Books in French are on www.livres-cinema.info
Romantics and Modernists in British Cinema
by John Orr
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
John Orr takes a critical look at the intriguing relationship between romanticism and modernism that has been neglected in the study of UK cinema and downplayed in the development of Western cinema. The book covers a broad selection of films, film-makers and debates but also brings a fresh perspective to how scholars might understand and the major traditions that have shaped British cinema history.
Covering the period between 1929 and the present this book examines directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Carol Reed, Nicholas Roeg, Terence Davies and Bill Douglas and discusses two genres vital to British cinema - the fugitive film and the trauma film - which bridge the gap between romantic and modern forms. The author also assesses the powerful impact of major expatriate directors like Joseph Losey, Michelangelo Antonioni, Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick and Jerzy Skolimowski on modernism in the 1960s and 1970s. After critical readings of key films, the conclusion analyses the persistence of romantic and modernist forms in the 21st century in two recent prize-winning features, Control and Hunger.
Key Features
• Directors discussed include Alfred Hitchcock, David Lean, Carol Reed, Nicholas Roeg, Terence Davies and Bill Douglas
• Film discussed include Blackmail, The Lady Vanishes, Black Narcissus, Odd Man Out, The Passionate Friends, The Innocents, Lawrence of Arabia, The Servant, Blow-Up, A Clockwork Orange, Don't Look Now, The Wicker Man, Moonlighting, the Bill Douglas trilogy and The Long Day Closes.
About the Author:
The late John Orr was Emeritus Professor at the University of Edinburgh and published widely in the areas of modern culture, cinema, theatre and literature. He was also a reviewer for a wide number of periodicals and online journals including Screen, Studies in French Cinema, Film International and Senses of Cinema.
Press Reviews:
Agreeably concise and superbly organised, with a brace of excellent stills to complement the text, this book provides an enjoyable, accessible read while also displaying intellectual rigour and insight. Highly recommended.– W. W. Dixon, University of Nebraska, Choice
Romantics and Modernists retains Orr's characteristic pith and insight. What is more, with unconventional heroism it utterly dispenses with the all the notes, references, quotes and secondary evidences which buttress and clutter many a lesser tome. This is all Orr, crammed with provocative opinion and imaginative flight. It is a gem-like swansong.– Andrew Moor, Manchester Metropolitan University, Journal of British Cinema and Television
When Orr is writing about the cinema he clearly loves most (Hitchcock, Reed, Douglas, Davies, McQueen) his own fusing of modernism and romanticism comes to the fore - clear, cogent analysis with an underlying lyricism that inspires an imaginative passion in the reader.– Nick James, Sight and Sound
John Orr's book gives the most ambitious single-author overview of British cinema since Raymond Durgnat's ground-breaking A Mirror for England 40 years ago. Not only does Orr offer much that is fresh and illuminating on film-makers ranging from Lean and Reed, through outsiders like Losey and Polanski, to Bill Douglas and Terence Davies, but he places them in a convincing overall perspective. Anyone interested in the riches of Britain's film history will gain from reading it.– Charles Barr, Emeritus Professor, University of East Anglia
Orr has already written valuable books on Hitchcock's influence and on cinema and modernity. Drawing on these, he traces a dialectic between romanticism and modernism that runs through UK cinema from the beginning of the sound era to the present - often creating a vital tension within its major filmmakers. His themes and juxtapositions are never conventional: chapters on the fugitive 'running man' and the 'trauma film' introduce important new critical perspectives, and his enthusiasms are infectious. Not since Ray Durgnat's A Mirror for England (an acknowledged inspiration) has there been such a stimulating book on cinema in the British Isles.– Ian Christie, Professor of Film and Media History, Birkbeck, University of London. Author of Arrows of Desire: the Films of Powell and Pressburger and The Art of Film: John Box and Production Design
See the publisher website: Edinburgh University Press
> From the same author:
The Demons of Modernity (2016)
Ingmar Bergman and European Cinema
by John Orr
Subject: Director > Ingmar Bergman
The Cinema of Roman Polanski (2006)
Dark Spaces of the World
Dir. John Orr and Elżbieta Ostrowska
Subject: Director > Roman Polanski
The Cinema of Andrzej Wajda (2004)
Dir. John Orr and Elżbieta Ostrowska
Subject: Director > Andrzej Wajda
> On a related topic:
Directory of World Cinema / Scotland (2015)
Dir. Bob Nowlan and Zach Finch
Subject: Countries > Great Britain
Directory of World Cinema / Britain (2012)
Dir. Emma Bell and Neil Mitchell
Subject: Countries > Great Britain
Adrian Brunel and British Cinema of the 1920s (2024)
The Artist versus the Moneybags
Subject: Director > Adrian Brunel
Diaspora and Cultural Negotiations (2022)
The Films of Gurinder Chadha
Dir. Shilpa Daithota Bhat
Subject: Director > Gurinder Chadha
Back
