Professor Geoffrey Nowell-Smith is one of the leading scholars in film studies. During his long academic career he taught film studies in various universities in Britain and the US, and from 1978-1989 he was Head of Education and then Head of Publishing at the British Film Institute. He has authored and edited a number of books, including The Oxford History of World Cinema (OUP, 1996) and Making Waves: New Wave, Neorealism, and the New Cinemas of the 1960s (Bloomsbury, 2007).
Nowell-Smith's packed an astounding amount into 120-page, pocket-sized book. Not just a capsule history of movies, but also summaries of technological, cultural and ideological developments, plus reflections on the current multimedia revolution. There's even room for notes on further reading. Ideal for first-year students; but even well versed will find useful insights. * Philip Kemp, Total Film *