David Ezell requests: > For some reason that I don't understand, I foolishly told a favorite > professor that I would lecture her class next month on Japanese film > history--a topic I know nothing about. > > So...I was wondering if my Screen-L associates could suggest a book that > would give me a nice overview fo that nation's film industry. > Additionally, could anyone suggest some films I could show clips from that > would be fairly easy for me to find on video? See the good overviews (from somewhat different perspectives) in Donald Cook's HISTORY OF NARRATIVE FILM and Thompson and Bordwell's FILM HISTORY: AN INTRODUCTION. Both books have good bibliographies. Joseph Anderson and Donald Richie, THE JAPANESE FILM: ART AND INDUSTRY is the standard history. For understanding the Japanese New Wave of the 1960s, David Desser's EROS PLUS MASSACRE is indispensible. There are many books devoted to individual directors (Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, Ozu, Oshima, et al.) and some individual topics--anime, in particular. Depending on what you want to show, some videos are pretty accessible. You're likely to find a lot of choices in anime at some stores and standard works by the major directors in video rental shops, but you can find a great deal through mail-order companies like Facets in Chicago. Pre-WWII stuff is harder to come by. Don Larsson ---------------------- Donald Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) [log in to unmask] ---- Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the University of Alabama.