|
Showing 1 - 17 of
17 matches in All Departments
(Limelight). A ground-breaking critical survey of the talented,
audacious, and influential directors Hal Hartley, Jim Jarmusch,
Spike Lee, John Sayles, Quentin Tarantino, among others who,
dominating the "independent scene," have revitalized American film.
Illustrated throughout, index.
The Cambridge Spies continue to fascinate - but one of them, John
Cairncross, has always been more of an enigma than the others. He
worked alone and was driven by his hostility to Fascism rather than
to the promotion of Communism. During his war-time work at
Bletchley Park, he passed documents to the Soviets which went on to
influence the Battle of Kursk. Geoff Andrews gained exclusive
access to the Cairncross papers and secrets, and has spoken to
friends, relatives and former colleagues. In his portrait, a
complex individual emerges – a scholar as well as a spy – whose
motivations have often been misunderstood. After his resignation
from the Civil Service, Cairncross moved to Italy and there he
rebuilt his life as a foreign correspondent, editor and university
professor. This gave him new circles and friendships – which
included the writer Graham Greene – while he always lived with
the fear that his earlier espionage would come to light. The full
account of Cairncross's spying, his confession and his dramatic
public exposure as the ‘fifth man’ is told here for the first
time, unveiling the story of his post-espionage life.
James Klugmann appears as a shadowy figure in the legendary history
of the Cambridge spies. As both mentor and friend to Donald
Maclean, Guy Burgess and others, Klugmann was the man who
manipulated promising recruits deemed ripe for conversion to the
communist cause. This perception of him was reinforced following
the release of his MI5 file and the disclosure of Soviet
intelligence files in Moscow, which revealed he played a key part
in the recruitment of John Cairncross, the 'fifth man', and had a
pivotal war-time role in the Special Operations Executive, helping
shift Churchill and the allies to support Tito and the communist
partisans in Yugoslavia. In this book, Geoff Andrews reveals
Klugmann's story in full for the first time, uncovering the
motivations, conflicts and illusions of those drawn into the world
of communism - and the sacrifices they made on its behalf.
Philosophy and Football: The PFFC Story is the extraordinary
account of how a team of friends kicking a ball about in Regent's
Park was transformed by European travel in the shadow of Brexit.
Playing in shirts adorned with the words of Camus, Shankly and
Cantona among others, Philosophy Football FC created its own
philosophy in opposition to modern football. Its occasional players
travelled from London to take part in tournaments in unique venues
such as a national football stadium in Rome, a Spanish bullring in
Bilbao and Taksim Square in Istanbul. Practising its 'slow foot'
philosophy, it exported the idea of a revolutionary and more
complex three-sided football. Inspired by European culture, PFFC
was transformed from a team that regularly lost heavily to winning
three consecutive London league championships. Over 25 years PFFC
attracted players from 24 countries and six continents. Its story
illustrates the power of football to reach people from all walks of
life: to travel, play, eat, drink, win and lose together.
The Cambridge Spies continue to fascinate - but one of them, John
Cairncross, has always been more of an enigma than the others. He
worked alone and was driven by his hostility to Fascism rather than
to the promotion of Communism. During his war-time work at
Bletchley Park, he passed documents to the Soviets which went on to
influence the Battle of Kursk. Now, Geoff Andrews has access to the
Cairncross papers and secrets, and has spoken to friends, relatives
and former colleagues. A complex individual emerges - a scholar as
well as a spy - whose motivations have often been misunderstood.
After his resignation from the Civil Service, Cairncross moved to
Italy and here he rebuilt his life as a foreign correspondent,
editor and university professor. This gave him new circles and
friendships - which included the writer Graham Greene - while he
always lived with the fear that his earlier espionage would come to
light. The full account of Cairncross's spying, his confession and
his dramatic public exposure as the 'fifth man' will be told here
for the first time, while also unveiling the story of his
post-espionage life.
Sixty years after its release, Singin' in the Rain (1951) remains
one of the best loved films ever made. Yet despite dazzling success
with the public, it never received its fair share of critical
analysis. Gene Kelly's genius as a performer is undeniable.
Acknowledged less often is his innovatory contribution as director.
