Béla Balázs: Early Film Theory

Béla Balázs was a Hungarian Jewish film theorist, author, screenwriter and film director who was at the forefront of Hungarian literary life before being forced into exile for Communist activity after 1919. His German-language theoretical essays on film date from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s, the period of his early exile in Vienna and Berlin.

• Glossary EditorialErica CarterVisible Man or the Culture of Film Three Addresses by Way of a PrefaceI. May We Come In? II. To Directors and Other Fellow PractitionersIII. On Creative EnjoymentVisible Man Sketches For a Theory of FilmThe Substance of Film Type and PhysiognomyThe Play of Facial ExpressionsThe Close-UpThe Face of ThingsNature and NaturalnessVisual LinkageSupplementary FragmentsWorld ViewTwo PortraitsChaplin, the Ordinary AmericanAsta Nielsen: How She Loves and How She Grows OldThe Spirit of FilmSeven YearsThe Productive CameraThe Close-UpSet-Up MontageMontage Without Cutting Flight From the StoryThe Absolute FilmColour Film and Other PossibilitiesSound Film Ideological RemarksAppendix:Reviews I: Siegfried Kracauer, ‘A new film book’ (1930)Reviews II: Rudolf Arnheim, The Spirit of Film (1930)

“This book will benefit any student encountering Film Theory in either an introductory, intermediate or advanced course or any context where deepening our understanding or love for film is the goal.” • Bright Lights Film Journal“[The book is] part of the Film Europa: German Cinema in an International Context series. [It] has an attractive typeface and a well-designed layout. In addition to Carter’s introduction there is also a useful Glossary of terms and an Appendix with two reviews… In all, this book is a very good introduction to Balázs’ film philosophy and a long overdue entry into the English-speaking world of film literature.” • Screening the Past“An exemplary book in every way, this translation makes Balázs' revolutionary texts available in English for the first time… Dating from 1924 and 1930 respectively, The Visible Man and The Spirit of Film had a decisive influence on such major Russian filmmakers as Vsevolod Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein, and were among the first studies to examine filmic syntax, grammar, and editorial structure. Including a detailed introduction and numerous illustrations, this volume is a must for anyone serious about film… Highly recommended.” • Choice