Chronicle of the Cinema

Traces the one-hundred-year history of film, surveys the major motion pictures released each year, and features film posters and stills

Like its predecessors (Chronicle of the Twentieth Century, Dorling, 1987; Chronicle of America, 2d. ed., Dorling, 1995; and Chronicle of the World, ECAM, 1990), this narrative time line of notable cinemagraphic events is written in a present-tense journalistic style. Film critic Karney leads a team of editors who present a tremendous amount of information in short, easily accessible articles. The broad scope and international focus here are sure to attract browsers and researchers alike.

Coverage begins in 1894 and goes through March 1995. Essays introduce each decade, (e.g., "The Silent Era," "Movies Find a Voice," "War and After," "The New Wave" ). The format for each year features a chronology of notable events, births, and deaths. Academy Award winners are listed beginning in 1929. A series of newspaper-type articles report on all aspects of the motion-picture industry: celebrities, theaters, mergers, technical developments, legislation, fashion, and gossip. Sample articles from 1917 include a story on how Charlie Chaplin's films are keeping up morale on the front; others describe how the German film industry is moving towards nationalization, censorship in the French film industry, Paramount Studios, Tom Mix, and Theda Bara. Photographs and illustrations are generously strewn throughout the text, some full page, many in color. A spread of posters and stills from each year's biggest hits creates a visual overview.

Along with a great deal of information on the American and British film industries, which is readily available in a number of other sources, are updates on developments in Italy, Russia, Spain, Algeria, Egypt, Japan, and Mexico. Some examples: on May 5, 1913, the four-reel religious epic, Raja Harishchandra, debuted in Bombay, and in 1993, Farewell My Concubine became the first Hong Kong entry ever to win the Cannes Golden Palm Award. Early films featuring all African American casts, such as King Vidor's 1929 Hallelujah, are also documented. Individual editors contributed eight essays on sound, the studio system, color and wide-screen techniques, the Academy Awards, cameras, box-office hits, movie music, and special effects. Two indexes--one general, one for film titles--provide access.

A foreword by Gene Siskel and lavish illustrations will attract patrons, especially young adults. Reference librarians will appreciate the amount of information located in one source. Some libraries may want to consider both circulating and reference copies.