Best Film History Books
Art & Photography, Best Books, Education, History, Nonfiction

The Best Film History Books of All-Time

We consulted 27 “Best Film History Books” listicles and came away with over 450 unique titles. Of those, 47 appeared on multiple lists and can be found ranked below. The additional 404 books are listed at the bottom of the article in alphabetical order.

The Best film history books cover all of the time periods, from the silent era to the 1960’s to the previous decade.  Books about big blockbusters, indie favorites, and even the history of pornography can be found below.

Happy Scrolling!



47 Best Film History Books



47) A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman by Robert F. Kolker

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

A Cinema of Loneliness- Penn, Stone, Kubrick, Scorsese, Spielberg, Altman by Robert Phillip Kolker


46) American History Goes to the Movies by W. Bryan Rommel Ruiz

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

American History Goes to the Movies- Hollywood and the American Experience by W. Bryan Rommel-Ruiz


45) Awake in the Dark by Roger Ebert

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Awake in the Dark- The Best of Roger Ebert by Roger Ebert


44) British National Cinema by Sarah Street

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

British National Cinema by Sarah Street


43) Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood & The Birth of The Modern Man by Mick LaSalle

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Dangerous Men- Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man by Mick LaSalle


42) Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir; Dark City Dames: The Wicked Women of Film Noir; The Art of Noir by Eddie Muller

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Dark City- The Lost World of Film Noir by Eddie Muller


41) Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film by AUTHOR

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Down and Dirty Pictures- Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film by Peter Biskind


40) Film Noir: The Encyclopedia by Alain Silver, James Ursini, Elizabeth Ward, and Robert Porfirio

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Film Noir- The Encyclopedia by Alain Silver (Contributor), Carl Macek, Elizabeth M. Ward


39) Film Theory by Thomas Elsaesser & Malte Hagener

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Film Theory- An Introduction Through the Senses (Kino raštai #2) by Thomas Elsaesser, Malte Hagener


38) Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and The Second World War – John Ford, George Stevens, John Huston, William Wyler, Frank Capra by Mark Harris

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Five Came Back- A Story of Hollywood and the Second World War by Mark Harris


37) From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in Movies by Molly Haskell

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

From Reverence to Rape- The Treatment of Women in the Movies by Molly Haskell


36) Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays: 1920-1970 by Karie Bible and Mary Mallory

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays- 1920 1970 by Karie Bible, Mary Mallory


35) In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch, Francis Ford Coppola (Foreword by)


34) MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot by Steven Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester, and Michael Troyan

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

MGM- Hollywood's Greatest Backlot by Steven Bingen, Stephen X. Sylvester, Michael Troyan, Debbie Reynolds (Foreword)


33) Movie-Made America: A Cultural History of American Movies by Robert Sklar

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Movie-Made America- A Cultural History of American Movies by Robert Sklar


32) My First Time in Hollywood by Cari Beauchamp

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

 

My First Time in Hollywood- Stories from the Pioneers, Dreamers and Misfits Who Made the Movies by Cari Beauchamp


31) My Last Sigh by Luis Buñuel

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

My Last Sigh by Luis Buñuel, Abigail Israel (Translator)


30) Negative Space by Manny Farber

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Negative Space- Manny Farber on the Movies by Manny Farber, Robert Walsh Jr. (Preface by)


29) Rebel Without a Crew by Robert Rodriguez

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Rebel Without a Crew, or How a 23-Year-Old Filmmaker With $7,000 Became a Hollywood Player by Robert Rodríguez


28) Shock Value: How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror by AUTHOR

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Shock Value- How a Few Eccentric Outsiders Gave Us Nightmares, Conquered Hollywood, and Invented Modern Horror by Jason Zinoman


27) Sin In Soft Focus: Pre-Code Hollywood by Mark A. Vieira

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Sin in Soft Focus- Pre-Code Hollywood by Mark A. Vieira


26) Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes by John Pierson

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Spike, Mike, Slackers, & Dykes- A Guided Tour Across a Decade of American Independent Cinema by John Pierson


25) The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies by David Thomson

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Big Screen- The Story of the Movies--and What They Have Done to Us by David Thomson


24) The Coming of Sound by Douglas Gomery

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Coming of Sound- A History by Douglas Gomery


23) The Dawn of Technicolor: 1915-1935 by James Layton and David Pierce

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Dawn of Technicolor- 1915-1935 by James Layton (Editor), Paolo Cherchi Usai (Editor), Catherine Surowiec (Editor), Bruce Barnes (Foreword), David Pierce


22) The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West, Alfred Kazin (Introduction by)


21) The Dream That Kicks by Michael Chanan

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

Dream That Kicks by Michael Chanan


20) The Ice Cream Blonde: The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd by AUTHOR

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Ice Cream Blonde- The Whirlwind Life and Mysterious Death of Screwball Comedienne Thelma Todd by Michelle Morgan


