An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928

by admin on May 30, 2010

An Evening's Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928 (History of the American Cinema, Vol 3)

From Library Journal

These are the initial three volumes in a projected ten-volume series, scheduled for completion in 1993, which explores American cinema through the 1980s. Musser, who teaches film studies at NYU and Columbia, focuses on what he considers to be the first 12 years of American cinema, beginning when films were first projected in 1895. A good portion of the work is devoted to the precursors of film: the magic lantern and its successors, including the stereopticon and such exotic mechanisms as the zoopraxiscope and phasmatrope. Although Musser recounts the plots of many of the early films, it is the film industry rather than film as an art form (however primitive) which he emphasizes. 1907 is a somewhat arbitr [Read More...]

Buy An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928 at Amazon

Hot Internet Ideas: If you find that it is hard to find Christmas Gifts for Men, never fear. This page has everything a man would want!

Related Entertainment Posts

Tagged as: 19151928, Entertainment, Evening's, Feature, Picture, Silent

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

Zagiri May 30, 2010 at 2:35 pm
This review is from: An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928 (History of the American Cinema, Vol 3) (Paperback)

Don’t be fooled by the slimness of this book. It is packed with information and is extremely useful in giving the reader a view of the American film industry in the heyday of the silent era.

One can read not only about popular genres and movie stars, but about how the studios came into existance (and Koszarski presents this in a clear, understandable way), and how movies were shown to the public, including the legendary “dream palace” movie theaters.

I am left breathless by this book. Was there an aspect of movies in the 1920s that Koszarski overlooked? If so, it must be unimportant. He mastered an incredible amount of information and presented it very clearly and concisely here. Highly recommended to all interested in the American film industry.

Anonymous May 30, 2010 at 2:40 pm
This review is from: An Evening’s Entertainment: The Age of the Silent Feature Picture, 1915-1928 (History of the American Cinema, Vol 3) (Paperback)

This is a must have for any film buff . This volume is endlessly fascinating as it covers all areas of the silent film age from the studios to the theatres and everything in between. The author speaks in a factual style without being dry and the photo’s all serve to illustrate the text. I have seen and read an endless amount of books on film being a dye-in-the -wool film fanatic all my life and this book stands amongst the most informative, fascinating well researched volumes I have ever seen. You know you love a book when you can’t put the darn thing down, which was the case with this one.

Leave a Comment

Previous post: Cinematical Seven: More Vacation Spots for the ‘Sex & the City’ Gang

Next post: Fall TV Diversity Scorecard