Peter Wollen's illuminating study of Singin' in the Rain does
justice to this complex film. In a brilliant shot-by-shot analysis
of the famous title number, he shows how skilfully Kelly weaves the
dance and musical elements into the narrative, successfully
combining two distinctive traditions within American Dance: tap and
ballet. At the time of the film's production, its scriptwriters
Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and indeed Kelly himself, were all
under threat from McCarthyism. Wollen describes how the fallout
from blacklisting curtailed the careers of many of those who worked
on the film and argues convincingly that the film represents the
high point in their careers. In his foreword to this special
edition, published to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the BFI
Film Classics series, Geoff Andrew looks at the film's legacy and
celebrates the passion, lucidity and originality of Wollen's
analysis. Summing up its enduring appeal, Andrew writes: 'Singin'
in the Rain isn't just a musical, it's a movie about the movies.'
From a humble background in Barry, where his father was a butcher
and local politician in the formative years of the new town, Cyril
Lakin studied at Oxford, survived the First World War, and went on
to become a Fleet Street editor, radio presenter and war-time
member of parliament. As literary editor of both the Daily
Telegraph and the Sunday Times, Lakin was at the centre of a
vibrant and radical generation of writers, poets and critics, many
of whom he recruited as reviewers. He gained a parliamentary seat
and served in the National Government during World War II. The
different worlds he inhabited, from Wales to Westminster, and
across class, profession and party, were facilitated by his relaxed
disposition, convivial company, and ability to cultivate
influential contacts. An effective talent-spotter and catalyst for
new projects, he preferred pragmatism over ideology and
non-partisanship in politics: a moderate Conservative for modern
times.
From a humble background in Barry, where his father was a butcher
and local politician in the formative years of the new town, Cyril
Lakin studied at Oxford, survived the First World War, and went on
to become a Fleet Street editor, radio presenter and war-time
member of parliament. As literary editor of both the Daily
Telegraph and the Sunday Times, Lakin was at the centre of a
vibrant and radical generation of writers, poets and critics, many
of whom he recruited as reviewers. He gained a parliamentary seat
and served in the National Government during World War II. The
different worlds he inhabited, from Wales to Westminster, and
across class, profession and party, were facilitated by his relaxed
disposition, convivial company, and ability to cultivate
influential contacts. An effective talent-spotter and catalyst for
new projects, he preferred pragmatism over ideology and
non-partisanship in politics: a moderate Conservative for modern
times.
This is the sixth and final volume of L&W's comprehensive
history of the British Communist Party, covering the debates of the
last years - a period of accelerated change and reassessment, and
ultimately dissolution. The book begins by situating the CPGB
within the major social and cultural changes of the 1960s, and
documents the hopes for renewal that were symbolised by the new
social movements associated with May 68, and the Prague spring. It
ends with the collapse of the party and the fall of the Berlin
Wall. Despite all the new thinking and idealism, the party could
not hold together. The book covers the Young Communist League's
engagement with popular culture in the 1960s; the influence of the
new social movements, especially feminism; the party's strong
presence in the trade unions; CPGB relations with the Labour Party
and labour movement; the increasing influence of Gramsci within the
party, especially among a new generation of intellectuals; the
Communist Universities of London; the influence of Eurocommunism;
and the rise and fall of Marxism Today. Geoff Andrews is Lecturer
and Staff Tutor in Politics at the Open University, and a co-editor
of Soundings. He has written widely on the history of the left, and
on contemporary Italian politics. His publications include
Citizenship (1991) and - with Nina Fishman and Kevin Morgan -
Opening the Books: Essays on the Cultural and Social History of the
Communist Party (1995). He is currently completing a new book, Not
a Normal Country: Italy under Berlusconi.
The Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami burst onto the international
film scene in the early 1990s and was widely regarded as one of the
most distinctive and talented modern-day directors. His major
features - including Through the Olive Trees (1994), Taste of
Cherry (1997) and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999) - are relatively
modest in scale, contemplative and humanist in tone. In 2002, with
10, Kiarostami broke new ground, fixing one or two digital cameras
on a car's dashboard to film ten conversations between the driver
(Mania Akbari) and her various passengers. The results are
astonishing: though formally rigorous, even austere, and
documentary-like in its style, 10 succeeds both as emotionally
affecting human drama and as a critical analysis of everyday life
in modern Tehran. In his study of the film, Geoff Andrew considers
10 within the context of Kiarostami's career, of Iranian cinema's
renaissance, and of international film culture. Drawing on a number
of detailed interviews he conducted with both Kiarostami and his
lead actress, Andrew sheds light on the unusual methods used in
making the film, on its political relevance, and on its remarkably
subtle aesthetic. He also argues that 10 was an important
turning-point in the career of a film-maker who was not only one of
contemporary cinema's most accomplished practitioners but also one
of its most radical experimentalists.
