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.

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.

One of a cluster of extraordinary films to come out of post-war, post-Fascist Italy - loosely labelled 'neorealist' - Bicycle Thieves won an Oscar in 1949, topped the first Sight and Sound poll of the best films of all time in 1952 and has been hugely influential throughout world cinema ever since.

A study that sets the film "The Big Lebowski" into the context of 1990s Hollywood cinema, anatomized for its witty relationship with the classics it satirizes, and discusses in terms of its key theme: the hopeless flailing of ridiculously unmanly men in the world of discombobulated, mixed-up, or put-on identities that is Los Angeles.

"Black Narcissus" is a landmark film in the canon of Powell and Pressburger. This book draws on archival documents, original set drawings and stills to explore its enduring images of both place and gender. It also demonstrate the film's achievements, both as a production and as a vehicle for ideas exploring issues of technique, style and others.

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.

This study analyzes "Chinatown" in the context of the figure of the detective in literature and film from Sophocles to Edgar Allan Poe and Alfred Hitchcock.

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.

When it was released, "Dead Man" puzzled many audiences and critics. Here, the author argues that the film is both a quantum leap and a logical step in the director's career, and it's a film that speaks powerfully of contemporary concerns.

This work suggests that Humphrey Jennings' re-enacted documentary about the London Blitz, "Fires Were Started", is an understated propaganda masterpiece. It provides an account of how Jennings recaptured the reality of the Blitz for his cumbersome camera through a process of meticulous research.

Made at the height of the Cold War and Hollywood's anticommunist purges, director Fred Zinnemann, writer Daniel Taradash and producer Buddy Adler defied military and industry pressure to censor the material. Exploring the film's full production history and drawing upon archival documents and rare interviews with cast and crew, J.

Robert de Niro and Al Pacino have acted opposite each other once, and that was in Heat, Michael Mann's operatic 1995 heist thriller. Boasting a series of meticulously orchestrated setpieces that underline Mann's sense of scale and architecture, Heat is also a rhapsody to Los Angeles as Hanna closes in on his prey.

A study of Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975) in the BFI Film Classics series, publishing to tie in with the film's 50th anniversary.

In "Kind Hearts and Coronets" (1949), Louis Mazzini (Dennis Price) schemes and murders his way to a dukedom. This title looks into the turbulent personalities that formed the complex style of this film to unravel the fusion of cynicism, contempt, sparkling wit and philosophical curiosity.

Chris Marker's La Jetee is 28 minutes long and almost entirely made up of black-and-white still images.

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.

Guillermo del Toro's cult masterpiece, Pan's Labyrinth (2006), won a total of 76 awards and is one of the most commercially successful Spanish-language films ever made.

Reviled on its release, Peeping Tom (1960) all-but ended the career of director Michael Powell, previously one of Britain's most revered filmmakers.

Dana Polan sets out to unlock the style and technique of "Pulp Fiction". He shows how broad Tarantino's points of reference are, and analyzes the narrative accomplishment and complexity. In addition, Polan argues that macho attitudes celebrated in film are much more complex than they seem.

A medieval allegory of faith and doubt, "The Seventh Seal" contains the horrors of witch-burnings and plague, yet also features flashes of peace and joy. Each volume in the "BFI Film Classics" series contains a personal commentary on the film, a brief production history and a detailed filmography.

This is a study of the film "Shadows", directed by John Cassavetes. The film tells the story of three beatnik siblings living together. The film deals with racial issues but the director wished it to be a human film concerned to rescue the "small feelings" of life.

A visually stunning and heartfelt riposte to the emotional sterility of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Douglas Trumbull's eco-themed Silent Running (1972) became one of the defining science-fiction films of the seventies.

Hammer maintained consistent period settings, creating a timeless and enchanting aesthetic. Studying Hammer Horror treats Hammer as a quintessentially British product and through a study of its work investigates larger conceptions of national horror cinemas.

"Sunrise" was a lavish production, famous for its specially constructed sets and one of Hollywood's most ambitious undertakings. Fischer's book is a model of film analysis, locating "Sunrise" in a range of historical, aesthetic and philosophical contexts. In the BFI FILM CLASSICS series.

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.

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.

Stanley Kubrick hailed The Shining as 'the scariest horror film of all time' before its release in 1980.

A heist thriller with a dazzling twist in the tail, this film "The Usual Suspects" has seen its reputation grow until it is now a major cult movie. Ernest Larsen examines the film's sophistcated narrative structure and the new spin it puts on an old genre.

After "The Third Man", Carol Reed was hailed as one of the world's great directors. This title sets out to understand what kind of artist Reed was and whether he deserved such accolades. Rob White explores how the film came to be made and seeks to explain its fascination.

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.

A study of Mikio Naruse's 1960 melodrama, When a Woman Ascends the Stairs, in the BFI Film Classics series.

Ground-breaking in its departure from its predecessors, When Harry Met Sally (1989) established classic romantic comedy themes and tropes still being employed today.

Financed by HandMade Films, 'Withnail and I' was Bruce Robinson's first outing as writer-director. The script draws heavily on Robinson's own experiences in the 1960s. Kevin Jackson recounts that experience in addition to giving a full account of the film's production.