Carleton College: Gould Library: Subject Research Guides: CAMS: Film History, Theory, and Criticism

Subject Research Guides

CAMS: Film History, Theory, and Criticism

Getting Started
Finding Books
Finding Movies
Finding Articles
Finding Historical Film Reviews
Microfilm Collections
Web Resources
Librarian

Getting Started: Selected Reference Resources

Below is a partial list of general reference works on cinema and media studies. Our Reference Collection contains many more specific works to help you get started on your research.

General Reference

The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States
Ref PN1998 .A57
New York: R. R. Bowker, 1971-

The AFI Catalog strives to be comprehensive in its coverage of American films. Included is film production information, credits and cast lists, song and music information and detailed plot summaries.

An online version of the AFI Catalog can be found at the Turner Classic Movies Database.

The Schirmer Encyclopedia of Film
Ref PN1993.45 .G65 2007
Detroit : Schirmer Reference, c2007.

A comprehensive introduction to film and film studies, covering such aspects as production, national traditions, studios, genres, critical theory, and film history. Includes more than 200 entries written by top scholars in the field of film studies. Also includes more than 230 career profiles, placing individual achievements in the context of specific topics (for example, Robert Altman is featured in the article on "Sound").

Cinema Studies: The Key Concepts
Ref PN1993.45 .H36 2000
London; New York: Routledge, 2000.

In-depth glossary providing theoretical terms as well as historical overviews of key genres, film theory and film movements.

Dictionary of Film Terms: The Aesthetic Companion to Film Art
Ref PN1993.45 .B33 2006
New York : Peter Lang, c2006.

Includes definitions of hundreds of film terms from "abstract film" to "zoom shot" as well as extensive cross-references and four indices: term, topical, artist name, and film title.

Encyclopedia of Semiotics
part of Oxford Reference Online

A comprehensive reference guide, with 300 entries, to concepts in semiotics, sign theory, and cultural studies.

The Encyclopedia of Early Cinema
Ref PN1993.45 .E53 2005
London; New York: Routledge, 2005.

Coverage of cinema from the 1890s to the mid-1910s as well as pre-cinematic apparatuses and inventors.

The Encyclopedia of European Cinema
Ref PN1993.5.E8 V56 1995
New York, NY: Facts on File, c1995.

Includes national essays, entries on personnel, critical entries on genres and movements, and entries on film schools and studios.

International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, 4th ed.
Ref PN1997.8 .I58 2000
Detroit : St. James Press, c2000.

Volume 1. Films, Volume 2. Directors, Volume 3. Actors and actresses, Volume 4. Writers and production artists.

The Oxford History of World Cinema
Ref PN1993.5.A1 O96 1996
Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1996.

A single-volume overview of world cinema from 1895 to the present with chapters on silent cinema, national cinemas, genre cinema, and more.

Within our Gates : Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960
Ref PN1995.9.M56 W58 1997
Berkeley, Ca. : University of California Press, c1997.

Film production information, credits and cast lists, song and music information and detailed plot summaries of films featuring or made by African-Americans.

Film Reviews and Synopses

Film Review Annual
Ref PN1995 .F463
Englewood, NJ : J.S. Ozer, c1982-

This source provides the entire text of selected reviews of full length films released during the year. References to other film reviews are included.

Magill's Cinema Annual
Ref PN1993.45 .M3
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1982-

Yearbook of technical data, credit listings, plot synopses, and reviews of films released in the previous year.

Magill's Survey of Cinema--English Language Films, First Series
Ref PN1993.45 .M3
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1980.

Comprehensive technical data, credit listings, plot synopses, and reviews of films.

Magill's Survey of Cinema--English Language Films, Second Series
Ref PN1993.45 .M32
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1980.

Comprehensive technical data, credit listings, plot synopses, and reviews of films.

Magill's Survey of Cinema--Foreign Language Films
Ref PN1993.45 .M34 1985
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1985.

Comprehensive technical data, credit listings, plot synopses, and reviews of foreign language films.

Magill's Survey of Cinema--Silent Films
Ref PN1993.45 .M33 1982
Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Salem Press, c1982.

Comprehensive technical data, credit listings, plot synopses, and reviews of silent films.

The Motion Picture Guide
Ref PN1993 .M4334
Chicago : Cinebooks, 1985-c1999

Cast lists and brief reviews of films. Published annually.

The New York Times Film Reviews
Ref PN1995 .N4
New York, New York Times.

Complete compilation of film reviews originally published in The New York Times from 1913 to 1976.

Silent films, 1877-1996
Ref PN1995.75 .K57 1999
Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland, c1999.

Reviews and criticism of 646 important silent films.

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Finding Books

The Gould Library has rich collections of books, journals, government documents, and other resources. You may access them via The Bridge, the online catalog. You may search Bridge by title, author, subject heading, or keyword.