The great Armenian-American director Rouben Mamoulian (1897-1987)
remains a favourite among film-makers, his films combining great
technical originality with a uniquely poetic visual style.
Mamoulian's technical innovations are evident from his first film,
Applause (1923), in which he incorporated two separate soundtracks
into one printing, thus overcoming the difficulty of sound levels
which had frustrated the pioneer directors of 'talkies', and in Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931), in which he used synthetic sound painted
directly onto the soundtrack. Such inventive solutions to
film-making challenges were linked to Mamoulian's abiding sense of
the magic of the cinema. Heused colour as a dramatic ingredient in
the first three-strip Technicolour film, Becky Sharp (1935), and
his musicals Summer Holiday (1948) and Silk Stockings (1957) were
remarkable in their time for the way in which the dance was used to
enhance the drama and to illuminate character. And for Garbo, in
Queen Christina (1933) he created the framework for her greatest
role. Tom Milne's classic study, first published in 1969, provides
a film-by-film analysis of Mamoulian's career and challenges
widespread critical assumptions about the director's oeuvre. In his
foreword to this new edition, Geoff Andrew recognises Milne's
careful and insightful analysis of Mamoulian's expressive and
imaginative style and asks whether this unique director ought to be
considered as an auteur. Andrew also pays tribute to Milne's
elegant, witty and eclectic critical style and hails him as one the
most important and influential British writers on film. TOM MILNE
(1926-2005) was a leading British film critic, contributing to
Sight & Sound, the Monthly Film Bulletin, The Observer, The
Financial Times and The Times during his career. During the 1960s
he worked at the British Film Institute as Associate Editor of
Sight & Sound and Editor of The Monthly Film Bulletin. His
other publications include a monograph on Joseph Losey (1967), a
short study on the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer (1971) and
an anthology of interviews and writings on Jean-Luc Godard (1972)
that he edited and translated. Foreword by GEOFF ANDREW, Head of
Film Programme at BFI Southbank, UK, and the author of several
books including Nicholas Ray: Poet of Nightfall (BFI, 2004) and, in
the BFI Film Classics series, volumes on Kieslowski's Three Colours
Trilogy and Kiarostami's 10.
Films like In a Lonely Place, Johnny Guitar, They Live by Night,
and most of all Rebel Without a Cause were to ensure cult status
for Ray as one of the most revered of all American 'maverick'
auteurs. This new edition of Geoff Andrew's unique and acclaimed
study of his films discusses Ray's stylistic artistry and abiding
thematic concerns, and his work with such legends as James Dean,
Humphrey Bogart, James Mason, Joan Crawford and Richard Burton.
Above all the book shows how the vivid emotional authenticity of
his films, coupled with his special brand of visual expressionism
and his eloquently voiced disenchantment with the American Dream,
were in established for him a profoundly loyal following in America
and Europe that lasts to this day.
This new edition, which covers all of Ray's films, includes an
updated introduction and fresh reflections on the enduring
importance in the 21st century of one of the greatest directors to
have worked in Hollywood.
This work serves as an introduction to, and an overview of, key issues and themes in the history of the Communist Party in Britain, and an assessment of the CP's changing historiography, particularly in view of the availability of previously inaccessible archives.;Thirteen contributors examine particular aspects of the party's history from the early Comintern period, to the events in Hungary in 1956 and the Eurocommunism and cultural politics of recent years. The scope of the book is deliberately broad, covering not only the more conventional aspects of CP participation in the labour movement, but also the broader cultural influence of the party on writers, artists, scholars, activists and opinion-formers at various stages in its history.
The great Armenian-American director Rouben Mamoulian (1897-1987)
remains a favourite among film-makers, his films combining great
technical originality with a uniquely poetic visual style.
