BFI Filmové klasiky Série

"It may be the most sophisticated political thriller ever made in Hollywood," film critic Pauline Kael wrote of John Frankenheimer's terrifying 1962 political thriller about an American serviceman brainwashed in Korea and made into an assassin. Sophisticated to be sure, it's also a headlong fall through the looking-glass of American politics and the most deeply prophetic film of the second half of the American century. As Greil Marcus reconstructs the drama, The Manchurian Candidate is a movie in which the director and actors, including Laurence Harvey, Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury in an Academy Award-nominated performance, were suddenly capable of anything, beyond any expectations. This edition includes a new foreword highlighting the movie's terrifying contemporary relevance in the age of Trump and Russian interference in the US Presidential election.

This edition of Anton Kaes' study delves into Fritz Lang's groundbreaking 1931 film M, exploring its themes, historical context, and cinematic techniques. It offers a critical analysis of the film's portrayal of morality and society, making it a significant contribution to film studies. The book situates M within the broader landscape of German cinema and examines its lasting impact on the thriller genre.

The film-maker Lynne Ramsay has been hailed as one of the finest new talents in world cinema, and Ratcatcher, her first feature, has attracted international acclaim. In this book, the first full-length study of Ramsay’s work, Annette Kuhn considers the director’s background and explores Ratcatcher alongside her other films. Kuhn places the film in the context of Scottish media and literary cultures and includes interviews with Ramsay and others on the film’s production team.

The Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami burst onto the international film scene in the early 1990s and was widely regarded as one of the most distinctive and talented modern-day directors. His major features - including Through the Olive Trees (1994), Taste of Cherry (1997) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) - are relatively modest in scale, contemplative and humanist in tone. In 2002, with 10, Kiarostami broke new ground, fixing one or two digital cameras on a car's dashboard to film ten conversations between the driver (Mania Akbari) and her various passengers. The results are astonishing: though formally rigorous, even austere, and documentary-like in its style, 10 succeeds both as emotionally affecting human drama and as a critical analysis of everyday life in modern Tehran. In his study of the film, Geoff Andrew considers 10 within the context of Kiarostami's career, of Iranian cinema's renaissance, and of international film culture. Drawing on a number of detailed interviews he conducted with both Kiarostami and his lead actress, Andrew sheds light on the unusual methods used in making the film, on its political relevance, and on its remarkably subtle aesthetic. He also argues that 10 was an important turning-point in the career of a film-maker who was not only one of contemporary cinema's most accomplished practitioners but also one of its most radical experimentalists.

Set in Hong Kong, Singapore and Cambodia in the 1960s, Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000) is a film that luxuriates in the feeling of being in love - without ever turning into a love story.

Successful in both Japan and the West, Akira had a huge impact on the international growth in popularity of manga and anime. Closely analysing the film and its key themes, Colin O'Dell and Michelle Le Blanc assess its historical importance, its impact on the Western perception of anime, and its influence on science fiction cinema.

In Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Fear Eats the Soul (Angst Essen Seele Auf, 1974) Emma (Brigitte Mira), a working-class widow and former member of the Nazi party, marries Ali (El Hedi ben Salem), a much younger Moroccan migrant worker. Set in Munich during the 1970s, the film melds the conventions of melodrama with a radical sensibility to present a portrait of racism and everyday hypocrisy in post-war Germany. It is a film about the way conventional society detests anything and anybody unfamiliar - but also a film about the hopes and limits of love. Intricately directed, beautifully performed, and designed to show Munich life in all its shabby kitschiness, Fear Eats the Soul may be Fassbinder's finest film. Laura Cottingham celebrates Fassbinder's achievement, placing Fear Eats the Soul in relation to his extraordinarily prolific career in theatre, film and television. Her analysis pulls back the thin curtain that separated his work from his tumultuous life. She also explores the director's debt to the lush Hollywood melodramas made by fellow German Douglas Sirk, especially All That Heaven Allows (1955). In a detailed scene-by-scene analysis, Cottingham shows how Fassbinder managed to combine beauty and tenderness with fierce political critique.

