Cinema

by Thomas Wiseman

'Of all the arts,' declared Lenin, 'the cinema is the most important to us.' Yet cinema is business as well as art, a means o escaping reality as well as a powerful weapon for shaping it; and this duality is - and always has been - a source of conflict. Thomas Wiseman traces the history of this most twentieth century art form from Edison's Kinetoscope, a peep-show machine which could be viewed by only one person at a time, right up to the present day big screen epic, and the highly personal cinema of Bergman, Antonioni, Fellini and the French New Wave. It is a story, on the one hand, of the creation of a great international industry,. and, on the other hand of the struggle of the artist to win for himself greater freedom and independence. It is a single theme - but one with many threads that have interwoven themselves throughout the world and made the cinema the international art form that it is. 'The wandering art of the cinema' had the silent film as its basis. From thence it strayed - to Germany and the firs to the psychological films, to Russia and imagery, to France where the avant-garde directors went a step further and probes the unconscious mind, back to America, the country that originated the Western, the musical and the big epic, to British documentaries, to Italy and neo-realism, and to the 'new, personal' cinema of today where the film-maker can truly develop his medium. The cinema is fast becoming free, less subject to censorship and control, but it is not free enough. Freedom of expression is still only permitted if it is profitable and the film-maker of today must be part author, part director, part organiser, part politicians, part promoter; he cannot in the nature of things be a purist. The cinema's failings and glories are uniquely of our time, and in writing its story Mr Wiseman, film critic and writer, has provided a definite and remarkably clear study of the cinema. The book is beautifully illustrated with numerous and colourful pictures,.

181 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Thomas Wiseman was the film critic of the Sunday Express. Before that he wrote the entertainment personalities page in the Evening Standard for eight years, during which he made many trips to Hollywood and European Studios to interview stars, producers and directors in the cinematograph industry (the feature was syndicated internationally from the Sunday Morning Herald to the Nairobi Sunday Post.) He was also a playright.