A book published in the 1950s so very hard to find for a reasonable price. I was lucky enough to buy a still intact paperback copy via ebay.
Easy to dip in and out of.
I have read a fair amount on the history of the movies in the US, and a little bit about the history of movies in other countries. Have seen several Italian, French, and British movies and a sprinkling from other countries. I have tried to visit the film museums in major cities I have visited and always pick up some new knowledge. But I would have to say I really learned a lot from reading this book.
The Liveliest Art by Arthur Knight covers the history of filmmaking from the early days of photography through the establishment of television. The book is at its best when covering the history of American cinema and the business of Hollywood and of the Movie Theater business.
Knight though, takes a manifest destiny approach to history writing, seeing all the developments worldwide were designed to make Hollywood possible and to make American cinema better than any other country. One quote that sums up the whole attitude of the book is: "No one can out Hollywood Hollywood."
I read this book from Dad's library in Park Ridge when visiting home from college. Thanks to WTTW, Chicago's public television station, and Dad's own tastes, I had seen a great number of the classic films discussed in Knight's book.
Although it seems an old-fashioned account of history of cinema, it can show us some interesting points about the first half of 20th century. The author mainly deals with innovations in technology of cinematography and projection and also technical improvements. Its main strength is that despite most of books written during cold war,he is unbiased and devotes a thorough chapter to Soviet Cinema and its contribution to language of cinema. Since it was written many decades ago, some of its judgments and predictions are useless or even ridiculous today, like his opinion on first works of Welles. Moreover, when he talks about the future of cinema he only accounts the technical developments and believes these developments can help cinema especially against TV, yet now we know New Wave of French cinema was the next major event in cinema history and not a technical one.