Film Booklist

 



For Design and the Cinema Generally, I have found the following works useful


Leon Barsacq, Caligari's Cabinet, A History of Film Design, NYGS NY 1976


see also exhib.catal. The Art of Hollywood, Fifty Years of Art Direction, V&A; London 1978;


designers of movie sets today, I have a dissertation with interviews with Anton Furst (Batman) and Christopher Hobbs (Caravaggio)


Edward Maeder, Hollywood and History, Costume Design in Film, Los Angeles
County Museum of Art, 1987


Edith Head in Film Makers and Film Making, Tarcher, LA 1983.

See recent exhibition catalogue, the costumes of Oliver Messel, V&A; London.
 


General BOOKLIST on film study .


1. General introductions to film techniques and critical attitudes.


1.1 David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art, an Introduction , Addison Wesley Reading Mass. 2nd ed.1980.


1.2 V.F.Perkins, Film as Film, Understanding and Judging Movies , Penguin London 1988, the best and cheapest book.


1.3 Lee Bobker, Elements of Film, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York 3ed.1979. Difficult to find but good on technique, concentrates on modern films.


1.4 Pam Cook (ed) The Cinema Book , British Film Institute London 1985, the best book if you're starting from scratch. Very clear and well organised,see History of Narrative Codes section.


1.5 David Bordwell, Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson, The Classical Hollywood Cinema, Routledge London 1988. An excellent historical perspective.


 
2. Critical attitudes and film theory.


2.1 Bill Nichols, Movies and Methods , Vols 1 and 2, University of Calif.Press London 1976, 1985. Two excellent anthologies of articles, eg Sontag, Fascinating Fascism (1), Mise en scene Criticism (1); Robin Wood on the American Horror Film (2), Laura Mulvey, Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (2), Maureen Turim, Gentlemen costume blonds (2).


2.2 Gerald Mast and Marshall Cohen, Film Theory and criticism , OUP Oxford 1979, Introductory readings another good anthology.


2.3 Peter Wollen, Signs and Meaning in the Cinema , Secker & Warburg (BFI)
London 1969


2.4 John L.Fell, Film and the Narrative Tradition , University of Oklahoma Press, (Univ of Calif) London 1986.Recommended as a study of the relationship between film and the graphic arts.


2.5 Ronald Levaco, Kuleshov on Film, Univ of Calif Press London 1974.


2.6 Elizabeth Weis and John Belton, Film Sound Theory and Practice, Colombia Univ Press New York 1985.


2.7 Richard Dyer, Stars, BFI London 1979.


2.8 Ann Kaplan (ed) Women in Film Noir , BFI London 1980.


3. The participants.


3.1 Dan Georgakas and Lenny Rubenstein, Art Politics Cinema, Pluto, London 1984, interviews with film makers and critics, see particularly Costa Gavras, Wajda, Schrader and Bertolucci.


3.2 Hitchcock by Truffaut, Paladin London 1984


3.3 Joseph McBride, Film Makers on Film Making ,The American Film Institute, Vol 2, Tarcher Los Angeles, 1983.


3.4 Nestor Almendros, A Man with a Camera, Faber and Faber London 1980, a director of Photography, for Truffaut and Malick.

3.5 William Goldman Adventures in the Screen Trade , Futura London 1985, a screenwriter.


3.6 Tom Milne, Godard on Godard , Da Capo New York 1986.


3.7 Jay Leyda , Eisenstein at Work Methuen London 1982, good on graphic work.


4. Critics on Specific Films


4.1 Pauline Kael (New Yorker), see Taking it all in 1980-1983, Arena London 1987, State of the Art , Arena London 1987 ; Hooked, Boyars London 1990. Films listed under titles.


4.2 Essays and Reviews by James Agee, Perigee New York, 1983 (criticism for The Nation)


 
5. Magazines ;


Read whenever you can, Screen, Films and Filming, Sight and Sound, and American Cinematographer.


6. General Reference


6.1 Leslie Halliwell, Halliwell's Film Guide, 9th or better edition, lists every film and its details.


6.2 C.Lyon (ed) The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Firethorn Press London 1984 (2 vols, Directors and Films)


6.3 Danny Peary, Cult Movies Vols 1, 2 and 3, various publishers. Excellent essays on individual films of interest.