Italian Cinema: Arthouse to Exploitation

The Pocket Essentials: Film

by Barry Forshaw

Pocket Essentials is a dynamic series of books that are concise, lively, and easy to read. Packed with facts as well as expert opinions, each book has all the key information you need to know about such popular topics as film, television, cult fiction, history, and more. From a topless Sophia Loren in a 1950s historical epic and the erotic obsessions of Fellini to the legacy of Sergio Leon's Westerns, Italian cinema has it all. Barry Forshaw leads readers through the glory of the Mediterranean arthouse, the Spaghetti Western, and everything in between, collecting a host of comprehensive essays on the subject and presenting all the key films in an easy-to-use reference.

Genres: Collections

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Barry Forshaw is a writer, broadcaster and journalist whose books include British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia, The Rough Guide to Crime Fiction, Brit Noir, British Gothic Cinema, Nordic Noir, Sex and Film, Euro Noir, Death in a Cold Climate: Scandinavian Crime Fiction and BFI Classics: War of the Worlds along with books on Italian cinema, film noir and the first UK biography of Stieg Larsson, The Man Who Left Too Soon. He has written on books and films for many newspapers and magazines; he also edits Crime Time, and is one of the talking heads for the ITV Crime Thriller author profiles. He records documentaries on crime fiction and film for a variety of BBC producers for both TV and radio, along with much work for foreign broadcasters. He has been Vice Chair of the Crime Writers' Association. As well as his specialist area of books (in most genres), he writes on film (booklets for special edition DVDs) and all aspects of the arts (popular and serious). He is winner of the Keating Award for Non-Fiction for British Crime Writing: An Encyclopedia (Greenwood)
In a previous career he was an illustrator, working for both The Natural History Museum and Jackie.

Reviews

[Keeley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I suspect this book is plagiarized directly from a book written in Italian...the style is utterly bizarre in English, but would be imaginable coming from an Italian academic.

This book was just awful, probably to be expected from something so cheaply produced. Repetitive and completely unorganized, it was a waste of time. Do not read it. There has to be a better way to learn about Italian cinema.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

"The Italian horror film was probably the finest flower of the country's popular cinema, along with the stylish murder thriller (or gialli). The finest exponents of these fields (apart from the groundbreaking Riccardo Freda) were Mario Bava, Dario Argento, and the less-talented Lucio Fulci." (p. 54)

[John Bleasdale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good

A neat guide to Italian cinema with some TV thrown in. All the soliti ignoti are here with some good suggestions as well