Welcome to TheatreBooks

TheatreBooks logo
Theatre FilmOperaDance
You are here: TheatreBooks > Film > National Film Studies > Europe
Search the site
New Books
New Plays
Theatre
Film
Dance
Opera
Television
Actors & Acting
Creative Writing
Drama in Education
Arts Administration
Costumes & Fashion
DVDs & Videos
Various & Sundry
How to Reach Us
Events
Awards
About TheatreBooks
Order Now
Site Map
Links
TheatreBooks Gift Certificates: a great present any time of the year


National Film Studies

Europe

It's So French! Hollywood, Paris, and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film CultureIt's So French! Hollywood, Paris, and the Making of Cosmopolitan Film Culture
Vanessa R. Schwartz
Vanessa R. Schwartz breaks down myths of American cultural imperialism and French protectionism as she illuminates how the marketing of Frenchness fostered internationalism and cultural hybridity in film culture. Packed with film stills, publicity photos, paparazzi shots, ads, and never-before-seen archival images, It's So French! is an incisive and colourful account of the birth of our global culture. Softcover, 259 pp. $30.00.


A Short History of Cahiers du CinemaA Short History of Cahiers du cinema

Emelie Bickerton
In this authoritative new history, Emilie Bickerton explores the evolution and impact of Cahiers du cinema, from its early years, to its late sixties radicalization, its internationalization, and its response to the television age of the seventies and eighties. Showing how the story of Cahiers continues to resonate with critics, practitioners and film-going public, A Short History of Cahiers du cinema is a testimony to the extraordinary legacy and archive these 'collected pages of a notebook' have provided for the world of cinema. Hardcover, 156 pp. $28.50.


Weimer Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the EraWeimer Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era

Noah Isenberg
Between the world wars of the 20th century, Germany was at the centre of cinematic innovation. It is the cinema of this period that includes the finest work by F.W. Murnau, Fritz Lang, and G.W. Pabst, and introduced us to Greta Garbo, Louise Brooks, and Marlene Dietrich. Training a keen eye on Weimer cinema's unusual richness and formal innovation, this anthology is an essential guide to the revolutionary styles, genres, and aesthetics that continue to fascinate us today. Softcover, 360 pp. $34.95.


Theatres of OccupationTheatres of Occupation: Hollywood and the reeducation of Postwar Germany

Jennifer Fay
In a rigorous analysis of the American occupation of postwar Germany, Jennifer Fay considers how Hollywood films influenced German culture and cinema. Fay's innovative approach examines the culture of occupation not only as a phas in U.S.-German relations but as a distinct space with its own discrete cultural practices. Softcover, 228 pp. $25.95.


Diva: Defiance and Passion in Early Italian CinemaDiva: Defiance and Passion in Early Italian Cinema

Angela Dalle Vacche
In Diva, Angela Dalle Vacche offers the first authoritative study of this important film genre that preceded the first world war. Taking readers on a fascinating multi-disciplinary tour, Diva sheds important new light on the eccentric implantation of modernity in Italy, as well as on how before WWI, the filmic image was associated with the powers of the occult and not with the Freudian unconscious, as has been argued until now. Softcover, 310 pp. $38.50.


Italian Neorealism & Global CinemaItalian Neorealism & Global Cinema

Laura E. Ruberto & Kristi M. Wilson
Scriptwriters, directors, critics, and film scholars around the world are indebted to the remarkable moment that was Italian neorealism. In this valuable book, some of the most astonishing homages to the period are chronicled. As we step back from 6 to 60 years, we find that the past is here in our present, an extraordinary testament to the ongoing influence of leftist realism and everyday life. Softcover, 344 pp. $36.50.


A New Guide to Italian CinemaA New Guide to Italian Cinema

Carlo Celli & Marga Cottino-Jones
This guide retains earlier editions' interest in renowned films and directors but is also attentive to popular cinema, the films which actually achieved box office success among the Italian public. The Guide introduces the Italian cinema not just as a 20th century phenomenon but as an expression of the deeper roots of Italy's historic, cultural, and literary past. The aim of the book is to provide the cinephile, student, teacher, or fan with a guide where points of interest may be identified and studied with clarity. Softcover, 234 pp. $27.95.


Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi GermanyFilm Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany: World War II Cinema
Jo Fox
In Film Propaganda in Britain and Nazi Germany, Jo Fox compares how each country exploited their national cinema for political purposes. Through an investigation of shorts and feature films, the author looks at how both political propaganda films and escapist cinema were critical in maintaining morale, and how this changed throughout the war. While both countries shared certain similarities in their wartime propaganda films -- a harking back to a glorious historic past, for example -- the thematic differences reveal important distinctions between cultures. This book offers new insight into the shifting pattern of morale during World War II and highlights a key moment in propaganda film history. Softcover, 358 pp. $36.95.


German Cinema: Since Unification German Cinema: Since Unification
David Clarke
This book offers a broad survey of trends in German cinema since unification and highlights German film's interventions in contemporary social, political and historical debates. The work of young directors is discussed alongside that of older filmmakers associated with the New German Cinema. The book will be of interest not just to scholars and students in the field of German Studies, but also to researchers and undergraduates in Film Studies. Softcover, 239 pp. $45.95.


The New European Cinema: Redrawing the MapThe New European Cinema: Redrawing the Map

Rosiland Galt
The New European Cinema offers a compelling response to the changing cultural shapes of Europe, charting political, aesthetic, and historical developments through innovative readings of some of the most popular and influencial European films of the 1990s. Softcover, 296 pp. $34.95.

The Cinema of FranceThe Cinema of France
Phil Powrie
This is an in-depth look at some of the best and most influencial French films of all time, containing 24 essays, each on an individual key film. The book features works from the silent period and Poetic Realism, through the stylistic developments of the New Wave, and up to more contemporary challenging films, from directors such as Abel Gance, Jean Renoir, Marcel Carne, Francois Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Alan Resnais, Agnes Varda and Luc Besson. Softcover, 283 pp. $32.95.

Italian NeorealismItalian Neorealism: Rebuilding the Cinematic City
Mark Shiel
This book is an invaluable introduction to one of the most influencial of film movements. Exploring the orgins and evolution of Neorealism, particularly the effects of the Second World War, as well as its politics and style, this volume examines the portrayal of the city and the legacy of filmmakers such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, and Luchino Visconti. Films studied include Rome, Open City (1945), Bicycle Thieves (1948), Journey to Italy (1953) and The Nights of Cabrina (1957). Softcover, 142 pp. $24.95.


Small Nation, Global CinemaSmall Nation, Global Cinema: The New Danish Cinema
Mette Hjort
In Small Nation, Global Cinema, Mette Hjort offers two key strategies underwriting the transformation of contemporary Danish cinema -- the processes of cultural circulation and the psychological efficacy of heritage. Providing an innovative way of looking at cultural influence in the era of globalization, Hjort's concept of "small" nation points as much to the dynamics of recognition, indifference, and participation as it does to measures of population size, economic strength, or linguistic reach. Softcover, 312 pp. $32.95.

No Place Like Home: Locations of Heimat in German CinemaNo Place Like Home: Locations of Heimat in German Cinema
Johannes von Moltke
This is the first comprehensive account of Germany's most enduring film genre, the Heimatfilm, which has offered idyllic variations on the idea that "there's no place like home" since cinema's early days. Charting the development of this popular genre over the course of a century in a work informed by film studies, cultural history, and social theory, Johannes von Moltke focuses in particular on the genre's heyday in the 1950s, a period that has been little studied. Questions of what it could possibly mean to call the German nation "home" after the catastrophes of WWII are anxiously present in these films, and von Moltke uses them as a lens through which to view contemporary discourses on German national identity. Softcover, 302 pp. $41.95.

The Cinema of Spain and PortugalThe Cinema of Spain and Portugal
Alberto Mira
This volume contains 24 essays, each on a separate seminal film from the Iberian peninsula. Films from the early era of cinema up to the present day are featured, and the contributors discuss a broad sweep of issues such as popular genre, social and political context, the influence of the European 'new waves', and the emergence of challenging contemporary filmmaking that highlights gender and national identity as prominent themes. Softcover, 268 pp. $35.95.


