City Travel Guides
Home Page > Go back a page
Books : Italian Cinema: Arthouse to Exploitation (Pocket Essentials)
Search Books - select a category
See Larger Image |
Italian Cinema: Arthouse to Exploitation (Pocket Essentials) by: Barry Forshaw List Price: £4.99 City Travel Guides Price: £4.49 You Save: £0.50 (10%)Prices subject to change. |
|
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 791.430945 EAN: 9781904048558 ISBN: 1904048552 Label: Pocket Essentials Manufacturer: Pocket Essentials Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 160 Publication Date: January 19, 2006 Publisher: Pocket Essentials Studio: Pocket Essentials Sales Rank: 104937 Related Items:
Related Items:      see moreBrowse for similar items by category:
Editorial Review: Book Description: From the unbridled sensuality of the orgy scenes in silent Italian cinema, through a topless Sophia Loren in a 1950s historical epic and the image of Silvana Mangano her skirt provocatively tucked into her underwear in the neo-realist classic Bitter Rice, the erotic obsessions of Fellini to 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 format. Synopsis: From the unbridled sensuality of the orgy scenes in silent Italian cinema, through a topless Sophia Loren in a 1950s historical epic and the image of Silvana Mangano, her skirt provocatively tucked into her underwear, in the neo-realist classic "Bitter Rice", to the erotic obsessions of Fellini and the more cerebral but still passion-centred movies of Antonioni, eroticism is ever-present in Italian cinema. And then there are the popular movies: the acres of tanned flesh (both male and female) on offer in the many sword and sandal epics of the peplum era through to the inextricable mix of sexuality and violence in the gialli of such directors as Mario Bava and Dario Argento, in which death and sex meet in a blood-drenched, orgasmic coda. Of course, there's far more to Italian cinema: it is one of the most glorious and energetic celebrations of the medium that any nation has ever offered. For many years, this astonishing legacy was largely unseen, but the DVD revolution is making virtually everything available, from Steve Reeves' muscle epics to long-unseen Italian art house movies.The one characteristic that most of the great (and not so great) Italian movies have in common is the sheer individualism of the directors. And this applies to the populist moviemakers as much as to the giants of serious cinema. While Fellini, Visconti and Antonioni have rightly assumed their places in the pantheon, so have such talented popular auteurs as Sergio Leone, who was doing something with the Western that no American director would dare do, so radical was the rethink. All the glory of Italian cinema is celebrated here in comprehensive essays, along with every key film in an easy-to-use reference format. Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
 Rating: - Arthouse to ExploitationFor anyone even mildly interested in Italian cinema this book is a great read. After a short chapter on the history and deveopment of the industry from 1905, the author focuses on the main genres with particular emphasis on sex and horror movies! All the important Italian directors, such as Fellini, Antonioni and Visconti, are discussed as well as some lesser ones hardly known to me. I particularly enjoyed the concise descriptions, plots and background information of the many films discussed, and the way the author brings them to life with his obvious knowledge and enthusiasm of his subject. Well worth its modest price. |
|