Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film

This four-volume reference on film treats its subject as art, entertainment, and industry contains 200 alphabetical entries discussing film genres; studies; national cinemas; technological, commercial, and cultural issues; and critical theories of film. Entries are longer than in many other similar references, ranging from approximately 1,500 to 9,000 words each, and are intended to reflect both the most influential and the most recent scholarship from the different areas of film studies. Each entry includes a brief "further reading" bibliography. A representative sample of topics covered includes auteur theory and authorship, B movies, Chinese cinema, choreography, fantasy films, French film, feminism, Native Americans and cinema, reception theory, road movies, sexuality, structuralism and poststructuralism, United Artists, violence, Walt Disney Company, and Yiddish cinema. The encyclopedia includes a large, but not overwhelming, number of film stills and other illustrative materials. Chief editor Grant (film studies and popular culture, Brock U., Canada) also includes 230 sidebars profiling important film figures related to accompanying articles (for example, Shirley Temple is profiled as part of the entry on child stars). Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)