between Grierson and the civil service bureaucracy for his own needs and the needs of his country. The book offers a fresh look at a rare moment in the history of cinema...