The Wordsworth Book of Movie Classics [antikvár]

Introduction The essential qualities of a Movie Classic can sometimes prove elusive. The contenders for the accolade covered within these pages certainly include a selection of the most popular films ever made, the most critically lauded and the most commercially successful of all time - but the book is not primarily concerned, Guinness-like, with records of the biggest or the best, however compelling the information. A Movie Classic can perhaps only be measured on an unscientific scale of public affection and esteem. Films like Battleship Potemkin and Citizen Kane are clearly Movie Classics because they have profoundly influenced the shape of the moviemaking landscape and their impact on the art form has stood the test of time. The sheer popularity of a Gone With the Wind or The Sound of Music^ the symbolic significance of a Rome, Open City or Breathless in heralding new trends in cinema techniques or the awards showered upon a Ben-Hur or Dances With Wolves more than earn them a place in the roll-call of greats. Sometimes it is only posterity that can bestow classic status upon a specific title. When Frank Capra's Ifs a Wonderful Life was released just after World War II, it wound up over $500000 in the red and failed to receive a single Oscar. Capra was felt to have lost his popular touch and the career of star James Stewart was seen to falter after a five-year absence at war. However, subsequent generations have taken the film to their hearts, admiring the humanity of Capra's vision and the richness of Stewart's performance; the film is now a rep house, video and television perennial and as much a part of the Yuletide season as presents and Santa Glaus. French filmmaker Jean Vigo died tragically young in Paris in 1934 believing that his final film L'Atalante had been a failure after brutal interference from its distributor. However, the years have allowed restorations to be made and his original intentions to be vindicated, resulting in acclaim for one of the most' romantic of French features. From VAtalanU to Touch of Evil, Ifs a Wonderful Life to Might of the Hunter, the book is full of tities that were disowned, maligned or merely misunderstood at the time of their initial release but now stand unquestioned in the pantheon of greats. The selection of titles, which runs chronologically from The Great Train Robbery in 1903 to Silence of the Lambs in 1991, therefore represents the gamut of what constitutes a film classic whether it is the sheer entertainment value of a Singin' In The Rain and Casablanca that can be seen time and time again, the controversy and passions aroused by a Peeping Tom or Fatal Attraction or the unchallenged artistry of a Buster Keaton comedy, a Fred Astaire musical routine or an Ingmar Bergman drama. The films chosen for inclusion within the book have been heavily influenced by the research undertaken for the earlier Chambers Film and Television Handbook. Material originally compiled for that volume by the current editor, Kenny Mathieson and Trevor Johnston has been completely revised, corrected where necessary, and expanded to fit the form of this new book. Numerous new entries have also been researched and written by myself and Kenny Mathieson. Each film is now represented by an entry that provides a short plot synopsis, selected technical credits, a cast list and a commentary which aims to give background detail on the production of a film or pinpoint its significance within cinema history, or the career of a particularly innovative filmmaker. Where relevance and space permits the entry also conveys a sense of the film's box-office performance and whether it received Oscar awards. Throughout the book films are listed in alphabetical order with the foreign-language films listed under the name by which they are best known in the UK. Thus Kurosawa's epic will be found under The Seven Samurai and not Shichinin No Samurai whilst Federico Fellini's study of decadent Roman mores will be found under La Dolce Vita rather than The Sweet Life. The aim of this book is is to provide an easy reference for those seeking a sense of the landmarks of world cinema and an instant aide-memoire for all those who have looked back in langour on the memory of a film that moved, informed, delighted or entertained them. The inimitable James Stewart once recounted an anecdote that seems to sum