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Film History: An Introduction
Written by two leading film scholars, "Film An Introduction" is a comprehensive survey of film-from the backlots of Hollywood, across the United States, and around the world. As in the authors' bestselling "Film Art", concepts and events are illustrated with actual frame enlargements, giving students more realistic points of reference than competing books that use publicity stills.
808 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
182 people are currently reading
2,210 people want to read
About the author
David Bordwell
62?books208?followersDavid Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor at the University of Wisconsin, is arguably the most influential scholar of film in the United States. The author, with his wife Kristin Thompson, of the standard textbook Film Art and a series of influential studies of directors (Eisenstein, Ozu, Dreyer) as well as periods and styles (Hong Kong cinema, Classical Hollywood cinema, among others), he has also trained a generation of professors of cinema studies, extending his influence throughout the world. His books have been translated into fifteen languages.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
January 1, 2017
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July 18, 2020
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July 22, 2015
I ordered this book online used and in the pages was a receipt for wine.
November 4, 2014
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April 17, 2009
I had to get this book for a film history class and loved it so much that I couldn't bear to part with it at the end of the semester. I've been done with that class for over a year and I still look up things in this book all the time.
July 10, 2022
I read this in 2003. I can still remember how I thought, and still think, this was the worst book I ever read. It was so terrible, in every possible way: poor writing, pedantic tone, inane analyses. I had to get this for a film class-- during my first semester-- and I couldn't sell it back to the textbook store fast enough, which is certainly not my normal. My mind boggles to imagine anyone who could know so little about film or history and could find this at all useful. I hated this book so much that it was immediately sold back at the end of a semester. I walked out of class and into the bookstore to sell it. (All my other film books were kept, even ones I didn't get a lot out of on first reading, because I could get smarter and they could get better once I do.)
September 27, 2015
Fantastic overview of film history, focussing on particular areas. Definitely worth getting if you're a student, or even vaguely interested in film beyond catching the latest blockbuster (but I can almost guarantee you'll find yourself skipping over paragraphs to entire chapters).
May 26, 2018
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January 9, 2022
To call this book comprehensive is an understatement. In these 30 chapters, the learnt authors present an encyclopedic survey of the media from the very beginning to our time of Netflix, covering all continents with a film industry and all types of films. More niche genres , like documentary, experimental/art house, independent, all receive their share of attention, so are the lessor known film industries like those of Cuba or Iran. Beyond the mainstay of detailing periods, countries and film movements, the authors do not miss the more technical details in filming or the development unseen by the audience (preproduction and distribution). Given the dominance of Hollywood production (and the fact that the authors are US scholars), one may be surprised to see that only about 6 chapters are devoted to the USA, a testament to the highly inclusive nature of this text.
However, its breadth is very likely to be overwhelming to most readers . The history of a media, unlike the history of a nation, seldom flows smoothly like a narrative, and all the twists and turns , in the form of lessor known political events and films, could make the text quite difficult to follow. The text is clearly stronger on highlighting facts than providing an explanation, and as expected, more convincing in its takes on Hollywood than on elsewhere. As it is often the case for introductory text, it is more a starting point than an in-depth analysis.
---------------------------
I came to this book with this question: how did Hollywood come to dominate the film industry? I am not sure I have received a top quality answer here (as its analysis stays at the surface level) but it does present an outline of such development: the power of any film industry ties strongly with politics and history, or more bluntly, the world wars brought money and talents to the USA and they made the best use of that. Just as the authors say, film history is the history of various countries trying to find their way under the shadow of Hollywood.
I was more than surprised to read the cinema was once ruled by the (Western) European . At that time, the USA film companies couldn't even stop suing each others until WWI. Besides the war, it's the invention of sound cinema that cracked the dominance of pan-european films as audience demanded talking pictures about their own countries in their own languages. Sound cinema cultivated the development of national film industries across Europe but pooling resources for a spectacular production to compete with the American was simply financially, and politically, unlikely after the world war. Soon the American rose to the top with their larger domestic market, which translated to unparalleled production value, and further their dominance with the political clout earned by the atomic bombs (to coerce/negotiate with countries abandoning quota systems on Hollywood production).
Another economic factor also played a huge role to the reign of Hollywood: it's simply more profitable to invest in Hollywood and show their films than producing local hits. It drained the capital from local production and its effect to any film industry, which was and still is the most capital-intensive entertainment business, was self-explanatory.
Once Hollywood established its footing in a new oversea market, they could easily secure ever-higher funding to drive that advantage to the point that no single film industry could be Hollywood's competitors, very much a "the rich gets richer" scenario. Even some indie, small-budget films in the 90s could command a budget as high as USD 3 millions as they could raise funding with oversea markets in mind. In one case, studios even gave a newly minted director close to USD 10 mil for a script with little commercial potential ("Memento").
----------------------------------
So how do Non-USA film industries thrive or even rise from obscurity? They either have the advantage accumulated from pioneering filmmakers (France, UK), or their countries have gained the necessary capital and self-sustaining domestic market by industrialization and urbanization (India, Nigeria, China). Then how about my little city which once produced even more films than Hollywood in the 60s? I will find that answer in another book, strangely, also by David Bordwell.
However, its breadth is very likely to be overwhelming to most readers . The history of a media, unlike the history of a nation, seldom flows smoothly like a narrative, and all the twists and turns , in the form of lessor known political events and films, could make the text quite difficult to follow. The text is clearly stronger on highlighting facts than providing an explanation, and as expected, more convincing in its takes on Hollywood than on elsewhere. As it is often the case for introductory text, it is more a starting point than an in-depth analysis.
---------------------------
I came to this book with this question: how did Hollywood come to dominate the film industry? I am not sure I have received a top quality answer here (as its analysis stays at the surface level) but it does present an outline of such development: the power of any film industry ties strongly with politics and history, or more bluntly, the world wars brought money and talents to the USA and they made the best use of that. Just as the authors say, film history is the history of various countries trying to find their way under the shadow of Hollywood.
I was more than surprised to read the cinema was once ruled by the (Western) European . At that time, the USA film companies couldn't even stop suing each others until WWI. Besides the war, it's the invention of sound cinema that cracked the dominance of pan-european films as audience demanded talking pictures about their own countries in their own languages. Sound cinema cultivated the development of national film industries across Europe but pooling resources for a spectacular production to compete with the American was simply financially, and politically, unlikely after the world war. Soon the American rose to the top with their larger domestic market, which translated to unparalleled production value, and further their dominance with the political clout earned by the atomic bombs (to coerce/negotiate with countries abandoning quota systems on Hollywood production).
Another economic factor also played a huge role to the reign of Hollywood: it's simply more profitable to invest in Hollywood and show their films than producing local hits. It drained the capital from local production and its effect to any film industry, which was and still is the most capital-intensive entertainment business, was self-explanatory.
Once Hollywood established its footing in a new oversea market, they could easily secure ever-higher funding to drive that advantage to the point that no single film industry could be Hollywood's competitors, very much a "the rich gets richer" scenario. Even some indie, small-budget films in the 90s could command a budget as high as USD 3 millions as they could raise funding with oversea markets in mind. In one case, studios even gave a newly minted director close to USD 10 mil for a script with little commercial potential ("Memento").
----------------------------------
So how do Non-USA film industries thrive or even rise from obscurity? They either have the advantage accumulated from pioneering filmmakers (France, UK), or their countries have gained the necessary capital and self-sustaining domestic market by industrialization and urbanization (India, Nigeria, China). Then how about my little city which once produced even more films than Hollywood in the 60s? I will find that answer in another book, strangely, also by David Bordwell.
May 27, 2009
The book is very informative and covers a lot but is a bit repetitive. I would have preferred a more chronological structure instead of jumps back and forth in time to focus on one "group" of filmmakers at a time.
I recommend the book to anyone interested in international film history, but be prepared to read it for quite some time. It took me a month of reading 1-3 hours a day to get through the 722 pages.
I recommend the book to anyone interested in international film history, but be prepared to read it for quite some time. It took me a month of reading 1-3 hours a day to get through the 722 pages.
May 29, 2018
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August 19, 2019
Had to stop at the 50% mark. Started off really great¨Cfresh writing and original concept. But the halt starts at about the 30% mark and never quite picks up again.
Read
May 20, 2021This is interesting, bc I marked read on the kindle and amazon asked me if I wanted to mark it read on GOODREADS?? so good to know that my accounts are linked.
ITS SCARY THOUGH.