19)  The New Biographical Dictionary of Film by David Thomson

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film- Expanded and Updated by David Thomson


18) The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by AUTHOR

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Other Hollywood- The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry by Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne, Peter Pavia


17) The Oxford History of World Cinema: The Definitive History of Cinema World-wide by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Oxford History of World Cinema by Geoffrey Nowell-Smith (Editor)


16) The Parade’s Gone by Kevin Brownlow

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Parade's Gone By... by Kevin Brownlow


15) The Persistence of History: Cinema, Television and The Modern Event by Vivian Sobchack

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Persistence of History- Cinema, Television and the Modern Event by Sobchack


14) The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History by Gregory Paul Williams

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The Story of Hollywood- An Illustrated History by Gregory Paul Williams


13) The Wes Anderson Collection by Matt Zoller Seitz

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

WesAnderson_CaseSpotUV_5_24.indd


12) The World Viewed by Stanley Cavell

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

The World Viewed- Reflections on the Ontology of Film by Stanley Cavell


11) What Is Cinema? by André Bazin

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

What is Cinema?- Volume I (What is Cinema? #1) by André Bazin, Hugh Gray, Jean Renoir (Foreword)


10) You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet: The American Talking Film – History & Memory, 1927-1949 by Andrew Sarris

Appears On: 2 Lists
Learn More About Title

%22You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet%22- The American Talking Film- History and Memory 1927-1949 by Andrew Sarris


9) History of British Film by Rachael Low

Appears On: 3 Lists
Learn More About Title

The History of British Film (The History of the British Film Volume II) by Rachael Low


8) Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality & Insurrection In American Cinema by AUTHOR

Appears On: 3 Lists
Learn More About Title

Pre-Code Hollywood- Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema; 1930-1934 (Film and Culture) by Thomas Doherty


7) Rebels on the Backlot by Sharon Waxman

Appears On: 3 Lists
Learn More About Title

Rebels on the Backlot- Six Maverick Directors and How They Conquered the Hollywood Studio System by Sharon Waxman


6) Hitchcock/Truffaut by Francois Truffaut

Appears On: 4 Lists
Learn More About Title

Hitchcock by François Truffaut, Alfred Hitchcock


5) Making Movies by Sidney Lumet

Appears On: 4 Lists
Learn More About Title

Making Movies by Sidney Lumet


4) The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968 by Andrew Sarris

Appears On: 4 Lists
Learn More About Title

The American Cinema- Directors and Directions, 1929-1968 by Andrew Sarris


3) Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock ‘N’ Roll Generation Saved Hollywood by Peter Biskind

Appears On: 5 Lists
Learn More About Title

Easy Riders, Raging Bulls by Peter Biskind


2) For Keeps by Pauline Kael

Appears On: 5 Lists
Learn More About Title

For Keeps- 30 Years at the Movies (The Film Writings) by Pauline Kael


  1. Pictures at a Revolution by Mark Harris

Appears On: 5 Lists
Learn More About Title

Pictures at a Revolution- Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris



404 Additional Film History Books Appearing on a Single List



  • …Isms- Understanding Film (Paperback)Ronald Bergan
  • 100 Ideas That Changed Film (Paperback)David Parkinson
  • 11 Pre-Code Hollywood Movies and Their Histories
  • 5001 Nights at the Movies, by Pauline Kael
  • A Brief History of The Silent Screen – and The World At That Time” [2008] by Larry Telles, Foreword by Diana Serra Cary
  • A History of Film” textbook [orig pre-1990] by Virginia Wright Wexman
  • A History of Narrative FilmBy David A. CookW.W. Norton, 1996 (3rd edition)
  • A History of Popular Culture By Raymond F. Betts, Lyz Bly
  • A History of Television in 100 Programmes(Hardback)Phil Norman
  • A Knight At The Movies: Medieval History On Film” [2003] by John Aberth
  • A Life by Elia Kazan
  • A Million and One Nights: A History of the Motion Picture Through 1925″ [1926] by Terry Ramsaye
  • A New Pictorial History of The Talkies” [1968] by Daniel Blum & John Kobal
  • A Panorama of American Film Noir: 1941-1953 by Raymond Bordeand Etienne Chaumeton
  • A Pictorial History of The Silent Screen” [1953] by Daniel C. Blum
  • A Real American Character-The Life of Walter Brennan
  • A Short History of Film” [2008] by Wheeler Winston Dixon & Gwendolyn Audrey Foster
  • A Short History of the Movies” [orig 1971, rev 2011] by Gerald Mast [1940-88] & Bruce Kawin
  • A Third Face
  • A to Z of Hollywood Style (Hardback)Sinty Stemp
  • A Very Courageous Decision (Hardback)Graham McCann
  • A-Z of Silent Film Comedy: An Illustrated Companion” [2003] by Glenn Mitchell, Foreword by Kevin Brownlow
  • Adventures in the Screen Trade, by William Goldman
  • Agee on Film: Criticism and Comment on the Movies, by James Agee
  • Albert Capellani: Pioneer of the Silent Screen (University Press of Kentucky) by Christine Leteux
  • Alfred Hitchcock Edited by Neil Badmington
  • Alfred Hitchcock (Hardback)Peter Ackroyd
  • All I Need to Know About Filmmaking I Learned from the Toxic Avenger
  • All the Best Lines (Paperback)George Tiffin
  • America On Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality At The Movies” [2003] by Harry M. Benshoff & Sean Griffin
  • America’s Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide To The Landmark Movies In The National Film Registry” [2009] by Daniel Eagan
  • American and Chinese-Language Cinemas Edited by Lisa Funnell, Man-Fung Yip
  • American Cinema / American Culture” popular textbook [orig 1993] by John Belton, with Additional Readings by Ken White (3rd Edition)
  • American Ethnographic Film and Personal Documentary: The Cambridge Turn
  • American Film Exhibition and an Analysis of the Motion Picture Industry’s Market Structure 1963-1980 By Gary Edgerton
  • American History / American Film: Interpreting The Hollywood Image” [1988] Edited by John E. O’Connor & Martin A. Jackson,
  • American History and Contemporary Hollywood Film” [2005] by Trevor McCrisken & Andrew Pepper
  • American History On The Screen: Film and Video Resources” [for grades 6-12; orig 1993, rev 2002] by Wendy S. Wilson & Gerald H. Herman
  • American Newsfilm 1914-1919 (RLE The First World War) By David H. Mould
  • American Plays and Musicals On Screen: 650 Stage Productions and Their Film & Televison Adaptations” [2004] by Thomas S. Hischak
  • American Silent Film (William K. Everson, Da Capo Press)
  • Americanization of History: Conflation of Time and Culture In Film & Television” [2011] Edited by Kathleen McDonald
  • An Economic History of FilmBy John Sedgwick; Michael PokornyRoutledge, 2004
  • Animation in China By Sean Macdonald
  • Animation: A World History By Giannalberto Bendazzi
  • Ann Blyth- Actress, Singer, Star
  • Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel
  • Another Steven Soderbergh Experience: Authorship and Contemporary Hollywood
  • Arnheim for Film and Media Studies Edited by Scott Higgins
  • As You Wish (Hardback)Cary Elwes
  • Atomic Bomb Cinema By Jerome F. Shapiro
  • Audrey Hepburn (Paperback)
  • Ava Gardner: Love is Nothing by Lee Server
  • Bazin at Work By Andre Bazin
  • Before Video: A History of the Non-Theatrical FilmBy Anthony SlideGreenwood Press, 1992
  • Behind The Screen: Hollywood Insiders On Faith, Film, and Culture [2005] Edited by Spencer Lewerenz & Barbara Nicolosi
  • Behind The Screen: How Gays & Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969″ [2001] by William J. Mann
  • Bela Lugosi in Person
  • Bigger Than Blockbusters: Movies That Defined AmericaBy James RomanGreenwood Press, 2009
  • Bio/Pics: How Hollywood Constructed Public History” [1992] by George F. Custen
  • Blaxploitation Films of the 1970s By Novotny Lawrence
  • Blue-Collar Hollywood: Liberalism, Democracy & Working People In American Film” [2003] by John Bodnar
  • Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959″ [1999] by Eric Schaefer
  • Bollywood Edited by Rachel Dwyer
  • Brazilian National Cinema By Lisa Shaw, Stephanie Dennison
  • British Cinema Edited by Robert Murphy
  • Bruce Lee Treasures (Paperback)Paul Bowman
  • Causes Won, Lost & Forgotten: How Hollywood & Popular Art Shape What We Know About The Civil War” [2008] by Gary W. Gallagher
  • Celebrating 1895: The Centenary of Cinema” [1998] Edited by John Fullerton
  • Children of Light By Robert Stone
  • Children’s Films: History, Ideology, Pedagogy, TheoryBy Ian Wojcik-AndrewsGarland, 2000
  • Chinese Cinema Edited by Chris Berry
  • Cinema (Paperback)Philip Kemp
  • Cinema 1 & 2
  • Cinema against Spectacle
  • Cinema and Ireland By Kevin Rockett, Luke Gibbons, John Hill
  • Cinema as Weather By Kristi McKim
  • Cinema Eye, Cinema Ear By John Russell Taylor
  • Cinema in the Cold War Edited by Cyril Buffet
  • Cinema of Actuality: Japanese Avant-Garde Filmmaking in the Season of Image Politics
  • Cinema, Audiences and Modernity Edited by Daniel Biltereyst, Richard Maltby, Philippe Meers
  • Cinema: The Archaeology of Film & The Memory of A Century” [2005] by Jean-Luc Godard & Youssef Ishaghpour, translated by John Howe
  • Cinematic Illuminations: The Middle Ages On Film” [2009] by Laurie Finke & Martin B. Shichtman
  • Classic Hollywood Style (Hardback)Caroline Young
  • Classical Hollywood Comedy Edited by Kristine Brunovska Karnick, Henry Jenkins
  • Classics On Screen: Ancient Greece and Rome On Film” [2012] by Alastair A. L. Blanshard & Kim Shahabudin
  • Colonial America On Film and Television: A Filmography” [2000] by Bertil O. Österberg
  • Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood
  • Controversial Cinema: The Films That Outraged America” [2008] by Kendall R. Phillips
  • David Lean: A Biography by Kevin Brownlow
  • Death 24x a Second by Laura Mulvey (2005)
  • Deirdre (Hardback)Glenda Young
  • Dennis Stock: James Dean (Hardback)Dennis Stock
  • Dietrich & Riefenstahl: Hollywood, Berlin, and a Century in Two Lives (Liveright) by Karin Wieland
  • Directors and Directions By John Russell Taylor
  • Distributing Silent Film Serials By Rudmer Canjels
  • Do the Movies Have a Future? by David Denby
  • Documentary Testimonies Edited by Bhaskar Sarkar, Janet Walker
  • Driven to Darkness: Jewish Émigré Directors and the Rise of Film Noirby Vincent Brook
  • Duck and Cover: Civil Defense Images In Film and Television From The Cold War To 9/11″ [2011] by Melvin E. Matthews, Jr.
  • Early Cinema Edited by Richard Abel
  • Early Cinema: Space, Frame, Narrative edited by Thomas Elsaesser
  • Encyclopedia of Early Cinema Edited by Richard Abel
  • Endangering Science Fiction Film Edited by Sean Redmond, Leon Marvell
  • Envisioning Freedom: Cinema and the Building of Modern Black Life (Harvard University Press) by Cara Caddoo
  • Exporting Perilous Pauline: Pearl White and the Serial Film Craze
  • Fantasia of Color in Early Cinema (Amsterdam University Press) by Tom Gunning, Joshua Yumibe, Giovanna Fossati, and Jonathon Rosen
  • Feature Films as History Edited by K. R. M. Short
  • Featured Player: An Oral Autobiography of Mae Clarke
  • Film (Paperback)Michael Wood
  • Film and the American Presidency Edited by Jeff Menne, Christian B. Long
  • Film as Art
  • Film as Social Practice By Graeme Turner
  • Film Form
  • Film History: An Introduction” [1994] by Kristin Thompson & David Bordwell
  • Film History: Theory and Practice” [1993] by Robert C Allen & Douglas Gomery
  • Film in Five Seconds (Hardback)Matteo Civaschi
  • Film Listography (Paperback)Matthew Rainwaters
  • Film Music: A History” [2008] by James Wierzbicki
  • Film Nation: Hollywood Looks At U.S. History” [1997] by Robert Burgoyne
  • Film, History and Cultural Citizenship Edited by Tina Mai Chen, David S. Churchill
  • Filming and Performing Renaissance History” [11 essays 2011] Edited by Mark Thornton Burnett & Adrian Streete
  • Filming The Middle Ages” [2011] by Bettina Bildhauer
  • Flashbacks in Film By Maureen Turim
  • Forbidden Films: Censorship Histories of 125 Motion Pictures” [2001] by Dawn B. Sova
  • Forbidden Fruit: The Golden Age of The Exploitation Film” [1999] by Felicia Feaster & Bret Wood
  • Frankly, My Dear: Quips and Quotes From Hollywood” [2005] by Shelley Klein
  • French Cinema Edited by Phil Powrie
  • From Calgari to Hitler: A Psychological History of the German Film, by Sigfried Kracauer Princeton / The Monster Show: Revised Edition, by David
    J. Skal
  • From Peepshow To Palace: The Birth of American Film” [1995] by David Robinson, Foreword by Martin Scorsese
  • From Sambo to Superspade: The Black Experience in Motion PicturesBy Daniel J. LeabSecker & Warburg, 1975
  • Ghostbusters the Ultimate Visual History(Hardback)Daniel Wallace
  • Girl Walks into a Bar . . . Comedy Calamities, Dating Disasters, and a Midlife Miracle by Rachel Dratch
  • Glenda Farrell–Hollywood’s Hardboiled Dame
  • Goddess: The Secret Lives of Mariyln Monroe
  • Goldwyn by A Scott Berg
  • Gone With The Glory: The Civil War In Cinema” [2006] by Brian Steel Wills
  • Groucho, Harpo, Chico and Sometimes Zeppo, by Joe Adamson
  • Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s and Video Viewer’s Companion (Leslie Halliwell, Harpercollins)
  • Harlow in Hollywood by Darrell Rooney and Mark A. Vieira
  • Historical Comedy On Screen” [2011] by Hannu Salmi
  • History By Hollywood: The Use & Abuse of The American Past” [1996] by Robert Brent Toplin
  • History Goes To The Movies: Studying History On Film” [2006] by Marnie Hughes-Warrington
  • History In The Media: Film and Television” [2006] by Robert Niemi
  • History of Film (Paperback)David Parkinson
  • History On Film / Film On History: Concepts, Theories & Practice” [2006] by Robert A. Rosenstone
  • Hitchcock Lost and Found: The Forgotten Films (University Press of Kentucky) by Alain Kerzoncuf and Charles Barr
  • Hitchcock’s Films Revisited, by Robin Wood
  • Hollywood and Anticommunism By John J. Gladchuk
  • Hollywood and The American Historical Film” [2011] Edited by J.E. Smyth
  • Hollywood As Historian: American Film In A Cultural Context” [1983] by Peter C. Rollins
  • Hollywood Babylon
  • Hollywood by Garson Kanin (1974)
  • Hollywood Costume (Paperback)Deborah Nadoolman Landis
  • Hollywood Goes to War By Colin Shindler
  • Hollywood Goes To Washington: American Politics On Screen” [2008] by Michael Coyne
  • Hollywood in the 30s (Hardback)Daniel Kothenschulte
  • Hollywood In The Holy Land: Essays On Film Depictions of The Crusades and Christian-Muslim Clashes” [2009] Edited by Nickolas Haydock & E.L.
    Risden
  • Hollywood Left and Right (Paperback)Steven J. Ross
  • Hollywood of The Rockies: Colorado, The West, and America’s Film Pioneers” [2013] by Michael J. Spencer
  • Hollywood: The Movie Lover’s Guide
  • Hollywood: The Pioneers (Kevin Brownlow, Knopf)
  • Hollywood’s America: Social and Political Themes In Motion Pictures” [1996] by Stephen P. Powers, David J. Rothman & Stanley Rothman
  • Hollywood’s America: United States History Through It’s Films” [1993] Edited by Steven Mintz & Randy Roberts
  • Hollywood’s Children
  • Hollywood’s Copyright Wars: From Edison To The Internet” [2012] by Peter Decherney
  • Hollywood’s History Films” [2006] by David Eldridge
  • Hollywood’s West: The American Frontier In Film, Television & History” [2005] Edited by Peter C. Rollins & John E. O’Connor
  • Horror Noire By Robin R Means Coleman
  • Horror! (Paperback)Kim Newman
  • How I Made A Hundred Movies in Hollywood And Never Lost a Dime, by Roger Corman
  • Hugo Munsterberg on Film By Hugo Münsterberg
  • I Blame Dennis Hopper and Other Stories From A Life Lived In and Out of the Movies”
  • I Lost It at the Movies by Pauline Kael (1965)
  • I, Fatty by Jerry Stahl
  • Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street by David McClintick
  • Interviews with Film Directors (Andrew Sarris, Discus Books)
  • James Bond: 50 Years of Movie Posters(Paperback)DK
  • Japanese and Hong Kong Film Industries By Yau Shuk-ting, Kinnia
  • Japanese Cinema Edited by Nikki J.Y. Lee, Julian Stringer
  • Jean Epstein
  • Jeanne Eagels: A Life Revealed
  • Jim Henson: The Biography
  • John Wayne: the Life and Legend (Paperback)Scott Eyman
  • Keeping the British End Up (Hardback)Simon Sheridan
  • Killer Images: Documentary Film, Memory, and the Performance of Violence
  • Killer Tapes and Shattered Screens: Video Spectatorship from VHS to File Sharing
  • Kings of the Bs edited by Todd McCarthy and Charles Flynn
  • Kino: A History of the Russian and Soviet Film (Jay Leyda, Princeton University Press)
  • Larry Semon, Daredevil Comedian of the Silent Screen: A Biography and Filmography
  • Last Night at the Viper Room (Paperback)Gavin Edwards, Dr
  • Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide (Leonard Maltin, Plume)
  • Life After Death by Damien Echols
  • Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer by Scott Eyman
  • Lois Weber in Early Hollywood (University of California Press) by Shelley Stamp
  • Lux Presents Hollywood: A Show-by-Show History of The Lux Radio Theatre and The Lux Video Theatre, 1934-1957″ [1995] by Connie Billips & Arthur
    Pierce
  • Magic Shadows: The Story of The Origin of Motion Pictures” [1960] by Martin Quigley Jr., Foreword by Terry Ramsaye
  • Marilyn Monroe (Paperback)
  • Marvel: Year by Year – A Visual Chronicle(Hardback)
  • Material Dreams
  • Medieval Film” [2009] by Anke Bernau & Bettina Bildhauer
  • Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film
  • Menus for Movieland: Newspapers and the Emergence of American Film Culture (University of California Press), by Richard Abel
  • Meryl Streep: Anatomy of an Actor
  • Midnight Movies
  • Moments That Made the Movies
  • Montgomery Clift by Patricia Bosworth
  • Movie History: A Survey By Douglas Gomery, Clara Pafort-Overduin
  • Movie Medievalism: The Imaginary Middle Ages” [2008] by Nickolas Haydock
  • Movie Quotes To Get You Through Life” [2007] Compiled by Jim Silverstein
  • Movie Star Chronicles (Hardback)
  • Movie Wars: How Hollywood and the Media Limit What Films We Can See
  • Movies and Money: The Undeclared War Between Europe & America” [1998] by David Puttnam
  • Movies In American History: An Encyclopedia” in 3 volumes [2011] by Philip C. DiMare
  • Museum Movies: The Museum of Modern Art and The Birth of Art Cinema” [2005] by Haidee Wasson
  • Music, Movies, Meanings, and Markets By Morris Holbrook
  • Musts, Maybes, and Nevers: A Book About The Movies
  • My Autobiography by Charles Chaplin
  • My Cross to Bear by Gregg Allman with Alan Light
  • My Wicked, Wicked Ways by Errol Flynn
  • New Queer Cinema: The Director’s Cut
  • New Silent Cinema Edited by Katherine Groo, Paul Flaig
  • Nightmare Movies: Horror on Screen Since the 1960s
  • Noir, Now and Then: Film Noir Originals and Remakes, (1944-1999)By Ronald SchwartzGreenwood Press, 2001
  • Not Just Batman’s Butler-The Autobiography of Alan Napier
  • Notes on Cinematography by Robert Bresson (1975; translated by Jonathan Griffin 1977)
  • Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons (Leonard Maltin, Plume)
  • On Directing Film by David Mamet
  • On The History of Film Style” [1998] by David Bordwell
  • One Thousand Nights At The Movies: An Illustrated History of Motion Pictures, 1895-1915″ [2013] by Q. David Bowers & Kathryn Fuller-Seeley,
    Foreword by Paul Spehr
  • Only Fools and Horses (Paperback)Graham McCann
  • Our Lady Cinema By Harry Furniss
  • Panorama du Film Noir Américain, 1941-1953″ [1955 classic] by Raymond Borde & Etienne Chaumeton
  • Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction FilmsBy Cyndy HendershotBowling Green State University Popular Press, 1999
  • Past Imperfect: History According To The Movies” [1995] Edited by Mark C. Carnes
  • Pinocchio-The Making of a Disney Epic
  • Play It As It Lays By Joan Didion
  • Poetics by Aristotle
  • Poetics of Cinema By David Bordwell
  • Political Documentary Cinema in Latin America Edited by Antonio Traverso, Kristi M. Wilson
  • Post-War Italian Cinema By Daniela Treveri Gennari
  • Postcolonial Film Edited by Rebecca Weaver-Hightower, Peter Hulme
  • Postwar Renoir By Colin Davis
  • Prater Violet by Christopher Isherwood (1945)
  • Psycho-Sexual: Male Desire in Hitchcock, De Palma, Scorsese, and Friedkin
  • Queer Bergman: Sexuality, Gender, and European Art Cinema
  • Rachael Low’s History of British Film By Rachael Low
  • Radical Hollywood: The Untold Story Behind America’s Favorite Movies” [2002] by Paul Buhle & David Wagner
  • Rainer on Film: Thirty Years of Film Writing in a Turbulent and Transformative Era
  • Reconstructing American Historical Cinema: From Cimarron To Citizen Kane” [2006] by J.E. Smyth
  • Reconstructing the Past Edited by Sian Nicholas, Tom O’Malley, Kevin Williams
  • Red Badge of Courage
  • Reel History (Hardback)Alex Von Tunzelmann
  • Reel History: In Defense of Hollywood” [2002] by Robert Brent Toplin
  • Reel Nature: America`s Romance With Wildlife On Film” [1999] by Gregg Mitman
  • Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies
  • Reel vs. Real: How Hollywood Turns Fact Into Fiction” [2003] by Frank Sanello
  • Remaking History By Jerome De Groot
  • Remaking The Middle Ages: The Methods of Cinema and History In Portraying The Medieval World” [2010] by Andrew B.R. Elliott
  • Retro TV (Hardback)Ian Collis
  • Richard Anderson-At Last… A Memoir
  • Robopocalypse” By Daniel Wilson
  • Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca–Bogart, Bergman, and World War II by Aljean Harmetz
  • Saint Cinema: Writings on the Film 1929-1970 (Herman G. Weinberg, Dover Publications)
  • Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent MoviesBy Stephen PrinceUniversity of Texas Press, 1998
  • Scandals of Classic Hollywood: Sex, Deviance, and Drama from the Golden Age of American Cinema by Anne Helen Petersen
  • Scorsese (Hardback)Tom Shone
  • Screen Ages By John Alberti
  • Screened Out By Richard Barrios
  • Screening America: United States History Through Film Since 1900″ [2005] by James J. Lorence
  • Searching for John Ford: A Life (Joseph McBride, St. Martin’s Griffin)
  • Selling Your Film Without Selling Your Soul by The Film Collaborative, Jon Reiss, and Sheri Candler
  • Sergei M. Eisenstein
  • Shakespeare on Silent Film By Robert Hamilton Ball
  • Shakespearean Films/Shakespearean Directors By Peter S. Donaldson
  • Shooting The Civil War: Cinema, History and American National Identity” [2009] by Jenny Barrett
  • Shooting to Kill: How an Independent Producer Blasts Through the Barriers to Make Movies That Matter by Christine Vachon with David Edelstein
  • Silent Film Comedy and American Culture” [2013] by Alan Bilton
  • Silent Movies: The Birth of Film & The Triumph of Movie Culture (from the Archives of the Library of Congress)” [2007] by Peter Kobel
  • Slapstick Comedy Edited by Tom Paulus, Rob King
  • Some Kind of Hero (Hardback)Matthew Field
  • Sound Theory/Sound Practice Edited by Rick Altman
  • South African National Cinema By Jacqueline Maingard
  • Spectacle in “Classical” Cinemas By Tom Brown
  • Spielberg (Hardback)Richard Schickel
  • Star Trek (Hardback)Robert Greenberger
  • Stardom and the Aesthetics of Neorealism By Ora Gelley
  • Stella! Mother of Modern Acting
  • Stolen Glimpses, Captive Shadows: Writing on Film, 2002-2012
  • Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee
  • Swordsmen of the Screen By Jeffrey Richards
  • Talking Pictures (Richard Corliss, Overlook TP)
  • Temporarily FREE! Hollywood 1938: Motion Pictures’ Greatest YearBy Catherine JurcaUniversity of California Press, 2012
  • The Aesthetics of Shadow: Lighting and Japanese Cinema
  • The American Film History Reader Edited by Jon Lewis, Eric Smoodin
  • The American Film Industry edited by Tino Balio
  • The American Newsreel: A Complete History, 1911-1967″ [1972] by Raymond Fielding
  • The Ancient World In The Cinema (Revised & Expanded Edition)” [orig 1978, rev 2001] by Prof. Jon Solomon
  • The Art of Immersion: How the Digital Generation Is Remaking Hollywood, Madison Avenue, and the Way We Tell Stories by Frank Rose
  • The Art of the Moving Picture, by Vachel Lindsay
  • The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television
  • The Beginnings of the Cinema in England, vols 1-5 by John Barnes
  • The Bennetts
  • The Big Book Of Noir edited by Ed Gorman, Lee Server, and Martin H. Greenberg
  • The Big Tomorrow” [2000] by Lary May
  • The Changing Face of Korean Cinema By Brian Yecies, Aegyung Shim
  • The Charlie Chaplin Archives (Taschen) by Paul Duncan
  • The Cinema and the Origins of Literary Modernism By Andrew Shail
  • The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style & Mode of Production To 1960″ [1985] by David Bordwell, Janet Staiger & Kristin Thompson
  • The Classical Hollywood Reader Edited by Steve Neale
  • The Columbia Companion To American History On Film: How The Movies Have Portrayed The American Past” [2004] Edited by Peter C. Rollins
  • The Conversations
  • The Dark Heart of Hollywood
  • The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock
  • The Dark Side of the Screen by Foster Hirsch
  • The Dictionary of Film Quotations: 6,000 Provocative Movie Quotes From 1,000 Movies” [1995] Compiled by Melinda Corey & George Ochoa
  • The Dream Life
  • The Emergence of Cinema by Charles Musser
  • The Enchanted Screen By Jack Zipes
    The Film Book (Hardback)
  • The Filmmaker’s Handbook, 3rd Edition by Steven Ascher & Edward Pincus
  • The Films of Charles and Ray Eames By Eric Schuldenfrei
  • The First Hollywood Sound Shorts, 1926-1931″ [2005] by Edwin M. Bradley
  • The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks
  • The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book by Arlene Croce (1972)
  • The Friedkin Connection: A Memoir
  • The Genius of the System
  • The Godfather Family Album
  • The Great Movies, by Roger Ebert
  • The Grove Book of Hollywood, edited by Christopher Silvester
  • The Historical Film: History and Memory In Media” [2000] Edited & with Introduction by Marcia Landy
  • The Hollywood Feature Film in Postwar Britain By Paul Swann
  • The Hollywood Historical Film” [2008] by Robert Burgoyne
  • The Hollywood History of The World: From One Million Years B.C. ToApocalypse Now” [1988] by George MacDonald Fraser
  • The Hollywood Reporter Book of Box Office Hits: A Year-By-Year, Behind-The-Camera Look At Hollywood’s Most Successful Movies, 1939 To Present”
    [1996] by Susan Sackett
  • The Hollywood Standard: The Complete and Authoritative Guide to Script Format and Style by Christopher Riley
  • The Horror Film By Peter Hutchings
  • The Inseperables
  • The International Film Industry: A Historical Dictionary
  • The Jaws Log by Carl Gottlieb
