A Choice Significant University Press Title for Undergraduates
This updated and expanded edition of A Short History of Film provides an accessible overview of the major movements, directors, studios, and genres from the 1880s to the present. Succinct yet comprehensive, with more than 250 rare stills and illustrations, this edition provides new information on contemporary horror, comic book, and franchise films; issues surrounding women and minority filmmakers; the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on movies worldwide; the shift from film to digital production; the rising use of artificial intelligence in cinema; and the impact of streaming on the industry.
Beginning with the precursors of moving pictures, Wheeler Winston Dixon and Gwendolyn Audrey Foster lead a fast-paced tour through the invention of the kinetoscope, the introduction of sound and color between the two world wars, and ultimately the computer-generated imagery of the present day. They detail significant periods in world cinema, including the creation of early major industries in Europe, the dominance of the Hollywood studio system in the 1930s and 1940s, and the French New Wave of the 1960s. They also highlight independent efforts in developing nations and the corresponding more personal independent film movement that briefly flourished in the United States.
Compact and easily readable, this is a vital history of international cinema is a one-stop resource for students, teachers, and general readers alike.
Acknowledgments
Timeline 1832–2012
1 The Invention of the Movies
2 The Birth of an American Industry
3 World Cinema: The Silent Era
4 The Hollywood Studio System in the 1930s and 1940s
5 International Cinema through World War II
6 Postwar Challenges to the Movies
7 World Cinema in the 1950s
8 The 1960s Explosion
9 World Cinema 1970 to the Present
10 The New Hollywood
Glossary of Film Terms
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments ix
Timeline 1832–2024
xi
ONE
The Invention of the Movies 1
TWO
The Birth of an American Industry 22
THREE
World Cinema: The Silent Era 53
FOUR
The Hollywood
Studio System in the 1930s and 1940s 89
F I V E
International Cinema through World War II 137
S IX
Postwar Challenges to the Movies 168
SEVEN
World Cinema in the 1950s 203
EIGHT
The 1960s Explosion 239
NINE
World Cinema 1970–2024
302
TEN
Hollywood:
The Modern Era 378
Glossary of Film Terms 459
Bibliography 463
Index 485
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