The big screen : the story of the movies Cover Image

Book

The big screen : the story of the movies

Thomson, David 1941- (Author).

Summary: "The Big Screen" tells the enthralling story of the movies: their rise and spread, their remarkable influence in the war years, and their long, slow decline to a form that is often richly entertaining but no longer lays claim to our lives the way it once did.

Record details

ISBN: 0374191891 (alk. paper)
ISBN: 9780374191894 (alk. paper)
Physical Description: viii, 595 p., [16] leaves of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
print
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue: Let there be light -- Pt. 1: The shining light and the huddled masses. A cheap form of amusement ; The era of Sunrise ; The cinema of winter ; M ; State film, film state ; The extraordinary adventures of Mr. Bolshevik in the West ; 1930s Hollywood ; France ; Renoir ; American ; Ambersons ; Howard Hawks : the "Slim" years ; Films were started ; Brief encounter ; War ; Italian cinema ; Ingrid sees a movie ; Sing a noir song -- Pt. 2: Sunset and change -- Pt. 3: Film studies -- Pt. 4: Dread and desire. Dread and desire ; To own the summer ; Brave new northern California world ; What is a director? ; Silence of Sinatra? ; The numbers and the numbness -- Epilogue: I wake up screening.