MYSTERIES OF CINEMA: Movies and Imagination

A thematic roller-coaster ride through movie history in which directors and critics speculate about the nature of cinematic vision. Cinema has always been excited by speed and it enjoys sending the body on furious kinetic chases. At the same time it stealthily probes our minds, invading our dreams and titillating our desires. There are contributions from writers, artists and composers and the book begins from the audacious innovations of silent film, examines the influence of French surrealism and German expressionism, and accounts for the appeal of Hollywood genres like the Western, the horror film and the musical. We continue to be delighted by the art in which the laws of time and space are suspended and magical transformations can occur; early commentators hailed the cinema and others likened it to a hallucinogenic drug. Peter Conrad argues in his brilliant book that the movie camera has given us new eyes and forever changed our view of reality. His chapters include Fantastic Voyages, Wheels and Wings, Dark Rooms, The Physics of Film, Meta-Movies and Seeing Other Worlds. He has an eye for the subjective quirks of filmmakers and the allure of favourite performers and delivers an astonishing addition to the literature on the seventh art. 61 illustrations, 312 pages, includes colour plates. A beautiful Thames & Hudson production.