What Is Neorealism? A Critical English-Language Bibliography of Italian Cinematic Neorealismby Bert CardulloReview by: Marsha KinderFilm Quarterly, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Autumn, 1992), p. 55Published by: University of California PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1213049 .

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Book Notes

Contributors to book notes: Leo Braudy, Brian Henderson, Albert Johnson, Marsha Kinder, and Linda Williams are members of FQ' s edito- rial board; David Desser teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; John Fell is the author of Film and the Narrative Tradition; Sidney Gottlieb teaches at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT; David James teaches at USC; James L. Neibaur is a film historian; Mark A. Reid teaches at the University of Florida- Gainesville; Gregg Rickman is working on a book about Philip K. Dick; Yuri Tsivian is Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Sciences of Latvia in Riga and the author of Silent Witnesses: Russian Films 1908-1919.

Austin, Bruce A. (ed.). Current Research in Film: Audi- ences, Economics, and Law, Volume V. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991. N.p. Turning to the editor's introduction, one does not find it! Thus there is no discussion of audience, economics, or law, or of why the pieces were included, or how they work together to explore these topics. The audience essays (five) are the worst-unconvincing uses of social science statistics to define the film audience. The economics essays (four) are mixed: an essay on "high concept" and product differen- tiation flounders due to the vagueness of the term; Guback (on capital, labor power, and the identity of film) and Jarvie (on the Canadian film market as part of the U.S. domestic market between the wars) are valuable. So are the law essays (two)-on government classification of foreign political films and on state functions and the British film industry. BRIAN HENDERSON

Cardullo, Bert. What is Neorealism? A Critical English- LanguageBibliography of talian CinematicNeorealism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991. $29.50. Bert Cardullo's What Is Neorealism? is a useful reference work divided into three sections: a critical bibliography, which includes 26 "representative" entries with detailed annotations; an "exhaustive, up-to-date" bibliography of English-language sources on Italian neorealist cinema, which includes 257 nonannotated entries; and a chrono- logical list of Italian neorealist films (with credits) which goes up to 1956 and which includes precursors dating as far back as 1914.

The reader might wonder how the 26 entries were selected-for the list includes not only recent books on the movement (such as those by Millicent Marcus, Mira Liehm, and Peter Bondanella) and historically influential works (e.g., by Bazin and Leprohon), but also outdated

Book Notes

Contributors to book notes: Leo Braudy, Brian Henderson, Albert Johnson, Marsha Kinder, and Linda Williams are members of FQ' s edito- rial board; David Desser teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; John Fell is the author of Film and the Narrative Tradition; Sidney Gottlieb teaches at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT; David James teaches at USC; James L. Neibaur is a film historian; Mark A. Reid teaches at the University of Florida- Gainesville; Gregg Rickman is working on a book about Philip K. Dick; Yuri Tsivian is Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Sciences of Latvia in Riga and the author of Silent Witnesses: Russian Films 1908-1919.

Austin, Bruce A. (ed.). Current Research in Film: Audi- ences, Economics, and Law, Volume V. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991. N.p. Turning to the editor's introduction, one does not find it! Thus there is no discussion of audience, economics, or law, or of why the pieces were included, or how they work together to explore these topics. The audience essays (five) are the worst-unconvincing uses of social science statistics to define the film audience. The economics essays (four) are mixed: an essay on "high concept" and product differen- tiation flounders due to the vagueness of the term; Guback (on capital, labor power, and the identity of film) and Jarvie (on the Canadian film market as part of the U.S. domestic market between the wars) are valuable. So are the law essays (two)-on government classification of foreign political films and on state functions and the British film industry. BRIAN HENDERSON

Cardullo, Bert. What is Neorealism? A Critical English- LanguageBibliography of talian CinematicNeorealism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991. $29.50. Bert Cardullo's What Is Neorealism? is a useful reference work divided into three sections: a critical bibliography, which includes 26 "representative" entries with detailed annotations; an "exhaustive, up-to-date" bibliography of English-language sources on Italian neorealist cinema, which includes 257 nonannotated entries; and a chrono- logical list of Italian neorealist films (with credits) which goes up to 1956 and which includes precursors dating as far back as 1914.

The reader might wonder how the 26 entries were selected-for the list includes not only recent books on the movement (such as those by Millicent Marcus, Mira Liehm, and Peter Bondanella) and historically influential works (e.g., by Bazin and Leprohon), but also outdated

Book Notes

Contributors to book notes: Leo Braudy, Brian Henderson, Albert Johnson, Marsha Kinder, and Linda Williams are members of FQ' s edito- rial board; David Desser teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; John Fell is the author of Film and the Narrative Tradition; Sidney Gottlieb teaches at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT; David James teaches at USC; James L. Neibaur is a film historian; Mark A. Reid teaches at the University of Florida- Gainesville; Gregg Rickman is working on a book about Philip K. Dick; Yuri Tsivian is Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Sciences of Latvia in Riga and the author of Silent Witnesses: Russian Films 1908-1919.

Austin, Bruce A. (ed.). Current Research in Film: Audi- ences, Economics, and Law, Volume V. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991. N.p. Turning to the editor's introduction, one does not find it! Thus there is no discussion of audience, economics, or law, or of why the pieces were included, or how they work together to explore these topics. The audience essays (five) are the worst-unconvincing uses of social science statistics to define the film audience. The economics essays (four) are mixed: an essay on "high concept" and product differen- tiation flounders due to the vagueness of the term; Guback (on capital, labor power, and the identity of film) and Jarvie (on the Canadian film market as part of the U.S. domestic market between the wars) are valuable. So are the law essays (two)-on government classification of foreign political films and on state functions and the British film industry. BRIAN HENDERSON

Cardullo, Bert. What is Neorealism? A Critical English- LanguageBibliography of talian CinematicNeorealism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991. $29.50. Bert Cardullo's What Is Neorealism? is a useful reference work divided into three sections: a critical bibliography, which includes 26 "representative" entries with detailed annotations; an "exhaustive, up-to-date" bibliography of English-language sources on Italian neorealist cinema, which includes 257 nonannotated entries; and a chrono- logical list of Italian neorealist films (with credits) which goes up to 1956 and which includes precursors dating as far back as 1914.

