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In Glorious Technicolor: A Century of Film and How it has Shaped Us

Francine Stock

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Published by Chatto & Windus, part of Vintage Publishing

Format: Hardback

£18.99

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Details

EAN: 9780701183950
Published: 6 Oct 2011

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About the book

Synopsis

At the end of the nineteenth century, audiences were enthralled by the flickering image of an oncoming train in a Lumière Brothers' short film; more than a hundred years later the immersive fantasy of Avatar enveloped audiences around the globe.

Film is a communal dream in which our fears and fantasies are revealed, often to startling effect. It has influenced our behaviour in small but significant ways, from the widespread abandonment of vests after Clark Gable's example in It Happened One Night to gangsters holding their weapons at movie-cool angles, improving their image but not their aim. It has intertwined with politics, helping to forge national identity, galvanise against a wartime enemy or warn of social upheaval via horror or science fiction. It has burrowed deep into our psyche, changing perceptions of history and memory - one study showed soldiers' recall may sometimes owe more to war films than actual experience. It has even raised romantic expectations that for us, too, 'the one' will arrive for that big clinch in the final reel.

Despite decades of rapid change, we are still hypnotised and seduced by the power of cinema; it remains our most persuasive mass entertainment. In this fascinating, entertaining and illuminating book Francine Stock takes us on a personal journey through a glorious century of cinema, showing in vivid detail how film both reflects and makes our world.

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Press

What the critics say

Stock's prose vaults gracefully between reference points... Her analyses here are impressively fluent and insightful
- Scotsman

As a guide to one hundred years of cinema, Francine Stock certainly has the credentials... An informative, easy read
- Sunday Times

There is much to enjoy in this book
- Observer

It's smoothly written and Stock clearly knows her onions
- Time Out

About the Author

Francine Stock has presented radio and television programmes on current affairs and the arts from BBC 2's Newsnight to Radio 4's Front Row. Since 2004, she has presented The Film Programme. She has also published two novels, A Foreign Country and Man-Made Fibre.

Francine Stock

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