Moments that Made the Movies

Description

In the first fully illustrated work of his illustrious career, David Thomson takes readers on an unprecedented visual journey re-examining a series of moments from 72 films across 100 years. Thomson's moments range from a set of Eadward Muybridge's pioneering photographs to sequences in films from the classic - Citizen Kane, Sunset Boulevard and The Red Shoes - to the unexpected - The Piano Teacher, Burn After Reading - immersing the reader via images and the author's narrative. In Moments that Made the Movies, with its combination of text and image, David Thomson can focus in on one scene, or even a few seconds of celluloid. As he writes, 'there are surprises, offbeat choices, perhaps even capricious or provocative selections, as well as plenty of films that you might have guessed would be included - though not always with the moments you anticipated.' His choices range from the silent era to the last decade, from Katherine Hepburn and Orson Welles to Brad Pitt and the Coen brothers, including: Pandora's Box * 'M' * Bringing Up Baby * Gone With the Wind * The Shop Around the Corner * Casablanca * Tokyo Story * The Night of the Hunter * The Searchers * Psycho * The Exterminating Angel * Pierrot le Fou * Blow-Up * Bonnie and Clyde * The Godfather * The Shining * When Harry Met Sally * A History of Violence * The Piano Teacher * Zodiac ... plus dozens more This new edition contains added entries on 24t, The Way Back, Stories We Tell and All is Lost.

David Thomson is a British film critic and historian based in the USA and the author of more than twenty books. His reference works in particular - Have You Seen...?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film - have been praised as works of high literary merit and eccentricity. John Banville called him 'the greatest living writer on the movies'.

'David Thomson is the best writer on film in our time. He is our most argumentative and trustworthy historian of the screen' - Michael Ondaatje 'Probably the greatest living film critic and historian ... writes the most fun and enthralling prose about the movies since Pauline Kael' - Benjamin Schwarz, The Atlantic Monthly 'Thomson has been one of the liveliest, most literate, productive, provocative and daring movie critics for more than forty years ... [this book is] elegantly designed and handsomely produced ... witty and full of insights' - Independent