The reader might wonder how the 26 entries were selected-for the list includes not only recent books on the movement (such as those by Millicent Marcus, Mira Liehm, and Peter Bondanella) and historically influential works (e.g., by Bazin and Leprohon), but also outdated

Book Notes

Contributors to book notes: Leo Braudy, Brian Henderson, Albert Johnson, Marsha Kinder, and Linda Williams are members of FQ' s edito- rial board; David Desser teaches at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; John Fell is the author of Film and the Narrative Tradition; Sidney Gottlieb teaches at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, CT; David James teaches at USC; James L. Neibaur is a film historian; Mark A. Reid teaches at the University of Florida- Gainesville; Gregg Rickman is working on a book about Philip K. Dick; Yuri Tsivian is Senior Research Fellow at the Academy of Sciences of Latvia in Riga and the author of Silent Witnesses: Russian Films 1908-1919.

Austin, Bruce A. (ed.). Current Research in Film: Audi- ences, Economics, and Law, Volume V. Norwood: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991. N.p. Turning to the editor's introduction, one does not find it! Thus there is no discussion of audience, economics, or law, or of why the pieces were included, or how they work together to explore these topics. The audience essays (five) are the worst-unconvincing uses of social science statistics to define the film audience. The economics essays (four) are mixed: an essay on "high concept" and product differen- tiation flounders due to the vagueness of the term; Guback (on capital, labor power, and the identity of film) and Jarvie (on the Canadian film market as part of the U.S. domestic market between the wars) are valuable. So are the law essays (two)-on government classification of foreign political films and on state functions and the British film industry. BRIAN HENDERSON

Cardullo, Bert. What is Neorealism? A Critical English- LanguageBibliography of talian CinematicNeorealism. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1991. $29.50. Bert Cardullo's What Is Neorealism? is a useful reference work divided into three sections: a critical bibliography, which includes 26 "representative" entries with detailed annotations; an "exhaustive, up-to-date" bibliography of English-language sources on Italian neorealist cinema, which includes 257 nonannotated entries; and a chrono- logical list of Italian neorealist films (with credits) which goes up to 1956 and which includes precursors dating as far back as 1914.

The reader might wonder how the 26 entries were selected-for the list includes not only recent books on the movement (such as those by Millicent Marcus, Mira Liehm, and Peter Bondanella) and historically influential works (e.g., by Bazin and Leprohon), but also outdated

one-volume general texts (like Arthur Knight's The Live- liest Art and my own Close-up, cowritten with Beverle Houston). Yet it omits (even from the exhaustive biblio) Robert Kolker's The Altering Eye, which argues that neorealism represents a crucial "pivot" in film history. Similarly, although it includes an assortment of articles and interviews on individual film-makers and films, it omits Peter Brunette's Roberto Rossellini, which contrib- utes important new ideas on the movement. Nor does Cardullo explain why his chronology excludes pre-1956 neorealist works by Fellini and Antonioni, or why it privileges origins and precursors over subsequent influ- ences at home and abroad (including latter-day Italian neorealists like Rosi, Olmi, and the Taviani brothers). It may well be this pervasive influence that made the move- ment so important. MARSHA KINDER

Denisoff, R. Serge, and William D. Romanowski. Risky Business: Rock in Film. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transac- tion Publishers, 1991. $49.95. With almost 800 pages, this is the most ambitious book on rock-and-roll and film so far published. It is valuable in two ways. First, as a work of reference, it provides for each of 150 films the history of its production, a plot summary, an overview of reviews, and an account of the financial return of both the film and the records associated with it-all in very great detail. Second, as a guidebook through the corridors of the culture industries, it traces the history of the ways the media have become totally integrated as industries, be- ginning from the halting first steps at accommodation in the late 1950s and maturing in the late 1970s in the "synergy" (an industry term) by which the music, film, and eventually video divisions of entertainment corpora- tions have subsequently fed off each other.

It is relatively unconcerned with formal, theoretical, or ideological matters. Perhaps inevitably, some genres are slighted: rockumentaries (concert documentaries) are bundled into an inadequate epilogue, as are blaxploitation films; Presley's entire 1960s work is ignored, and his one great film, King Creole, is never mentioned. The book's more than occasional typos and minor errors are annoy- ing, and while for some its Variety-aping style will come as a welcome relief from the aridity of scholarly prose, others will be irritated by it. But this is a small price to pay for what is a veritable treasure trove of information that will be indispensable for the foreseeable future.

DAVID JAMES

Denzin, Norman K. Hollywood Shot by Shot: Alcoholism inAmerican Cinema. Hawthorne, N.Y.: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991. $39.95 cloth; $22.95 paper. Commencing with the A Star Is Born series (its genesis was What Price Holly- wood? in 1932) a sociologist examines alcoholism films, spotting markers that define audience perceptions, locat-

one-volume general texts (like Arthur Knight's The Live- liest Art and my own Close-up, cowritten with Beverle Houston). Yet it omits (even from the exhaustive biblio) Robert Kolker's The Altering Eye, which argues that neorealism represents a crucial "pivot" in film history. Similarly, although it includes an assortment of articles and interviews on individual film-makers and films, it omits Peter Brunette's Roberto Rossellini, which contrib- utes important new ideas on the movement. