The Oxford History of World Cinema

by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (Editor)

From its humble beginnings as a novelty in a handful of cities, cinema has risen to become a billion-dollar industry and the most spectacular and original contemporary art form. In The Oxford History of World Cinema , an international team of film historians traces the history of this enduringly popular entertainment medium. Covering all aspects of its development, stars, studios, and cultural impact, the book celebrates and chronicles over one hundred years of diverse achievement from westerns to the New Wave, from animation to the avant-garde, and from Hollywood to Hong Kong.
The Oxford History of World Cinema tells the story of the major inventions and developments in the cinema business, its institutions, genres, and personnel, and they outline the evolution of national cinemas round the world--the varied and distinctive film traditions that have developed alongside Hollywood. A unique aspect of the book are the special inset features on the film-makers and personalities--Garbo and Godard, Keaton and Kurosawa, Bugs Bunny and Bergman--who have had an enduring impact in popular memory and cinematic lore. With over 280 illustrations, a full bibliography, and an extensive index, this is the buff's ultimate guide to cinema worldwide.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction, History, Reference, Art, Media Tie In, 20th Century

824 pages, Paperback

First published October 17, 1996

About the author

Geoffrey Nowell-Smith is Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of History at Queen Mary, University of London.

Reviews

[Mahdi · Rating 3 out of 5]

یه کم مشکل سردرگمی داشتم با این کتاب! هر فصل کتاب از مقاله‌گونه‌ای بود از نویسندگان و حتی مترجمان متفاوت.... از یه دستی و سرفصل‌های مناسب تاریخ سینما بوردول خیلی فاصله داره... بیشتر هم و غمش هم گذاشته روی اسم بردن سطحی از فنون و فناوری و فیلم‌ها... در کل تاریخ سینما بوردول بهتر بود.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I now know much more about world cinema than I did two months ago. On the positive side, I have an increased appreciation for the evolution of the art form, especially as that evolution manifests itself in film traditions from cultures other than Hollywood's.
The negative aspect of this overview, however, was the amount of time spent dwelling on the economics and business side of the cinema. Going in, I was hoping for a more detailed analysis of the aesthetics of film, and I wish they had spent more time in that area.
Furthermore, a plus and a minus can be chalked up for the many vignettes which pepper the text. The insights into various performers and directors which these pieces provided were wonderful. The downside was that there weren't more of them.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actually an impressive achievement, though no single film survey reference book is ever definitive, and this certainly isn't, but the number of name scholars and experts employed for the entries is staggering, and the organization is glitzy and attractive in a comforting compartmentalized way rather than for mere show. A copy of this is available to borrow online at archive.org, and if you hunt around enough you might find a downloadable PDF. I wouldn't mind having a hard copy but it's not a priority. Below are some notes I made about this guide a few years ago:

The Oxford History of World Cinema, by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (ed.), 1996, Oxford University Press, Oxford, England. (an improved revision of 1976's "The Oxford Companion to Film") (***)
Densely packed and useful, though criticized in some quarters for its errors.

kr, eg '19

[Grace Balmes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to read this book for my English passion project. My project has to do with how different cultures effect filmmaking so this book was extremely helpful. This book provided a lot of information regarding different countries and how their filmmaking ways changed throughout the different eras of film, such as silent, sound, and modern. The answer to my question was completely answered in this book, with the help of the other sources I had. There are a lot of details in this book which really helps me for the situation that I am using it for. Another good thing about this book is that it does not just mainly focus on one country more than others, except the United States which is to be expected because we have a lot of influence on other countries. My only complaint about this book would have to be that it is extremely long which may be time consuming for some people. I understand though that it has to be long because it does contain a lot of information over an extensive period of time. I would definitely recommend this book if you are interested in seeing how cinema has changed over the years in the United States, but other countries as well, and how culture effects filmmaking.

[Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I obviously didn't get to finish this... it's way too dense haha. but the little I did read was very informative and I recall liking it. I'll keep revisiting it for reference

[Gijs Grob · Rating 5 out of 5]

'The Oxford History of World Cinema' is a brave attempt to encompass the history of cinema across the globe. Thus, apart from the relatively familiar Hollywood story, we get an insight in cinematic developments in Africa, South America, and individual countries like France, Germany, India, Iran, Turkey, China and Japan. This massive book looks further than narrative feature film, and includes chapters on e.g. documentaries, avant garde cinema, animation film, silent serials, film music, race issues and the role of television.

The book is written by numerous authors, and the quality of the contributions vary. At worst, the chapter becomes an endless list of names of filmmakers and films (especially the chapter on post-war French cinema is a disappointment in that respect), but mostly the quality of the writing is of a high quality (for example, the subsequent chapters on Italian and Spanish post-war cinema are much more insightful than the French one). Because of this multi-faceted approach, some subjects get a rather incomplete treatment. For example, there's a whole chapter on silent comedy, but none on subsequent developments in the genre.

Nevertheless, this book is both a great introduction to world cinema and a wonderful reference work. I wouldn't recommend anyone to read it from start to end, like I did, but it's an absolute great book to browse, and to let one dive into more obscure subjects, like, say, cinema from East Germany.

[Nathan]

The Oxford History of World Cinema is an amazingly well put-together overview of international motion picture history. Whether you are interested in the technical, commercial or artistic development of cinema - a pretty comprehensive guide awaits you in this book. The various contributors ( all of them particularly knowledgable regarding specific areas of film history ) provide a wealth of information about the single most important modern art form.
The single element about this book that I am enjoying the most are the spotlights on particularly influential individuals (writers, producers, directors, actors, etc.) whose contributions left an indelible mark on the world of film. Amid the deluge of historical information, it's great to be able to stop and focus on the personal journeys of people who have become enigmatic icons. It has a way of making the history "come alive".
I will admit that the sheer volume of information can be overwhelming at times, but if you are interested at all in film, it is fascinating to discover the people and events that have made movies become such a sophisticated form of art over the past century ...

[Sinan Öner]

British Historian Geoffrey Nowell-Smith's "The Oxford History of World Cinema" is one of the best history books on the world cinema! Nowell-Smith writes "The Oxford History of World Cinema" with a lot of Historians who study on the directors of different countries since the end of 19. Century. Nowell-Smith publishes the biographical notes about a lot of directors, he writes on their films, he writes on the changes in the cinema with any new films of different directors. Nowell-Smith uses the sources for studying on the history of world cinema in very wide area, he writes on all the countries' cinema works with the Historians who study on cinema of the different countries - all the continents. What was the Cinema in the 19. Century, what did change in the Cinema at the beginning of 20. Century, Novell-Smith begins to think on the history of world cinema, then he follows the developments of cinema in the different countries, he thinks on the Hollywood, on the European, on the Asian, then he writes more, he describes all the history of world cinema.

[Joe B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed history of the first 100 years of world cinema, 1895-1995. A bit heavy on the business side of things. Details of the national cinemas are interesting, at least for the European and major Asian cinemas, but gets lost in the obscure 3rd world. Still, very informative about the major trends, sound, color, technical advances. And always comparing US to the rest of the world, the major theme being US cinema conquering of national cinemas. Interesting profiles of individual actors, directors, cinematographers, etc.
Recommended for film aficionados.
Now someone just needs to write a sequel on the last 30 years of cinema.

[Caroline Petruzzi McHale · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is tremendous and one that helped me reconnect with my old love of cinema. I note that it's a reference book and I didn't read it cover to cover, but focused on the sub-chapter "Cinemas of the World" (itself close to 200 pages). It made me think about why I ever fell out of step with cinema in the first place: too one-sided, too loud, too busy, too much about "telling" and not "showing," too heavily influenced by producers and not artists. There is a lot about modern cinema that needs to be unlearned. This book is a good start towards constructing one's own viewing "parcours."

[Jeroen Kraan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two and a half decades after it was published, this is still a tremendous overview of cinema's first century. It has all the Hollywood history you would expect, but is particularly remarkable for its remarkable breadth of information on national cinemas throughout the world. Even hardcore cinephiles will come across hundreds of titles they've never even heard of, and which may unfortunately be impossible to see. The book will still give you a nice flavor of movie culture in countries that don't often come up in film books.

[Gustavo Santos · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to study cinema and understand its chronology and development as a whole. If you have similar aspirations, I can't recommend this book enough. The downside is that this book will take you a good amount of time to finish due to its long pages and small print. Furthermore, I didn’t quite like the interruptions made throughout the text, which were used for the presentation of important figures. Although I liked the presentations themselves, I feel it would have been better if they had been left to the end of the chapter as a bonus and left to the reader’s discretion.

[Murat Başaran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rekin Hoca'nın kitabıyla beraber aynı dönemde çıkmış ve belki de halen ülkemizde basılmış en kapsamlı iki kitaptan birini teşkil eden İngiliz menşeili bu kaynak aslında tamamlayıcı olmaktan çok ikame görevi görüyor. Konsept olarak, her bölümde bir kalemi kutucuk içinde ayrıca incelemek gibi yerleşik bir şablonla göze hoş görünse de, ben reyimi Rekin Hoca'dan yana kullanıyorum. Kendisi eminim ki Oxford'u tercih edecek kadar mütevazılık gösterirdi, diğer birçoklarının aksine.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exhaustive and exhausting. Not a history of film, but a history of the film industry or tradition around the world.

[Fi · Rating 4 out of 5]

As far as film textbooks go, this is the best one I've had to read so far!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

An update would make this already great book greater.

[Tia Gonzales · Rating 5 out of 5]

superlative

[Jamie YW · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference book for global film studies.

[George]

I used this for an essay only to find it assigned the next semester 😭 lets just say me and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith are 🤞

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource for all things cinema. Like all overviews, one always hopes for a bit more detail when it comes to certain directors, national cinemas, and movements. It serves its purpose though.

[Mentai · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a large brick of a reference so I didn't read all of it! The entries on melodrama, music and the silent film, the introduction of sound to cinema and the fantastic were informative as background for me. The reference also explores national cinema from other parts of the world.

[Saroj · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to know about film history

[nesro gar]

ana ba7ab el cinema wal sho3'l el feha wal cinema haya el tare7' dalwate