The Czechoslovak New WaveThe Czechoslovak New Wave
Second Edition
Peter Hames
This study of the most significant film movement in post-war Central and East European cinema examines the orgins and development of the Czech New Wave and the Slovak Wave of the late 1960s against a backdrop of the political and cultural developments that led to the Prague Spring of 1968. The book also examines key formative aspects of the history of Czech and Slovak cinema from the 1930s onward. Softcover, 323 pp. $35.95.

Back to top

National Film Studies
New & Featured
America
Asia & India
Europe
Eastern Europe & Russia
United Kingdom
Overviews and other international


Film Studies
Annuals
Biographies
Director Biographies
Producer Biographies
Canadian Film Studies
National Film Studies

Film Criticism
Film Noir
Gay, Lesbian & Queer Criticism, Theory and History
Horror Films
Women, Gender & Feminist Criticism, Theory & History

Film Glossaries & Encylopedias
Film History
Guides
On Individual Films
Directing & Producing
Media
Screenplays & Screenwriting
Technical Film
Actors & Acting


From Caligari to HitlerFrom Caligari to Hitler
A Psychological History of the German Film

Siegfried Kracauer
A landmark, now classic, study of the rich history of the Weimar Republic, From Caligari to Hitler was first published in 1947. Siegfried Kracauer's intellectually rigorous argument broke new ground in exploring the connections between film aesthetics, the prevailing psychological state of Germans in the Weimer era, and the evolving social and political reality of the time. Now, over half a century after its first appear, this beautifully designed and entirely new edition reintroduces Kraucauer for the twenty-first century. Softcover, 348 pp. $30.95.

The Art of Italian Film PosterThe Art of Italian Film Posters
Mel Bagshaw
Featuring over 250 posters from the early years of the twentieth century up to the late 1970s, The Art of the Italian Film Posters presents a comprehensive collection of posters for films by classic directors such as Fellini, Pasolini, Antonioni, Rossellini, and De Sica, alongside cult hits such as the horror film Suspiria and the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone. Softcover, 213 pp. $39.95.

European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood
Thomas Elsaesser
In the face of renewed competition from Hollywood since the early 1980s and the challenges posed to Europe's national cinemas by the fall of the Wall in 1989, independent filmmaking in Europe has begun to re-invent itself. European Cinema: Face to Face with Hollywood re-assesses the different debates and presents a broader framework for understanding the forces at work since the 1960s. These include the interface of "world cinema" and the rise of Asian cinemas, the importance of the international film festival circuit, the role of television, as well as the changing aesthetics of auteur cinema. Softcover, 563 pp. $45.95.


French National CinemaFrench National CinemaFrench National Cinema

Second Edition
Susan Hayward
French National Cinema's fresh approach sheds new light on how French cinema relates to France's understanding of itself as a nation. Beginning with an 'ecohistory' of the French film industry, Susan Hayward charts its beginnings in the 1890s and the rise to dominance of the three major studios: Pathe, Gaumont, and Eclair. She analyses the industry's production over its hundred-year history and examines trends and the dominant genres of popular cinema. She also details major movements in French cinema and the directors associated with them, including the avant-garde, poetic realism, New Wave, and today's postmodern cinema. Softcover, 378 pp. $39.95.

Back to top

The German Cinema BookThe German Cinema Book
Tim Bergfelder & Erica Carter
The German Cinema Book brings together film specialists from Europe and the United States to explore German film history from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. This comprehensive test re-evaluates traditional areas of interest in German Cinema and complements this with a fresh look at hitherto neglected aspects, including early cinema and identity, and German film's transnational connections to Hollywood, as well as to exile and migrant cinemas. Softcover, 291 pp. $34.95.