Podrobná esej amerického rusisty Roberta Birda o kultovním snímku Andreje Tarkovského, která zeširoka zkoumá různé stránky filmu: jeho historii, okolnosti vzniku, vazby na dějiny ruského (sovětského) umění, různé verze scénáře a střihu. Na závěr analyzuje jednotlivé scény a pokouší se o jejich interpretaci. Knihu doprovází přibližně 70 fotoilustrací.

Werner Herzog's Phantom der Nacht (1979) is sometimes called a minor work, despite the film's towering central performance by Klaus Kinski. But in this book, we see Phantom der Nacht as one of the masterpieces of the New German Cinema, a film that exhibits all of Herzog's melancholy and pessimistic romanticism as well as his spirituality and technical flair. Adapted from Bram Stoker's Dracula, and mindful of an earlier German version of that same novel, Herzog's film, with its terrifying coda in which the reincarnated fiend rides out into the world, is perhaps the most compelling screen treatment of the vampire myth.Beginning with Stoker's book and the nineteenth-century obsession with vampires, S. S. Prawer goes on to explore the evolution of Herzog's career. To complete a comprehensive account of Nosferatu, Prawer describes the film's production history as well as the cultural and aesthetic components that combine to such powerful the skill of the actors; the debts to romanticism and to Murnau; the use of music by Wagner, Gounod, and Florian Fricke; and the film's many extraordinary, haunting images.

Drawing on Daphne du Maurier's short story and contemporary newspaper reports of bird attacks in California, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963) featured Tippi Hedren in her first starring role. Camille Paglia's compelling study considers the film's aesthetic, technical and mythical qualities, and analyses its depiction of gender and family relations. A film about anxiety, sexual power and the violence of nature, it is quintessential Hitchcock. Camille Paglia's foreword to this new edition reflects upon the relationship between Hitchcock and his leading lady Hedren in the light of recent debates about male power, female agency and the #MeToo movement.

"I could have been a contender, I could have been somebody." This iconic line from Terry Malloy (Marlon Brando) to his brother Charley (Rod Steiger) encapsulates the essence of a film set among New York longshoremen, exploring themes of corruption and personal redemption. The film features remarkable performances by Brando, Steiger, and Eva Marie Saint, alongside Karl Malden and Lee J. Cobb, complemented by Boris Kaufman's cinematography and Leonard Bernstein's score, all contributing to its legendary status. However, the film is also infamous for its perceived justification of director Elia Kazan's decision to name names before the House Un-American Activities Committee, a choice that sparked significant controversy and remains contentious today, highlighted by the backlash surrounding Kazan's Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1999. With the passing of Kazan in 2003 and Brando in 2004, a reexamination of this classic is both timely and essential. In this comprehensive study, Leo Braudy delves into the intricate production history, revisiting the controversy surrounding Kazan's testimony. He also analyzes the film's lasting appeal, focusing on its Method-inspired acting, evocative music and cinematography, authentic settings, and its potent symbolic representation of post-war American values.

La dolce vita has been a phenomenon since before it was made, a scandal in the making and on release and a reference point ever since. This study will consider each of these aspects of the film - phenomenon, document, aesthetic - and argue that they are connected

Blade Runner has proved to be one of the most enduring and influential films of the 1980s. This new edition of Bukatman's study of Blade Runner is published in the BFI Film Classics 20th anniversary series of special editions, with a new foreword by the author and a stunning new jacket design by Paul Pope.

Richard Schickel traces in fascinating detail the genesis of the film: its literary origins in the crime fiction of the 1930s, the difficult relations between Wilder and his scriptwriter Raymond Chandler, the casting of a reluctant Fred MacMurray, the late decision to cut from the film the expensively shot final sequence of Neff's execution.

Federico Fellini's masterpiece 8 1/2 (Otto e mezzo) shocked audiences around the world when it was released in 1963 by its sheer auteurist gall. číst celé

Made on a low budget, "The Terminator" was one of the most influential films of the 1980s. This text places the film in the context of exploitation films, and argues that it is compelling because it deals with the darker, more visceral pleasures of movie-going.

