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.

Here is director Roman Polanski, both predator and prey, haunted by the savage murder of his wife, returning to Los Angeles, where the seeds of his own self-destruction are quickly planted. Here too is Robert Towne's fabled script, widely considered the greatest original screenplay ever written.

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.

Taking us around the globe, through time and across multiple media, this book tracks the ways in which we were initially enchanted by this mesmerizing imitation of life and let movies - the stories, the stars, the look - show us how to live.

A bullet-riddled body floats in the pool of a faded screen star. A desperate wife and a crafty insurance man mix lust with murder. Two musicians flee Prohibition gangsters by joining an all-girl band. A likeable loser climbs the corporate ladder by pimping for his bosses. Only in the skewed world of Billy Wilder would such situations...

Telling for the first time, the short story of the cinema of shadows and light.

Documents, from original research and interviews, the experiences and representations which have been ignored in previous media books about people of African descent. There are chapters about Paul Robeson, Newton I. Aduaka, and soap operas, as well as several useful appendices and suggestions for further reading.

A provocative look at films directed and written - and sometimes produced - by African Americans, as well as black-oriented films whose directors and or screenwriters are not black. Taking us through the the development of African American independent filmmaking before and after World War II.

"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.

Images of violent black masculinity are not new in American culture, but in the late 1980s and early '90s, the social and economic climate in the country contributed to an unprecedented number of films about ghetto life. And while Hollywood reaped financial gains from these depictions, the rest of the country saw an ever widening 'opportunity gap'

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.

Sean Redmond excavates the many significances of Blade Runner (1982): its breakthrough use of special effects as a narrative tool; its revolutionary representation of the future city; its treatment of racial and sexual politics; and its unique status as a text whose meaning was fundamentally altered in its re-released forms.

One man links The Deer Hunter, Blade Runner and The Man Who Fell to Earth. This tells the stories behind some of the greatest cult movies ever made. It is suitable for any fan of British cinema.

What is behind the phenomenal success of entertainment businesses such as Warner Bros, Marvel Enterprises and Manchester United - along with such stars as Jay-Z and Lady Gaga? In this book, the author explains a powerful truth about the world of entertainment: building a business around blockbuster products is the surest path to long-term success.

Demonstrates that filmmakers and marketers actually went to extraordinary lengths to make early teen slashers attractive to female youth, to minimize displays of violence, gore and suffering and to invite comparisons to a wide range of post-classical Hollywood's biggest hits - including "Love Story (1970)," "The Exorcist (1973)," and, "Grease."

Blumhouse Productions is the first academic book to examine one of the film industry's most successful producers of horror cinema. Individual chapters offer readers a deeper appreciation of how Blumhouse makes its films with an unusual, but successful, business model.

Shyam Benegal is one of India's major film directors. A career spanning more than forty years includes documentaries and television programs as well as over twenty feature films. This book features interviews, which cover Benegal's life and work and, in doing so, present a history of Indian cinema.

Why are people fascinated with Bollywood? What is the cultural significance of the films produced there? In recent years Bollywood - the popular Hindi cinema - has received widespread international attention in the global media. Bollywood examines the reasons for this interest and provides an unrivalled guide to the phenomenon.

Bollywood's India Bollywood's India looks at the ways in which Bollywood has imagined and portrayed the unity and diversity of India--what it believes and what it feels; life at home and in public.

Iconic portraits and contact sheets from Goldfinger, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, Golden Eye and the Bond spoof & Casino Royale, published to coincide with the new James Bond film, No Time to Die.