Welcome
These are my published works on film. I like to overturn orthodoxies, particularly in my latest book. I also feel that too much theoretical writing on film is unreadable. What do you think? You can add your comments in the guestbook below

Movie Greats: A Critical Study of Classic Cinema
Why are some films regarded as classics, worthy of entry into the canon of film history? Which sorts of films make the cut and why? Movie Greats questions how cinema is ranked and, in doing so, uncovers a history of critical conflict, with different aesthetic positions battling for dominance.
The films examined range across the history of cinema: The Battleship Potemkin, The 39 Steps, Modern Times, Citizen Kane, It's a Wonderful Life, Black Narcissus, The Night of the Hunter, Lawrence of Arabia, 8 1/2, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather, Raging Bull, The Piano and Kill Bill: Vol. 1.
Each chapter opens with a brief summary of the film's plot and goes on to discuss the historical context, the key individuals who made the film, and initial and subsequent popular and critical responses.
Students studying the history of film, canon formation or film aesthetics will find this book relevant, provocative and absorbing.
Contains bibliography, index and further reading list
Berg Publishers, 2008, 240pp
paperback ISBN
9781845206536
£16.99
Other Editions ISBN
9781845206529 9781847884619

The British Working Class in Postwar Film
Using a sociological model,The British Working Class in Postwar Filmlooks at how working-class people are portrayed in British feature films from the decade after World War II. Original statistical data is used to assess the popularity of the films with audiences. With an interdisciplinary approach and the avoidance of jargon, this book seeks to broaden the approach to film studies. Readers are introduced to the skills of other disciplines, while sociologists and historians are encouraged to consider the value of film evidence in their own fields.
Manchester University Press, 2003
230 pages, paperback ISBN 0719062586, £15.99
Other Editions ISBN
hardback 9780719062582
Buy it here (paperback and hardback editions)
The Cinema of Britain and Ireland

'The Rocking Horse Winner' in
The Cinema of Britain and Ireland
(ed. Brian McFarlane)
Wallflower Press, London, 2005
paperback ISBN 9781904764380 £18.99
Other editions ISBN
hardback 9781904764397 £50.00
Buy it here (paperback and hardback editions)
Essays in Offscreen
Comfort and Joy: the anatomy of melancholy Vol. 9 (7) July 2005
A reappraisal or Bill Forsyth's neglected film.
GNER 19th Leeds International Film Festival Vol. 9 (10) Oct. 2005
A report on the 19th Leeds International Film Festival.
12th Bradford Film Festival Vol. 10 (3) March 2006
A report on the 12th Bradford Film festival.
20th Leeds International Film Festival Vol. 10 (11) Nov. 2006
A report on the 20th Leeds International Film Festival.
13th Bradford International Film Festival Vol. 11 (4) Apr. 2006
A report on 13th Bradford International Film Festival.
14th Bradford International Film Festival, Vol. 12 (3) March 2008
A report of the 14th Bradford International Film Festival.
British Film Festivals X2 Vol. 12 (12) December 2008
A report on the 22nd Leeds International Film
Festival and the 2008 English Riviera Comedy Film Festival
Vol. 13 (10) December 2009
A report on the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival.
Book Review in Scope
Issue 6, October 2006
Article in Film International
Vol. 4, no 6 Issue 24 (2006) pp. 50-8.
'Capturing the moment: realism in British cinema of the late 1940s, its antecedents and its legacy'.
© Philip Gillett 2009