  • The Last Tycoon: An Unfinished Novel By F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • The Life and Times of Mickey Rooney (Gallery Books) by Richard A. Lertzman and William J. Birnes
  • The Lives of Robert Ryan
  • The Lubitsch Touch (Herman G. Weinberg, Dover Publications)
  • The March of Time, 1935-1951″ [1977] by Raymond Fielding
  • The Medieval Hero On Screen: Representations From Beowulf To Buffy” [2004] Edited by Martha Driver & Sid Ray, Foreword by Jonathan Rosenbaum
  • The Million Dollar Mermaid: An Autobiography by Esther Williams with Digby Diehl
  • The Miracle of Realism
  • The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror
  • The Movie Brats by Michael Pye and Lynda Myles
  • The Movies Begin: Making Movies In New Jersey, 1897-1920″ [1977] by Paul C. Spehr
  • The Movies In The Age of Innocence” [1962 classic] by Edward Wagenknecht
  • The Movies” [1957] by Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer
  • The Name of this Book is Dogme95 by Richard Kelly
  • The Noir Western: Darkness on the Range, 1943-1962
  • The Old West In Fact and Film: History Versus Hollywood” [2012] by Jeremy Agnew
  • The Permanent Crisis of Film Criticism
  • The Persistence of Hollywood By Thomas Elsaesser
  • The Player By Michael Tolkin
  • The Reel Middle Ages: American, Western & Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and Asian Films About Medieval Europe” [1999] by Kevin J. Harty
  • The Reel Truth: Everything You Didn’t Know You Need to Know About Making an Independent Film by Reed Martin
  • The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever by Alan Sepinwall
  • The Richard Burton Diaries by Richard Burton and edited by Chris Williams
  • The Routledge Companion to Film History Edited by William Guynn
  • The Routledge Encyclopedia of Films Edited by Sabine Haenni, Sarah Barrow, John White
  • The Searchers
  • The Silent Clowns (Walter Kerr, Da Capo Press)
  • The Speed of Sound: Hollywood and The Talkie Revolution, 1926-1930″ [1997] by Scott Eyman
  • The Story of Film: A Worldwide History of Film From The Host of The BBC’sScene By Scene” [2004] by Mark Cousins
  • The Vikings On Film: Essays On Depictions of The Nordic Middle Ages” [2011] Edited by Kevin J. Harty
  • The West In Early Cinema: After The Beginning, 1895-1915″ [2006] by Nanna Verhoeff
  • The Western in the Global South Edited by MaryEllen Higgins, Rita Keresztesi, Dayna Oscherwitz
  • The Wizard of Oz by Salman Rushdie (1992)
  • The Woman’s Film of the 1940s By Alison L. McKee
  • The World of Poldark (Hardback)Emma Marriott
  • Theatre to Cinema: Stage Pictorialism and the Early Feature FilmBy Ben Brewster; Lea JacobsOxford University Press, 1997
  • Tinseltown by William J. Mann
  • Toms, Coons, Mulattos, Mammies and Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American Films, by Donald Bogle
  • Top of the Rock: Inside the Rise and Fall of Must See TV by Warren Littlefield with T.R. Pearson
  • Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bressson, Dreyer by Paul Schrader
  • True Fiction Pictures & Possible Films by Hal Hartley
  • Turning Points In Film History” [2004] by Andrew J. Rausch, Foreword by Joe Bob Briggs
  • United Artists: The Company that Changed the Film Industry by Tino Balio
  • Visions of The Past: The Challenge of Film To Our Idea of History” [1996] by Robert A. Rosenstone
  • Visions of Yesterday By Jeffrey Richards
  • Visual and Other Pleasures
  • Vivien Leigh (Hardback)Kendra Bean
  • Voices of Film Experience: 1894 To the Present (Edited by Jay Leyda, Macmillan Publishing Co.)
  • Waging Heavy Peace by Neil Young
  • We Killed: The Rise of Women in American Comedy by Yael Kohen
  • Westerns Edited by Janet Walker
  • When It Happens to You: A Novel in Stories by Molly Ringwald
  • When the Movies Began: Chronology of The World’s Film Productions and Film Shows Before May 1896″ [1994] by Stephen Herbert
  • Where we Came In By Charles Allen Oakley
  • Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
  • White Hunter, Black Heart by Peter Viertel
  • White Robes, Silver Screens: Movies and The Making of The Ku Klux Klan” [2015] by Tom Rice
  • Who the Devil Made It: Conversations with Legendary Film Directors (Peter Bogdanovich, Ballantine Books)
  • Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel(Pantheon) by William Wellman Jr.
  • William Cameron Menzies: The Shape of Films to Come (Pantheon) by James Curtis
  • Women in Film Noir edited by E. Ann Kaplan
  • World History On The Screen: Film and Video Resources” [for grades 6-12; orig 1995, rev 2003] by Wendy S. Wilson & Gerald H. Herman
  • You’ll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again
  • Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane

27 Article Sources