Kniha známého britského spisovatele, scenáristy a mediálního pracovníka nemá ambici pokoušet se o hlubinný analytický rozbor filmu a jeho motivů. Je to spíše osobně pojatý pohled na tuto Bergmanovu klasiku. Snaží se z vlastní perspektivy přiblížit, jak film působil na diváky v době svého uvedení, co přinášel nového a jaký byl jeho vztah k dobovým proudům. Ze svého pohledu dlouholetého programového tvůrce BBC a LWT zkoumá provázanost Bergmanovy práce pro divadlo, film a rozhlas, což u filmu, jemuž byla předlohou divadelní hra (byl tedy inscenován dříve v podobě dramatu) a který byl adaptován i pro rozhlas (rovněž v ČRo) má své opodstatnění. Zasazuje také film do Bergmanovy předchozí i následující tvorby a do jeho (auto)biografie. Braggova studie je tedy spíše historickým přehledem a dobovým memoárem.

With its jagged, stylised sets, menacing shadows and themes of murder, madness and delirium, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920) remains the source and essence of German Expressionist cinema.

Il Conformist has mesmerised audiences by Bertulocci's mastery of the telling, the beauty of the images, the camera work, its soundtrack, and the intensity with which the characters convey powerful psychic energies.

Pokus o dekódování proslulého snímku bratrů Wachowských, který si zahrává s biologií svých postav i diváků a který tvoří těžko prostupný komplex obrazů a postupů, vypůjčených z jiných médií. Joshua Clover však nezkoumá film jen jako zajímavý filmový experiment ale i jako filosofické sdělení, které poukazuje na důsledky směřování moderní civilizace.

Taking the production history into account, Prawer ultimately foregrounds the cultural and aesthetic components of the film that combine to such powerful effect. This second edition features a new foreword by Brad Prager and original cover artwork by Matt Brand.

Amy Sargeant's illuminating study of Joseph Losey's The Servant (1963) provides a detailed discussion of the film's production and reception history, as well as a textual analysis that focuses on Harold Pinter's adaptation of Maugham's novella; the film's use of architecture and interior design to establish character and relationships.

Známému americkému filmovému kritikovi Jonathanu Rosenbaumovi, který se dlouhodobě věnuje tvorbě autorského Hollywoodu, se zde na malé ploše podařilo předestřít nezvykle širokou paletu fakt a kontextových informací ke kultovnímu filmu Jima Jarmusche MRTVÝ MUŽ. Ve své knize se nevěnuje jen genezi samotného snímku a jeho natáčení, ale představuje nám např. motivy z americké historie, které tvoří pozadí námětu, uvádí tu také málo známá fakta o precizní, etnograficky přesné přípravě při vzniku scénáře a výpravy filmu. Jeho uváhy se tu mísí a konfrontují s názory režiséra filmu, s nimž Rosenbaum vedl několik rozhovorů, čímž rozbíjí klasickou, a někdy až příliš dogmatickou strukturu autorského textu.

"Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is one of the most historically pivotal of all films. The first American film of the celebrated German director F.W. Murnau, Sunrise tells the story of a love triangle between characters named only as The Man, The Wife, and The Woman From the City. Lucy Fischer's compelling study of the film shows how it mediates between German expressionism and American melodrama, the avant-garde and popular fiction, silent cinema and 'talkies'. A lavish and sumptuous production famous for its vast, specially-constructed sets, and one of the first feature films with a synchronized musical score and sound effects soundtrack, Sunrise was one of early Hollywood's most ambitious undertakings. In her foreword to this new edition, Lucy Fischer considers the film as an abiding classic of world cinema"-- Provided by publisher

Acknowledgements -- Foreword to the 2022 edition -- 1. Believe in America -- 2. I Believe in Hollywood -- 3. I Believe in the Mafia -- Notes -- Credits.