I didn't read this. I rented it (I Dont even want to remember how much it costed to RENT a DIGITAL textbook)
It was for one of those big film history classes that last 3+ hours that I slept through bc we were watching old black & white sometimes no audio films made by mostly men,
I passed the class, if I'm curious enough, I'll see what my grade is.
the final assignment was an essay that I'm pretty sure the TA read or didn't read, but for sure the professor didn't hahah
ITS SCARY THOUGH.
I didn't read this. I rented it (I Dont even want to remember how much it costed to RENT a DIGITAL textbook)
It was for one of those big film history classes that last 3+ hours that I slept through bc we were watching old black & white sometimes no audio films made by mostly men,
I passed the class, if I'm curious enough, I'll see what my grade is.
the final assignment was an essay that I'm pretty sure the TA read or didn't read, but for sure the professor didn't hahah
December 19, 2017
An in-depth look at the history of film, covering the developments industry all over the globe and featuring lots of figures to demonstrate the new and developing techniques of each era. Not a book you can read in its entirety: lots of skimming was needed, but even that still gives you a good grasp of the timelines of film.
March 5, 2025
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November 22, 2024
Fantastic resource and history, I would give it 41/2 stars if I could but I must mark it down from 5 mainly because of the repetition and stuff that I generally wasn't interested (more of an issue with me than the book tbf)
December 7, 2017
An absolutely fascinating textbook. If you're interested in studying film history, this is a must read.
July 10, 2018
Highly pedagogical. A good book to start with if you want to learn about film history.
January 11, 2022
Clear overview of film history although it is more more focused on the USA and Western Europe.
January 29, 2023
MY BIBLE
July 31, 2023
ÎÒµÄÈëÃÅÊé¼®
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January 22, 2024molto chiaro grazie a tutti se non prendo almeno 20 a sto esame mi spar0 in testa
Read
September 13, 2024Handboek vak "Media-archeologie en filmgeschiedenis" aan LUCA School of Arts
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November 4, 2024Ì«ºñÁË
September 1, 2024
Looks like I'm one of the few who didn't read this for a uni course/class, but simply for... FUN! Yup, the whole thing. I learned so much about the history of world cinema - more emphasis was placed on the US/Hollywood, but that's kind of understandable, considering you could probably write a whole book only about cinema from Korea, Brazil, etc. and there's still a ton of information about developments of film industries from all around the world.
October 24, 2013
Extremely informative background on the history of cinema. Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.Extremely informative background on the history of cinema.
February 22, 2007
Gives a comprehensive overview of the political, technological and socio-economic factors influencing the founding and development of the film industry and industries in different countries. Explains how Hollywood has managed to inoculate the entire planet with its disease. Would be enjoyable reading if I didn't have to spit up names, dates and obscure terminology on an exam that resembles the masochistic brainchild of Alex Trebek and whoever invented Trival Pursuit, except it's all in Czech. If anyone wants to buy this for me and mail it to my address in Prague, I will host you in my sauna+jacuzzi-equipped flat unless you are: A. for Annoying or B. Trying to get into my pants.
December 13, 2012
So, I get to count this towards my count of books read this year, because I damn well did read every single painful (assigned) word of this thing. If anyone cares I will tell you why I hated it. But B&T care about nothing but film and aesthetics, and I care about ideological meaning, so I think we will agree to disagree. In one stunning moment they discuss how the end of inflation in Germany in the 1930s (inflation so bad no one could buy bread with thousands of dollars) was a blow to the film industry there. Sure, no one could buy bread and people were starving to death, but B&T remain concerned only with the national cinema. Ok.
January 14, 2016
Finally finished this monster! A little under - uhm - one year.
It's comprehensive and gives a good overview of film history, presented against the backdrop of socio-political events, which is a nice occasion to refresh your memory.
Lay-out could have been better and I'm still not as interested in the history and structure of the American majors (although the authors make an admireable effort to treat as many countries as they can think of. I think they missed Iceland and Groenland).
And what? No mention of The Room?
It's comprehensive and gives a good overview of film history, presented against the backdrop of socio-political events, which is a nice occasion to refresh your memory.
Lay-out could have been better and I'm still not as interested in the history and structure of the American majors (although the authors make an admireable effort to treat as many countries as they can think of. I think they missed Iceland and Groenland).
And what? No mention of The Room?
September 15, 2007
Well written book on the subject. Easy to read and goes through all the interesting details - from director, movements, periods and to productions styles, methods and production companies. All in all, a great introduction a basic knowledge of film history. Interesting reading if your a film buff or studying the subject.
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