Relevant Library of Congress Call Numbers

NC1765 - NC1766 Motion picture cartoons (animation)
PN1993 Motion pictures in general, by country
PN1994 Film theory
PN1995 Specific themes, topics, or genres
PN1996 Screenwriting
PN1997 Screenplays
PN1998 Biographies of and works about filmmakers
TR Photography (including technical aspects of filmmaking)

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Finding Movies

The library's media collection is open to use by anyone with Carleton library borrowing privileges, including faculty, staff, and students of St. Olaf College.

To see a full list of DVDs in the media collection, click here. To see a full list of videocassettes in the media collection, click here.

To browse lists of films by language and genre, visit the Media Resources area of the library's Web site.

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Finding Journal Articles

You can use the library's online indexes and databases to locate journal and magazine articles. Please note that Carleton does not own every title indexed in the databases. Check the library's Journals List to see if we own the journal title, not journal article, you are looking for. If we don't own the journal, take advantage of our Interlibrary Loan Services.

Film and Television Literature Index (full-text articles, citations; varying dates)
Highly recommended. An full-text database of film and television articles, ranging from scholarly to popular.

Periodicals Index Online (citations; varying dates)
Indexes over 5,000 periodicals including several film magazines and journals including Cahiers du Cinéma (1951-1995), Monthly Film Bulletin (1934-1991), Sight and Sound (1932-1995) and Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers, Journal (1916-1995).

Academic Search Premier (full-text articles, citations; varying dates)
Scholarly, multi-disciplinary journals.

Art Index/Art Index Retrospective (citations, 1929-current)
Primarily for articles on art and art history, these databases do include many articles on cinema. Indexes a wide array of international periodical literature back to 1929.

Arts & Humanities Citation Index (citations, 1975 - current)
Covers more than 1,140 of the world's leading arts and humanities journals in a broad range of disciplines from 1989-present.

International Index to the Performing Arts (citations, abstracts; 1864 - current)
Index and abstracts of articles on dance, film, drama, television, the arts and entertainment industry, stagecraft, magic, musical theater and performance art.

MLA International Bibliography (citations, 1963-current)
Mainly for articles on literature, this database does include citations for articles on film and other media not indexed in other databases.

ProQuest Research Library (full-text articles, citations, abstracts; varying dates)
General database with full-text available for many of its offerings. Good for locating reviews or articles on films geared toward a general audience.

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Finding Historical Film Reviews

ProQuest Historical Newspapers (full-text newspapers)
This database includes the full text of The New York Times from 1851 to 2003 and The Los Angeles Times from 1881 to 1985. You will find contemporary reviews for films in these newspapers as well as news articles on films and the film industry. To search for reviews only, type "review" in one of the search boxes and then, using the drop-down menu next to it, change the scope of the search box to "document type." You can then enter your search term (director, title of film, etc.) in the next search box.

Readers' Guide Retrospective (popular magazine index)
This index includes citations of film reviews in popular magazines from 1890-1982 including such titles as Newsweek, Time, Life, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The Nation. This is not a full-text database, though, so you will need to find the cited review among the bound periodicals on the library's third floor or request the article through Interlibrary Loan if we do not own the magazine.

Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text
Use this database to find full-text historical reviews from Variety from 1920 to the present. To do so, click the link at the top of the database's search page labeled "Variety Movie Reviews." On the subsequent page, you will be able to search or browse for reviews by film title. TIP: When using the "Browse for" search box, switch from "Alphabetical" results to "Relevancy Ranked" results before clicking the "Browse" button.

Historical film reviews can also be found in Film Daily. See the note about the Film Daily microfilm collection below.

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Microfilm Collections

Cinema Pressbooks from the Original Studio Collections
PN1995.9.P79 C55 2001 [Microform]

A collection of publicity materials for 1700 films from the "Golden Age" of Hollywood, 1919-1949. Covers films from Warner Bros., Monogram Pictures, and United Artists (including Eagle Lion Films). An online guide to the collection is available.

History of Cinema: Series 1: Hollywood and the Production Code
PN1993.5 U6 H57 2006 [Microform]

Selected files (commonly referred to as "censorship files") on 500 films, ranging in date from 1927 to 1968, from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Production Code Administration collection. An online guide to the collection is available.

Major Film Periodicals for Media Research (Film Daily)
CC Microfilm Periodicals (3rd fl.)

This collection includes the complete run of The Film Daily, a major film industry publication, and its predecessors (Wid's Film and Film Folk, Wid's Independent Review of Feature Films, and Wid's Daily) from 1915 to 1970. It also includes a complete run of The Film Daily Year Book from the same period. The Year Books index film reviews from the previous year's issues of Film Daily. Unfortunately, no complete index to these publication currently exists. An online guide to the date coverage of each reel is available.

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