Product Description

This is a thoroughly revised, updated and expanded new edition of the leading textbook on British cinema. It is revised in response to feedback from users of the second edition. It includes contributions from all the leading scholars of British cinema. The book now includes case studies of key films including "Piccadilly" (1929), "The Ladykillers" (1955), "This Sporting Life" (1963), "Withnail and I" (1986) and "Casino Royale" (2006). It is richly illustrated with images from the films discussed. The third edition of "The British Cinema Book" provides a comprehensive introduction to the history, key debates and genres in British cinema, from 1895 to the present. Individual articles by leading scholars are grouped in historical and thematic sections, illuminated by in-depth case studies of key films and a wealth of images.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #92319 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-20
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 378 pages

Review

'The third edition of this excellent, illustrated collection of essays on British cinema provides an overview of the key issues, debates and history. First published in 1997, it has been expanded to include case studies of individual films, and several new essays on subjects such as the representation of women in 1950s cinema and the birth of British Asian cinema in the 90s. Its range is impressive.' - Peter Smith, The Guardian
 
'...a delightful gateway into the rich world of British cinema.' - Simon Brown, Viewfinder

About the Author
ROBERT MURPHY is Professor in Film Studies at De Montfort University, UK and the author of British Cinema and the Second World War (2000) and a number of other books on British cinema. He edited Directors in British and Irish Cinema: A Reference Companion (BFI 2006).

Customer Reviews

A very detailed look over the history of British cinema
This impressive and very thorough collection from the BFI is essential reading for anyone with an interest in the rather rocky and uneven history of the fllm industry in Britain. And should easily takes its place alongside works like All Our Yesterdays and Sarah Street's recent British National Cinema as a key text on this subject. Beginning with a very informative, clear-eyed and economical piece by Charles Barr [editor of All Our Yesterdays] on silent British cinema, which effectively sets the tone for the whole book, and concluding with a potted history of British cinema seen through the specificity of a film from each decade from the 1920's onward. The pieces in this book often take a fresh, less formal perspective and focus that, while truly illuminating the precise topic under consideration, nevertheless always remain responsive to the broader contexts [of both the British film climate and beyond] that shaped the course of things. Divided into two sections, the first covers specific subjects like British cinema from 1927 to 1939, the 30's quota quickies, the documentary movement and 50's costume films, and contains titles like Melodrama and femininity in world war two British cinema, Male stars, maculinity and British cinema and Women and sixties Britisn cinema. The second deals with more wide ranging issues such as British film censorship [an exhaustive piece by Jeffrey Richards], the course of British realism, traditions of British comedy and British cinema as national cinema. All the contributions to this book are written in an extremely unassuming, accessable and straightforward style, and a pretentous, self-important or indeed unneccessary note is never struck. It features pieces by such notable and seasoned names as Tom Ryall, Raymond Durgnat, Vincent Porter, Robert Murphy [also present as editor] and Marcia Landy, and very easily sidesteps the usual problem with books of collections of writings by different authors of unevenness because each contributor is so thouroughly attuned to the overall aim and style of the work as a whole and whose knowledge of their subject is unimpeachable. In addition to all that this book can also serve as a companion piece to the afforementioned tomes due to its often differing angles of approach to well worn areas. Or it can just as easily stand alone as an overview of British cinema because all the bases are well and truly covered. And it is perfect for both beginners and the more initiated, the passing film fan and the hardened buff or student. Highly recommended.