The History of Cinema for Beginners

Contents: Introduction. 1. The not so humble beginnings. 2. D.W. Griffith or the coming of age of the narrative film. 3. Silent American comics. 4. German expressionist cinema of the Weimar period. 5. Erich von Stroheim. 6. French impressionist Avant-Garde of the 1920s. 7. Silent Russian and Soviet cinema. 8. Sergei Eisenstein or the birth of dialectic montage. 9. European influence in silent American film. 10. The advent of sound. 11. American genre film. 12. French poetic realism. 13. Soviet cinema of the 1930s and 40s. 14. German and Italian film of the 1930s. 15. British film prior to Second World War. 16. Eastern European cinema of the 1930s. 17. First Japanese sound films. 18. Chaplin’s transition to sound. 19. Golden years of the studio era in Hollywood. 20. Color film. 21. Orson Welles or how the best movie in history was made. 22. John Ford. I. Cinema of the 1940s: 1. The war years. 2. Great Britain. 3. Film noir. 4. Italian neorealism. 5. Scandinavia. 6. France. 7. Japan. 8. Witch-hunts in Hollywood. II. Cinema of the 1950s: 1. USA. 2. France and the new wave. 3. Scandinavia. 4. Soviet Union. 5. The polish school. 6. Hungary. 7. Japan. 8. Italy. 9. Great Britain and the "Kitchen Sink" cinema. 10. Spain and Latin America. 11. India. III. Cinema of the 1960s: 1. USA. 2. France. 3. Great Britain. 4. Scandinavia. 5. The Czech new wave. 6. Poland. 7. Hungary. 8. Yugoslavia and Novi film. 9. Romania. 10. Bulgaria. 11. Soviet Union. 12. Italy. 13. Japan. 14. South America. IV. Cinema of the 1970s: 1. USA. 2. Great Britain. 3. Australia. 4. Canada. 5. New German cinema. 6. France. 7. Italy. 8. Scandinavia. 9. Spain. 10. Poland and cinema of moral anxiety. 11. Czechoslovakia. 12. Soviet Union. 13. Bulgaria. 14. Romania. 15. Hungary. 16. Yugoslavia. 17. Greece. 18. India. 19. Japan. 20. South America. V. Cinema of the 1980s: 1. USA. 2. Independent American film. VI. 1980s–present: 3. Great Britain. 4. Ireland. 5. Australia. 6. New Zealand. VII. 1980s–present cont.: 7. Canada. 8. France. 9. Italy. 10. Spain. 11. Germany. 12. Scandinavia. 13. The Netherlands. 14. Belgium. 15. Austria. 16. Turkey. 17. Greece. 18. Poland. 19. Hungary. 20. Bulgaria. 21. Russia and the former Soviet Republics. 22. Czechoslovakia. 23. Romania. 24. Yugoslavia. 25. Argentina. 26. Brazil. 27. Mexico. 28. Cuba. 29. India. 30. Japan. 31. China’s fifth generation. 32. Hong Kong. 33. Other Far East Countries. 34. Brief history of African cinema. 35. Iran. IX. USA in the 1990s: 1. The new reality of American film industry. Little epilogue. Glossary of film terms. Bibliography.

"The History of Cinema for Beginners is an informative introductory text on the history of narrative film and a reference guide for those who seek basic information on interesting movies. The book spans over one hundred years of film history, beginning with events leading up to the invention of the medium, and chronicles the early struggle of the pioneers.

Readers are introduced to people behind and in front of the camera and presented with all major achievements of the silent and sound periods – even the most intangible film theories are explained and made easily digestible.

The unique aspect of The History of Cinema for Beginners is its global approach to the subject of film history. The author introduces the reader to such significant developments as the soviet montage, Italian neorealism, the French new wave, the British Kitchensink cinema and the new German film, while providing a comprehensive coverage of American genre films such as slapstick comedy, the western, film noir, and science fiction.

In addition, The History of Cinema for Beginners invites the reader to delve into the lesser known regions of world cinema: Eastern Europe, South-East Asia, South America and others. The book also presents every key figure in the vast world of cinema with detailed information on his or her background, technique and major accomplishments. In a lighthearted manner, filmmakers such as D.W. Griffiths, Sergei Eisenstein and Orson Welles present their unique approach to movie making. The book’s main goal is to make learning about movies as entertaining as it is watching them."