FILM AND MEDIA STUDIES BFI CLASSICS
Eight and a Half (Otto e mezzo)
Seven Samurai
The Godfather
Joan Mellen
Jon Lewis
D. A. Miller
This study of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (1954) treats it both as a portrayal of the cultural upheaval brought on by the collapse of Japanese militarism in the 16th century, and as a reflection of the sweeping cultural changes occurring in the aftermath of the American Occupation that followed Japan's defeat in the Second World War. Mellen contextualises Seven Samurai, marking its place in Japanese cinema and in Kurosawa’s filmmaking career. She explores the film’s roots in medieval history and, above all, the astonishing visual language in which Kurosawa created his elegiac epic.
Examines The Godfather (1972)’s audacious visual style and its principal themes: Vito and Michael's attempt to balance the obligations of business and family, their struggle with assimilation, the temptations and pitfalls of capitalist accumulation, and the larger drama of succession from father to son, from one generation to the next. Lewis uncovers the film's real-life gangster backstory, placing it in the context of Hollywood's dramatic box-office turnaround in the early 1970s, and revealing how The Godfather saved Paramount Studios and the rest of Hollywood.
March 2022 • 60 mono illus • 112 pages 2nd edition • 9781839024771 British Film Institute • Series: BFI Film Classics
March 2022 • 65 colour illus • 104 pages 2nd edition • 9781839024580 British Film Institute • Series: BFI Film Classics
Federico Fellini's masterpiece shocked audiences around the world upon its release in 1963, by its sheer auteurist gall. The hero, Guido Anselmi, seemed to be Fellini's mirror image, and the story to reflect the making of 8 1/2 itself. D.A. Miller argues that we can now see more clearly how tentative, even timid, Fellini's ground-breaking incarnation always was. The enduring timeliness of 8 1/2 lies, Miller suggests, in its aggressive shirking of the shame that falls on the man – and the artist – who fails his appointed social responsibilities. March 2022 • 60 mono illus • 128 pages 2nd edition • 9781839024733 British Film Institute • Series: BFI Film Classics
The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum (Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum) Julian Preece Julian Preece considers what makes this film new and radical, a turning point in numerous contexts, especially with respect to women’s cinema and its portrayal of a female lead. Drawing on archival material including drafts of the screenplay, brochures and props, reviews and interviews, Preece traces the conception of the film and its development from the original short novel authored by Heinrich Böll. First-hand accounts by members of the cast and production team, including cinematographer Jost Vacano, producer Eberhard von Junkersdorf, and actors Angela Winkler and Mario Adorf, provide unique insight into the film’s production. March 2022 • 60 colour illus • 104 pages 9781839024375 • British Film Institute Series: BFI Film Classics
The Searchers Edward Buscombe John Ford's 1956 masterpiece was voted the seventh greatest film of all time in Sight & Sound's most recent poll of critics and has had an enormous influence on many of America's most distinguished contemporary filmmakers. John Wayne's portrait of the vengeful Confederate Ethan Edwards gives the film a truly epic dimension, as does his long and lonely journey into the dark heart of America. Edward Buscombe's insightful study provides a detailed commentary on all aspects of the film, drawing on material in the John Ford archive at Indiana University to offer new insights into the film's production history.
“An indispensable part of every cineaste's bookcase” – Total Film
March 2022 • 60 colour illus • 96 pages 2nd edition • 9781839024696 British Film Institute Series: BFI Film Classics
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