Books like Cinema: The Whole Story. Philip Kemp and Christopher Frayling by Philip Kemp

On February 1, 1893, Thomas Alva Edison completed the first motion picture studio: a hut on a pivot that could be rotated to follow the sun. Almost a year later, on January 7, 1894, he took a copyright for the very first film - a memorable short entitled Fred Ott's Sneeze. And from these inauspicious beginnings, one hundred years later, has grown a medium that is arguably the most popular and influential man has created. David Shipman, for decades on of the world's leading film critics and historians, has in Cinema: The First Hundred Years given us a definitive survey of film's first century - and one of the most lavishly illustrated volumes on cinema history ever produced. With profound expertise, sharp wit and unmatched insight, Shipman chronicles the medium's watershed events, year by year - great stars discovered, classic films released, gala openings celebrated, Oscars awarded, accepted, and declined. Here in the 1907, sixteen-scene version of Ben Hur: the classics of the 1930s and 1940s, from Gone With The Wind and Casablanca to David Copperfield and The Bride of Frankenstein: here are the Cinemascope extravaganzas of the 1950s, the road movies of the 1960s, and the modern classics of today. Shipman's scope is exhaustive; the 2,500 films covered include hundreds of international films as well as Hollywood pictures . Accompanying Shipman's text is a photographic record unequalled in its quality: not just another compendium of familiar stills. Cinema resurrects hundreds of pristine, museum-quality photos from archives around the world, reproducing them in a striking oversize format that recalls the grandeur of moviegoing at its most memorable. Complementing Shipman's verbal survey with a gallery of unforgettable visual images, this is a one-of-a-kind volume: the next century is not likely to see a more rewarding gift for the film fan of any age.

An encyclopedia of world cinema listing American, British, and international subjects and artistic, technical, and commercial aspects of the motion picture. (From [WorldCat listing][1]) [1]: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/5353776

"James Agee was passionately involved with the movies throughout his life. A master of both fiction and nonfiction, he wrote about film in clean, smart prose as the reviewer for Time magazine and as a columnist for The Nation. Agee was particularly perceptive about the work of his friend John Huston and recognized the artistic merit of certain B films such as The Curse of the Cat People and other movies produced by Val Lewton.". "This Modern Library edition contains a new introduction by New Yorker film critic David Benby."--BOOK JACKET.

A collection of 100 essays by Roger Ebert, each offering insightful analysis and historical context for celebrated films such as Citizen Kane, The Godfather, and Casablanca.