Cinema Year by Year (Revised 2002)

The book is exactly what I need: informations, films chronology, the actors and actress, his history, the movie history, photos, posters. A most complete literature about cinema and all related with. Acurated with dates, it shows the important facts since 1894.

This volume starts at the very beginning, 1894, and progresses through to 2004. As the years go on and films become more advanced and common, we get more pages devoted to each year, with lots of great pictures and movie posters along the way. It's pointed out that the little articles on each film or subject aren't actual news clippings from back then, but they did try to write them as though they could have been. Naturally, even given the length of such a volume, there were some things that were left out, but there's also a lot more that isn't left out, and this is after all just meant to be a year-by-year review with little news clipping-like pieces to accompany the films and events of each year, not a hugely in-depth account of each and every single film and even of every single year in cinema history. The only slight problem I have with it is that there are some urban legends reported as fact, such as Walter Matthau's birth name having been Matuschanskyayasky, Buster Keaton getting his nickname from Harry Houdini (when is this urban legend going to die already!?), and a certain sordid bit of misinformation about the murder of Ramon Novarro, which was actually made up by Kenneth Anger in his notoriously false 'Hollywood Babylon.' A bit pricey, but worth every penny.

This huge compendium of journal-like snapshots of the Cinema from the beginning is a fascinating, capsulized visit to the highlights of movies described by year and special interest articles with plenty of pictures and poster art, citing most of the major movies and personalities involved in the motion picture industry including foreign films. Minor irritations only slightly detract from this amazing work. There are glaring black and white photos used for color motion pictures confusing the transition between the history of black and white to technicolor. There is special attention made to Oscar award winners without many of the awards failing to get the detailed attention that they might deserve or at least some guideline as to how the editors picked their film selections. Many of the picture arts and extra photos are given good exposure, yet the reader is left often times wanted to know a bit more about them. Regardless of these faults, "Cinema" remains a gorgeous, easily read masterpiece of film across the years.