A History of Film

by Virginia Wright Wexman

Substantially revised for the Sixth Edition, "A History of Film" is a comprehensive international survey of film from its beginnings to the present. This text highlights the contributions of major film-producing countries, significant filmmakers, and their films within social, artistic, economic, and technological contexts. This Sixth Edition incorporates major revisions designed to improve the book's focus and provide more balanced coverage.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

504 pages, Paperback

First published September 17, 2001

Reviews

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think the best film lists I've ever seen were

- Sharples book on Filmmaking
goes into most countries by era and stops at 1970
[it was my go to list for 50s and 60s French/Italian/American Film]

- Ellis/Wexman
[had all the films to 2001]

this is the newest edition
[the earliest editions were missing some countries, I think Japan wasn't mentioned in the first edition]

- The Psychotronic Book of Film
a nearly perfect collection of all the sci fi and horror and bizarre and exploitation films
from 1928 to 1981


- See That, Now What? - Andrea Shaw
I think it went up to 1995
and it was the nicest book to lump similar films together. with just enough plot and Letter Grade

[wish she kept going at it, and expanded the work over the decades]

[the only thing I disliked is that she might include for further viewing in a dozen places, and sadly they didn't have any info, just the name of the film, or collection [like Chaplin or three Stooges Collected Sets]

......

Wexman might not have the most comprehensive list for old Hollywood, or film noir, or sci fi, but I think if you wanted to create a list of your ultimate DVD Collection

it's probably the way to go
[unless you're just a Criterion Films purist]

[Regan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I made my way, slowly, through the entire book so I could mine for ideas to use in my upcoming Film class happening in the spring. There's a lot of good information and I'm glad to have a basic historical overview of the film world. I'm also glad that I didn't opt to go with this book, I think an historical approach is not the best way to come at an English class on Film, and I think the book is too "text" and not enough "think" for the way I hope to teach the course.

If you want a panning shot of the history of film this is a great book.

[Ramnik · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was for my Film History class (listed as an English course), and I thought it was helpful! While I did not read the entire textbook (sorry Dr. Tolliver!), the bits and pieces that I did read were pretty enlightening and contained well collected historical information! I was able to understand the historical context of many periods of time, as well as the technological advances that occurred concurrently.

[Boostamonte Halvorsen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great book about the history of film. I liked how it went through the history of various cultures and showed how they all connected to form the current film industry we see today. A good read for people who like movies.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good (academic) text if you're looking for an overview of film genres, styles, filmmakers and basic movie-making techniques. Wexman is a professor emeritus at UIC.

[Tori]

A History of Film (5th Edition) by Jack C. Ellis (2001)

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Normally don't include textbooks I teach, but this got thrown into my lap last minute and I read it all this year, so it felt fair.