Mamoulian's technical innovations are evident from his first film,
Applause (1923), in which he incorporated two separate soundtracks
into one printing, thus overcoming the difficulty of sound levels
which had frustrated the pioneer directors of 'talkies', and in Dr
Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931), in which he used synthetic sound painted
directly onto the soundtrack. Such inventive solutions to
film-making challenges were linked to Mamoulian's abiding sense of
the magic of the cinema. Heused colour as a dramatic ingredient in
the first three-strip Technicolour film, Becky Sharp (1935), and
his musicals Summer Holiday (1948) and Silk Stockings (1957) were
remarkable in their time for the way in which the dance was used to
enhance the drama and to illuminate character. And for Garbo, in
Queen Christina (1933) he created the framework for her greatest
role. Tom Milne's classic study, first published in 1969, provides
a film-by-film analysis of Mamoulian's career and challenges
widespread critical assumptions about the director's oeuvre. In his
foreword to this new edition, Geoff Andrew recognises Milne's
careful and insightful analysis of Mamoulian's expressive and
imaginative style and asks whether this unique director ought to be
considered as an auteur. Andrew also pays tribute to Milne's
elegant, witty and eclectic critical style and hails him as one the
most important and influential British writers on film. TOM MILNE
(1926-2005) was a leading British film critic, contributing to
Sight & Sound, the Monthly Film Bulletin, The Observer, The
Financial Times and The Times during his career. During the 1960s
he worked at the British Film Institute as Associate Editor of
Sight & Sound and Editor of The Monthly Film Bulletin. His
other publications include a monograph on Joseph Losey (1967), a
short study on the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer (1971) and
an anthology of interviews and writings on Jean-Luc Godard (1972)
that he edited and translated. Foreword by GEOFF ANDREW, Head of
Film Programme at BFI Southbank, UK, and the author of several
books including Nicholas Ray: Poet of Nightfall (BFI, 2004) and, in
the BFI Film Classics series, volumes on Kieslowski's Three Colours
Trilogy and Kiarostami's 10.
The Slow Food movement was set up in Italy as a response to the
dominance of fast food chains, supermarkets and large-scale
agribusiness. It seeks to defend what it calls 'the universal right
to pleasure' and promotes an alternative approach to food
production and consumption based on the promotion of 'good, clean
and fair' local products. This is the first in-depth study of the
fascinating politics of Slow Food, which in twenty years has grown
into an international organisation with more than 80,000 members in
over 100 countries. With its roots in the 1960s and 1970s
counter-culture, Slow Food's distinctive politics lie in the unity
between gastronomic pleasure and environmental responsibility. The
movement crosses the left-right divide to embrace both the
conservative desire to preserve traditional rural communities and
an alternative 'virtuous' idea of globalisation. Geoff Andrews
shows that the alternative future embodied in Slow Food extends to
all aspects of modern life. The Slow Food Story presents an
extensive new critique of fast-moving, work-obsessed contemporary
capitalist culture.
The Slow Food movement was set up in Italy as a response to the
dominance of fast food chains, supermarkets and large-scale
agribusiness. It seeks to defend what it calls 'the universal right
to pleasure' and promotes an alternative approach to food
production and consumption based on the promotion of 'good, clean
and fair' local products. This is the first in-depth study of the
fascinating politics of Slow Food, which in twenty years has grown
into an international organisation with more than 80,000 members in
over 100 countries. With its roots in the 1960s and 1970s
counter-culture, Slow Food's distinctive politics lie in the unity
between gastronomic pleasure and environmental responsibility. The
movement crosses the left-right divide to embrace both the
conservative desire to preserve traditional rural communities and
an alternative 'virtuous' idea of globalisation. Geoff Andrews
shows that the alternative future embodied in Slow Food extends to
all aspects of modern life. The Slow Food Story presents an
extensive new critique of fast-moving, work-obsessed contemporary
capitalist culture.
James Klugmann appears as a shadowy figure in the legendary history
of the Cambridge spies. As both mentor and friend to Donald
Maclean, Guy Burgess and others, Klugmann was the man who
manipulated promising recruits deemed ripe for conversion to the
communist cause. This perception of him was reinforced following
the release of his MI5 file and the disclosure of Soviet
intelligence files in Moscow, which revealed he played the key part
in the recruitment of John Cairncross, the 'fifth man', as well as
his pivotal war-time role in the Special Operations Executive in
shifting Churchill and the allies to support Tito and the communist
partisans in Yugoslavia. In this book, Geoff Andrews reveals
Klugmann's story in full for the first time, uncovering the
motivations, conflicts and illusions of those drawn into the world
of communism and the sacrifices they made on its behalf.
|
|