Full Product Details
Author: James G. Mansell ,
Scott Anthony
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint: BFI Publishing
Dimensions:
Width: 15.50cm
, Height: 2.80cm
, Length: 23.50cm
Weight: 1.018kg
ISBN: 9781844573745
ISBN 10: 1844573745
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 28 October 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Manufactured on demand
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.
Reviews
Read an article about the book by the University of Cambridge: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/letters-through-lens/ -- University of Cambridge The output of the GPO Film Unit was immensely varied, at times truly experimental and often exceptionally enjoyable. And now there's a truly terrific book to draw together much of the debate about these films and to stimulate further thinking...[It is] beautifully designed and contains such a wonderful range of striking pictures from the 1930s...one of the book's strengths is its firm grounding in the history and culture of the 1930s, even as this is interpreted and understood from the perspective of the early twenty-first century. There are reprints of key documents about this history and a number of compelling visual essays, as well as a fascinating essay by Steve Foxon about the restoration of the films. -- Illuminations * John Wyver * Certainly, it's hard to think of a better single-volume survey. -- Sight& Sound * Michael Brooke * This beautifully produced volume is dedicated to the memory of the director Pat Jackson (1916-2011) and is a fitting tribute to his achievements… The Projection of Britain is, like the GPO Film Unit itself, a bold, fascinating, eccentric and ambitious endeavour...this is a fine tribute to an exciting and influential cultural project, and an essential companion to the films now available in lavishly packaged anthologies from the BFI. -- Times Literary Supplement * David Collard * The book is handsomely produced...In general, the 22 essays in The Projection of Britain: A History of the GPO Film Unit contribute to a vast literature on the documentary film movement in Britain, and perhaps represent a return to a celebration of its achievements after years of more sceptical evaluations. -- Twentieth Century British History * D. L. LeMahieu * Each section [of the book] invites the reader to wonder at a new aspect of the GPO Film Unit's history, and then these questions are either answered or deepened by the following sections. This structure also allows the reader to dip in and out; many of the chapters make excellent teaching resources. This book is therefore an excellent primer, at undergraduate and postgraduate level, for the GPO Film Unit's history. This structure is complemented by the variety of voices represented in the line-up of authors...The diversity of author and background creates a vibrant portrait of the far reaching cultural significance of the GPO Film Unit at the time. The ingredients that hold this all together, and makes this book spectacularly attractive for tutors, are the sections containing reproduced historical documents. Part three of the book is practically a course reader, with contributions from Hardy, Reiniger, Sussex, Wright and Watt. -- British Universities Film & Video Council * Dafydd Sills-Jones *
Read an article about the book by the University of Cambridge: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/letters-through-a-lens/ 'The output of the GPO Film Unit was immensely varied, at times truly experimental and often exceptionally enjoyable. And now there's a truly terrific book to draw together much of the debate about these films and to stimulate further thinking...[It is] beautifully designed and contains such a wonderful range of striking pictures from the 1930s...one of the book's strengths is its firm grounding in the history and culture of the 1930s, even as this is interpreted and understood from the perspective of the early twenty-first century. There are reprints of key documents about this history and a number of compelling visual essays, as well as a fascinating essay by Steve Foxon about the restoration of the films.' - John Wyver, Illuminations 'Certainly, it's hard to think of a better single-volume survey.' - Michael Brooke, Sight & Sound 'This beautifully produced volume is dedicated to the memory of the director Pat Jackson (1916-2011) and is a fitting tribute to his achievements...The Projection of Britain is, like the GPO Film Unit itself, a bold, fascinating, eccentric and ambitious endeavour...this is a fine tribute to an exciting and influential cultural project, and an essential companion to the films now available in lavishly packaged anthologies from the BFI.' - David Collard, Times Literary Supplement 'The book is handsomely produced...In general, the 22 essays in The Projection of Britain: A History of the GPO Film Unit contribute to a vast literature on the documentary film movement in Britain, and perhaps represent a return to a celebration of its achievements after years of more sceptical evaluations.' -D. L. LeMahieu, Twentieth Century British History 'Each section [of the book] invites the reader to wonder at a new aspect of the GPO Film Unit's history, and then these questions are either answered or deepened by the following sections. This structure also allows the reader to dip in and out; many of the chapters make excellent teaching resources. This book is therefore an excellent primer, at undergraduate and postgraduate level, for the GPO Film Unit's history. This structure is complemented by the variety of voices represented in the line-up of authors...The diversity of author and background creates a vibrant portrait of the far reaching cultural significance of the GPO Film Unit at the time. The ingredients that hold this all together, and makes this book spectacularly attractive for tutors, are the sections containing reproduced historical documents. Part three of the book is practically a course reader, with contributions from Hardy, Reiniger, Sussex, Wright and Watt.' - Dafydd Sills-Jones, British Universities Film & Video Council
Read an article about the book by the University of Cambridge: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/letters-through-a-lens/ 'The output of the GPO Film Unit was immensely varied, at times truly experimental and often exceptionally enjoyable. And now there's a truly terrific book to draw together much of the debate about these films and to stimulate further thinking...[It is] beautifully designed and contains such a wonderful range of striking pictures from the 1930s...one of the book's strengths is its firm grounding in the history and culture of the 1930s, even as this is interpreted and understood from the perspective of the early twenty-first century. There are reprints of key documents about this history and a number of compelling visual essays, as well as a fascinating essay by Steve Foxon about the restoration of the films.' - John Wyver, Illuminations
Author Information
SCOTT ANTHONYis a journalist andhistorian basedatChrist's College,Cambridge.He is the author of Public Relations and the Making of Modern Britain (2011) and Night Mail in the BFI Film Classic series (2007). JAMES G. MANSELL is an historian and lectures in Cultural Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK. He is the author of the forthcoming book Sound and Selfhood in Early Twentieth-Century Britain.