A Culture of LightA Culture of Light: Cinema and Technology in 1920s Germany
Frances Guerin
In this compelling history of German silent cinema, the innovative use of light is the pivot around which a new conception of a national cinema, and a national culture, emerges. This history relieves German films of the responsibility to explain the political and ideological instability of the period, an instability said to be the uncertain foundation of Nazism. In unlocking this dubious link, A Culture of Light redefines the field of German film scholarship. Softcover, 314 pp. $34.95.

A History of the French New Wave CinemaA History of the French New Wave Cinema
Second Edition
Richard Neupert
A History of the French New Wave Cinema offers a fresh, bold look at the social, economic, and aesthetic mechanisms that shaped French film in the 1950s, as well as detailed studies of the most important New Wave movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Softcover, 408 pp. $29.95.

The Lost World of Mitchell & KenyonThe Lost World of Mitchell & Kenyon
Edwardian Britain on Film

Vanessa Toulmin, Simon Popple & Patrick Russell
The discovery of the Peter Worden Mitchell and Kenyon collection has been described as film's equivalent of Tutankhamen's tomb. This treasure trove of 800 films provides an unparalleled social record of everyday life in early twentieth century Britain. Using a variety of contexts -- historical, social, economical, and cinematic -- this anthology of essays provides a vivid assessment of the collection. Softcover, 210 pp. $34.95.

Dietrich's Ghosts: The Sublime and the Beautiful in Third Reich FilmDietrich's Ghosts: The Sublime and the Beautiful in Third Reich Film
Erica Carter
After Weimer cinema there followed a reorganization of German cinema which fostered an anti-modernist mode of spectatorship geared to an appreciation of the beautiful and the sublime. Dietrich's Ghost is a major new study which reassesses exciting paradigms in German film history debates and throws suggestive new light on the icons and popular culture of the Third Reich. Softcover, 246 pp. $34.95.

German Essays on FilmGerman Essays on Film
Richard W. McCormack & Alison Guenther-Pal
German film, since its inception, has called forth spirited debate and critical attention from the nation's intellectuals, theorists and artists, and even from its bureaucrats. These 43 thought-provoking essays about film, come courtesy of some of Gemany's most significant cultural figures of the twentieth-century. Softcover, 321 pp. $38.95.


The Cinema of ItalyThe Cinema of Italy
Giorgio Bertellini
The 24 essays in The Cinema of Italy examine the recurring historical, thematic and stylistic features of 24 of the most important Italian sound films; each film is contextualised within both Italian and Western film culture. This wide-ranging collection will introduce the reader to works of established masters like Rossellini, De Sica, and Antonioni as well as to films by controversial mavericks like Pasolini and Argento. Softcover, 271 pp. $34.50.


Alternative EuropeAlternative Europe: Eurotrash and Exploitation Cinema since 1945
Ernest Mathijs & Xavier Mendik
Surreal vampire experimentations, German erotic cinema, giallos, nunsploitation movies, and the necro-porn-horrors of Jorg Buttgereit: these are but a few of the alternative cinemas of post-war Europe. This eclectic volume investigates these previously under-explored national traditions of film culture, with essays and festival reports uncovering the social and cultural trends and tensions within a wide range of European exploitation movies. Softcover, 269 pp. $31.95.


The French Cinema BookThe French Cinema Book
Michael Temple & Michael Witt
The French Cinema Book is an accessible and innovative survey of key topics in French cinema from the 1890s to the twenty-first century. By combining historical context and backround information with detailed discussion of case-studies, analysis of films, recommendations for further reading and online resources, this multi-authored volume propses new insights for the study and appreciation of French Cinema. Softcover, 294 pp. $32.95.


Rubble Films: German Cinema in the Shadow of the Third ReichRubble Films: German Cinema in the Shadow of the Third Reich
Robert R. Shandley
Rubble Films
is a close look at German cinema in the immediate postwar era, and a careful examination of its relationship to Allied occupation. Shandley reveals how German films borrowed -- both literally and figuratively -- from its Nazi past, and how the occupied powers (specifically the U.S.) used its position as victor to open Europe to Hollywood movie products and aesthetics. Softcover, 223 pp. $32.95.