Acknowledgments§The Story§1. Fugue§2. Droit du seigneur§3. Confederacy§4. Face-Off§5. I Remember Mama§Notes§Credits§Bibliography§

"Gone with the Wind" (1939) is a landmark film that has shaped perceptions of southern American history for decades. Helen Taylor explores its production, reception, and enduring legacy, drawing on extensive research to highlight its significance in Hollywood's Golden Age.

Matthew Solomon's study of Chaplin's The Gold Rush (1925) provides an in-depth discussion of the film's production and reception history, placing it in the context of the turn-of-the-century Alaska Klondike gold rush, and analyses the film's narrative and formal features, particularly its references to music- hall performance styles and tropes.

Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made.

Widely believed to be Terry Gilliam's best film, Brazil's brilliantly imaginative vision of a retro-futuristic bureaucracy has had a lasting influence on genre cinema. Exploring its complex history and relationship with other dystopias, Paul McAuley explains why this satire on the unchecked power of the state is more relevant than ever.

"Ethan and Joel Coen's The Big Lebowski was released in 1998 to general bafflement. A decade on, it had become a cult classic and remains so over 20 years later, inspiring a thriving circuit of 'Lebowski Fests' during which costumed devotees gather at bowling alleys and guzzle White Russians. Beyond its superabundance of deliciously quotable lines, how has the movie inspired such remarkable affection? And why does its critical stock continue to rise? The film's unlikely anchor is Jeff Bridges' career-best performance as Jeffrey Lebowski, a fully-baked 1960s radical turned Venice Beach drop-out known to his friends as 'the Dude'. Mistaken for an identically-named grandee whose young trophy wife is in trouble, the Dude finds himself embroiled in an impossibly convoluted kidnap plot involving pornographers, nihilists and threats to his 'johnson'. Worst of all, it conflicts with his bowling commitments." --From publisher's description

Alien, that legendary fusion of science fiction and horror, was born out of a terrible monster movie script called Star Beast. Tracing the constellation of talents that came together to produce the film, this book explores how and why this interstellar slasher movie, this old dark house in space, came to coil itself around our darkest imaginings.

Todd Haynes's 2002 film Far From Heaven has been hailed as a homage to 1950s Hollywood melodrama, although anyone tempted to take the film at face value should be warned that it aims to subvert as much as celebrate that genre.

Taxi Driver is one of the major films of the 1970s, which established Martin Scorcese's reputation as a prominent American director. This new edition of Taubin's study is published in the Film Classics 20th anniversary series of special editions, with a new foreword by Amy Taubin, and a stunning new jacket design by Marc Atkins.

Released to a muted reception in 1987, Withnail& I has since become one of Britain's best-known cult classics. Jackson analyses the mood and magic of the film, its aesthetics and sensibility, seeking to show, without ever detracting from the film's comic brilliance, how much more there is to Withnail& I than drunkenness and swearing.

Jean Renoir's 1937 film La Grande Illusion is set during the First World War, but its themes of Franco-German conflict, divided loyalties in a time of war and the rise of anti-Semitism made it compelling and controversial viewing. Julian Jackson traces the film's historical context and its reception history.

Die Buchse der Pandora (Pandora's Box, 1929), starring Hollywood icon Louise Brooks, is an established classic of the silent era. Pamela Hutchinson revisits and challenges many assumptions made about the film, its lead character and its star.

Velmi oživující pohled na stylovou a technickou stránku tohoto moderního kultovního snímku, který si pohrává s žánry, překračuje je a mísí s četnými citacemi na známé filmy minulosti. Autor zkoumá, proč se tento film stal takovou všeobecně oblíbenou ikonou, jakou strategii Tarantino při psaní, natáčení a produkci filmu použil.

There are no human babies in Bringing Up Baby, but there are those leopards and the relentless terrier George - and, as Peter Swaab explores in his witty and original study, Hawks's film wonders profoundly why we want animals in our lives and why we sometimes need to behave as animals ourselves.

