Product Description

Here at last is an introduction to film theory and its history without the jargon. Noted film scholar V. F. Perkins presents criteria for expanding our understanding and enjoyment of movies. He employs common sense words like balance, coherence, significance, and satisfaction to develop his insightful support of the subtle approach and of the unobtrusive director. Readers will learn why a scene from the humbler movie Carmen Jones is a deeper realization of filmmaking than the bravura lion sequence in the classic Battleship Potemkin. Along the way Perkins invites readers to re-experience with clarity, directness, and simplicity other famous scenes by directors like Hitchcock, Eisenstein, and Chaplin. Perkins examines the origins of movies and embraces their use of both realism and magic, their ability to record as well as to create. In the process he seeks to discover the synthesis between these opposing elements. With the delight of the fan and the perception of the critic, Perkins advances a film theory, based on the work of Bazin and other early film theorists, that is rich with suggestion for debate and further pursuit. Sit beside Perkins as he reacquaints you with cinema, heightens your awareness, deepens your pleasure, and increases your return every time you invest in a movie ticket.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62242 in Books
• Published on: 1993-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

Customer Reviews

A key work of film criticism
Possibly one of the most influential works of film criticism of the last fifty years, it modestly claims to be an introduction to the study of film, but in fact provides an all-encompassing analysis of what film is and how film works. Almost thirty years old and not revised, but still incredibly current.