Routledge Library of Media and Cultural Studies – serie

This volume brings together seminal articles from the years 1969-1972, when Cahiers writers were elaborating a major materialist account of the history, theory, and criticism of cinema.

Since its foundation in 1951, the French film journal Cahiers du Cin - perhaps, the most influential and probably the most interesting film journal ever published - has been a major source of ideas and controversy within film criticism and film-making. The fourth volume in this influential series of anthologies covers the vibrant and turbulent period from 1973 to 1978, in which the editorial make-up and policy of the journal changed radically, and issues of theory, history and politics dominated critical debate.The anthology combines essays by critics such as Pascal Bonitzer, Serge Daney and These Giraud; round-table discussions; reviews of contemporary films from Star Wars and King Kong to Padre Padrone and Jeanne Dielman; and interviews with leading theorists including Marc Ferro and Michel Foucault, presenting a rich sampler of Cahiers' provocative and indispensable contribution to debates in film and cultural politics.

The Cahiers du Cinéma has played a major role in establishing film theory and criticism as an essential part of the late twentieth century culture. This is the only source where Cahiers is sytematically represented in English.

The Cahiers du Cinéma has played a major role in establishing film theory and criticism as an essential part of the late twentieth century culture. This is the only source where Cahiers is systematically represented in English.

This set collects together for the first time rare and scattered material on the history of pre-cinema. It includes articles on stereoscopic photography; the use of kaleidoscopes; optical illusions; theatre design; magic lanterns and mirrors; shadow theatre, and much more. The articles are taken from sources such as The Magazine of Science, The Art Journal, The British Journal of Photography, Scientific American, American Journal of Science and Arts, and The Mirror.

'Early Film' is generally taken to cover the period of invention (early 1890s) to the First World War. During the past twenty years, early film has become a sophisticated area of cinema studies, with its own methodology. This collection is taken from a British perspective and includes:* The Cinema - Its Present Position and Future Possibilities: A report to the cinema Commission of Enquiry (Williams & Norgate, 1917).This substantial and wide-ranging report, from the end of the Early Cinema period, provides a unique record of the attitudes towards the cinema by its British audiences, exhibitors, producers, the clergy and guardians of morality, and those responsible for licensing. Considerable coverage is given to such subjects as: lighting in cinemas (an encouragement to immoral activity); whether villainous deeds depicted on screen influence young members of the audience; and the reasons for the very high percentage of American films shown.Also included is a chapter from Vachel Lindsay's The Art of the Moving Picture (1915, reprinted 1970s but now out of print). This early book of film theory and criticism was published just at the time that short films had largely given way to feature-length productions. Lindsay compares what he bravely considers a new art form - moving pictures - with established artistic mediaThis three volume set vividly illustrates the roots of the twentieth century phenomenon of film and the cinema. The re-production of these important contemporary sources, now unavailable in print, provides the student and film aficionado with an invaluable resource.

This three-volume collection reprints two important 1920s/30s books relating to television, and a collection of short articles covering the social, aesthetic and technical aspects of the medium. Items range from 1870s prophecies, experiments and cartoons, to 1930s accounts of the first public broadcasting systems in Britain, Germany, and the USA. The pieces are from newspapers, specialist journals of the period, and popular magazines. Technical articles included are chosen for their accessibility to non-specialists with limited technical knowledge. The selection comments on the progress of television in many parts of the world.The set includes a general introduction by the editor, which places each item in context and provides a comprehensive account of the medium to c.1940.