Jaws divides critics into those who dismiss it as infantile and sensational, and those who see the shark as freighted with political and psychosexual meaning. The author argues that both interpretations obscure the film's success as a work of art. číst celé

Salman Rushdie reflects on "The Wizard of Oz" as his first literary influence, emphasizing its themes of adult inadequacy and children's empowerment. He argues it transcends mere fantasy, addressing exile and the creation of one's own home. This edition includes Rushdie's new short story, "At the Auction of the Ruby Slippers," alongside a new foreword and cover design.

The first computer-generated animated feature film, Toy Story (1995) sustains a dynamic vitality that appeals to audiences of all ages. This lively study explores how its depiction of a glimmering commercial world both deconstructs and affirms modern popular culture and in doing so provides a distinctive alternative to the usual Disney formula.

Brief Encounter (1945), adapted from Noel Coward's play Still Life, is a classic of British cinema – a tale of impossible love between a married woman and a man she meets while waiting for a train. Though it's a film made by men, it is the woman's voice we hear recounting the story of a small-town love affair and her renunciation of it. In his lucid analysis of the film, Richard Dyer explores how its depiction of powerful feelings kept under wraps is a definitive example of a particularly English style of emotional restraint, but also how it spoke to a gay audience for whom this subject – forbidden love between ordinary people – had a special resonance. This reissued edition features original cover artwork by Rania Moudaress and a substantial new foreword that revisits the film and recent readings of it, covering its enduring legacy and adaptation for theatre and television.

Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, or: How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) is the definitive film about the nuclear age. Peter Kramer analyses its key scenes and complex production history, highlighting major themes such as Strangelove's Nazi past and the film's close relationship with real-world nuclear strategy and politics.

This comprehensive study reconstructs the production history of The Blue Angel , showing how Sternberg's virtuoso visual style was amply supported by an immensely talented team of actors and technicians. The book also analyzes the film's aesthetics.

Detailní studie proslulého znalce raného německého filmu Thomase Elsaessera o nejdiskutovanějším snímku Fritze Langa „Metropolis“. Autor zde zkoumá okolnosti vzniku a osudy tohoto německého sci-fi velkofilmu, který se měl vyrovnat hollywoodským produkcím. Snímek však nenaplnil očekávání producentů, po premiéře byl stažen a přestříhán. Vzniklo několik různých verzí, které se navzájem liší. Na závěr autor analyzuje jednotlivé scény a pokouší se o jejich interpretaci. Knihu doprovází přibližně 50 fotoilustrací.

"When Harry Met Sally" (1989) revolutionized romantic comedy with its innovative use of structure, filmic devices, and music. Tamar Jeffers-McDonald examines the film's historical and social contexts, highlighting its lasting impact on the genre and popular culture, and offering insights into its enduring legacy.

Psychoanalytická diagnóza jedné z největších ikon světového filmu.Autorka, přední britská filmová teoretička a průkopnice feministické kritiky, se pokouší o jakousi psychoanalytickou diagnózu jedné z největších ikon světového filmu. Vědomě se vzdává pokusu o ucelenou analýzu, kterou shledává u tohoto filmu za zbytečnou, ale věnuje se inovativnímu způsobu vyprávění, nejednoznačnému zobrazení postav, které odporovalo zavedeným postupům hollywoodské kinematografie. Mulveyová vnímá film jako útok na diváka, na jeho pozornost, která je třeba k odkrytí tajemství celého filmu, doslova k psychoanalýze hlavní postavy, která je klíčem celého vyprávění. Pozornost věnuje také politickému kontextu doby, v němž film vznikl a na nějž reaguje. Kniha je opatřena doslovem filmové teoretičky Petry Hanákové.

Will Brooker's illuminating study takes issue with many commonly held ideas about Star Wars.  He provides a close cinematic analysis, carefully examining its shots, its editing, its sound design, cinematography and performances. Brooker argues that Star Wars is not, as Lucas himself has claimed, a departure from his previous work, but a continuation of his experiments with sound and image. He reveals Lucas’ contradictory desires for the total order and control of the Empire, and, on the other hand, for the raw energy and creative improvisation of the Rebels. Though at first Star Wars seems a simple fairy-tale, it becomes far more complex when we realize that the director is rooting for both sides, creating a tension unsettles the saga as a whole and illuminates new sides of Lucas' masterpiece.

