Books like Cinema of the Fantastic by Chris Steinbrunner

Cinema of the Fantastic explores the extraordinary realms of genre cinema, highlighting its most influential works from silent-era innovations to postwar science‑fiction anxieties. The book features fifteen classic films—A Trip to the Moon, Metropolis, Freaks, King Kong, The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Mad Love, Flash Gordon, Things to Come, The Thief of Bagdad, Beauty and the Beast, The Thing from Another World, Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Forbidden Planet—each richly illustrated with studio stills and surviving film prints. Through detailed analysis and contextual background, the authors trace the development of techniques and creative forces—writers, producers, directors, actors, and actresses—that established the cinema of the fantastic as a lasting cinematic specialty.

First publish date: 1972