French Film Theory and Criticism: A History/Anthology, 1907-1939. Volume 2: 1929-1939

French Film Theory and Criticism #2

by Richard Abel

These two volumes examine a significant but previously neglected moment in French cultural history: the emergence of French film theory and criticism before the essays of Andr Bazin. Richard Abel has devised an organizational scheme of six nearly symmetrical periods that serve to "bite into" the discursive flow of early French writing on the cinema. Each of the periods is discussed in a separate and extensive historical introduction, with convincing explications of the various concepts current at the time. In each instance, Abel goes on to provide a complementary anthology of selected texts in translation. Amounting to a portable archive, these anthologies make available a rich selection of nearly one hundred and fifty important texts, most of them never before published in English.

Genres: Film

328 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Richard Owen Abel (born 1941) is Professor Emeritus of International Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Michigan.

Reviews

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first of two volumes of actual critical writing from either film theorists or better yet the filmmakers themselves. French cinema has been there since the beginning and it's fascinating to read how movies play in people's lives. One gets the sense that here is an art that will be essentially a 20th Century medium. They knew that in 1907! As a once dear friend of mine has said "very exciting."

[Tosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

The second volume of the two part series, which covers critical film writing by such artists as Dulac, Artaud and others. Very focused on the time-frame here. Richard Abel is the essential French film historian and this second volume really captures the issues of filmmaking in France (therefore the world). Essential film book (both editions) for your library.