New German CinemaNew German Cinema: Images of a Generation
Julia Knight
This book explores the context from which the films of Germany emerged during the late 1960s throughto to the mid-1980s. Knight considers the ways in which the New German Cinema engaged with contemporary West German reality and how they can be read as raising important questions about West Germany's self understanding in the postwar era. New German Cinema is an indispensable tool for both lecturers and students. Softcover, 124 pp. $27.95.

From Caligari to HitlerFrom Caligari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film
Revised and Expanded Edition
Siegfried Kracauer
Ever since it was first published in 1947, this landmark, now classic study of the rich history of the Weimar Republic, has never gone out of print. Siegfried Kracauer's intellectually rigorous argument broke new ground in exploring the connections between film aesthetics, the prevailing psychological state of Germans in the Weimer era, and the evolving social and political reality of the time. Now, this beautifully designed and entirely new edition reintroduces Kracauer's discussions of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, M, Metropolis, and The Blue Angel to the 21st century. Softcover, 348 pp. $30.95.


The New German CinemaThe New German Cinema: Music, History, and the Matter of Style
Caryl Flinn
This stimulating book looks at the crucial role that music plays in the New German Cinema. In identifying styles of historical remembrance in which music participates, Caryl Flinn provides illuminating insight into issues of identity -- national, political, personal, and sexual -- as represented by the films of R.W. Fassbinder, Ulrike Ottinger, Werner Schroeter and others. Softcover, 323 pp. $29.95.


European Film IndustriesEuropean Film Industries
Anne Jackel
European Film Industries
is the first title in a new series of books intended to provide an accessible understanding of how the world's contemporary screen industries function. This concise introduction provides an invaluable starting point to the understanding of this most high profile of European media in the age of digitisation and globalisation. Softcover, 168 pp. $34.95.


East-West Encounters
Franco-Asian Cinema and LiteratureEast-West Encounters: Franco-Asian Cinema and Literature
Sylvie Blum-Reid
East-West Encounters is the first book of its kind to examine Franco-Asian film and literary productions in the context of France's postcolonial history. It covers French filmmakers' approaches to the Asian "Other", as well as focusing on the works of Vietnamese and Cambodian directors living and working in France. Softcover, 179 pp. $32.95.


French Cinema
From Its Beginnings to the Present
French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present
Remi Fournier Lanzoni
From the earliest flickering images of the late nineteenth century through the silent era, the Surrealist influence, the Nazi Occupation, the glories of the New Wave, on into the 1990's and beyond, France has consistently been a source for films of remarkable innovation and artistry. French Cinema focuses on the most pertinent French films and filmmakes, to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive history of the subject available. Hardcover, 496 pp. $29.95.


Eaten Alive!Eaten Alive! Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies
Jay Slater
Every once in a while a book comes along that is so in tune with the cultural zeitgeist that life after reading it is forever changed. Eaten Alive! is not that book. However, if you're a fan of such films as Cannibal Holocaust, City of the Living Dead, or Zombie Creeping Flesh then this comprehensive catalogue of Italian cannibal and zombie movies is a must-have volume. Softcover, 256 pp. $26.95.


Cinema Italian StyleCinema Italian Style: Italians at the Academy Awards
by Silvia Bizio
Foreword by Bernardo Bertolucci
This gorgeous, black and white extravaganza celebrates the continuing presence of Italian actors, writers and directors at Hollywood's biggest night. From Bertolucci to Benigni, Sophia Loren to Ennio Morricone, "Cinema Italian Style" loving showcases all of the Italian skill and stardom that America and the rest of the world has come to appreciate and adore. Large-format Softcover, $31.95.


Italian Cinema
Italian Cinema from Neorealism to the Present
Peter Bondanella
Film students love this book, fans of Italian film love this book. It has Sophia, Marcello, Clint (as in Loren, Mastroianni and Eastwood). How could you go wrong! $36.95.



Back to top

Canadian
TheatreBooks, 11 St. Thomas St., Toronto (416) 922-7175, 1-800-361-3414, fax (416) 922-0739

Last modified May 10, 2010.
Please note that all prices are in Canadian dollars. All prices are subject to change without notice.