Michel Chion's study of this film makes the case that it is one of Kubrick's masterpieces and a fitting testament. To appreciate this, though it is necessary to look at what happens on the screen without bringing preconceptions to bear.

Also examining its production processes, Butler explores the against-type casting of Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet in lead roles and the intertwined careers of Kaufman and director Michel Gondry. This special edition features original cover artwork by Patricia Derks.

Traces the history of The Shawshank Redemption, originally a low-key prison movie, from the pages of Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption to the screens on which it became a phenomenon, as well as exploring the near-religious fervour that the film inspires in its devoted fans. schovat popis

Spirited Away, directed by the veteran anime film-maker Hayao Miyazaki, is Japan's most successful film, and one of the top-grossing 'foreign language' films ever released. Set in modern Japan, the film is a wildly imaginative fantasy, at once personal and universal. It tells the story of a listless little girl, Chihiro, who stumbles into a magical world where gods relax in a palatial bathhouse, where there are giant babies and hard-working soot sprites, and where a train runs across the sea. Andrew Osmond's insightful study describes how Miyazaki directed Spirited Away with a degree of creative control undreamt of in most popular cinema, using the film's delightful, freewheeling visual ideas to explore issues ranging from personal agency and responsibility to what Miyazaki sees as the lamentable state of modern Japan. Osmond unpacks the film's visual language, which many Western (and some Japanese) audiences find both beautiful and bewildering. He traces connections between Spirited Away and Miyazaki's prior body of work, arguing that Spirited Away uses the cartoon medium to create a compellingly immersive drawn world. This edition includes a new foreword by the author in which he considers the world of animated cinema post-Spirited Away, considering its influence on films ranging from del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth to Pixar's Inside Out.

Throne of Blood (1957), Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth, is widely considered the greatest film adaptation of Shakespeare ever made. In a detailed account of the film, Robert N. Watson explores how Kurosawa draws key philosophical and psychological arguments from Shakespeare, translates them into striking visual metaphors, and inflects them through the history of post-World War II Japan. Watson places particular emphasis on the contexts that underlie the film's central tension between individual aspiration and the stability of broader social and ecological collectives - and therefore between free will and determinism. In his foreword to this new edition, Robert Watson considers the central characters' Washizu and his wife Asaji's blunder in viewing life as a ruthless competition in which only the most brutal can thrive in the context of an era of neoliberal economics, resurgent 'strongman' political leaders, and myopic views of the environmenal crisis, with nothing valued that cannot be monetized.

In this book, which includes a new interview with Ballard who wrote the book on which the film was based, Sinclair explores the temporal loop which connects film and novel, and asks questions such as to what extent is Crash a premonition of some of the more remarkable media events of recent times. In the BFI MODERN CLASSICS series.

It's a Gift is Norman McLeod's classic comedy of disasters, in which W.C. Fields plays a general-store proprietor who buys an orange-ranch by mail and transports his family to California. This study features a brief production history and detailed filmography.

When Meet Me in St Louis was first released fifty years ago, it achieved instant success, becoming MGM's most popular film to date. Since then it has effortlessly retained its place in the pantheon of great musicals. But elegant and graceful though it may be, this was not the easiest of films to make. Gerald Kaufman has done extensive research in the records of MGM deposited in the University of Southern California. He recounts how successive teams of writers labored over the script, changing names, characters and storylines. He reveals the numerous delays in production, many due to the erratic behaviour of Judy Garland, who was absent for thirteen days of filming. That the film turned out so brilliantly is, in Kaufman's view, due largely to the credit of its director, Vincente Minnelli, who drew from an initially reluctant Judy Garland her most immaculate performance. An extended section of the book explores in detail Minnelli's contribution to the fluidity of the visual style and the richness of the decor.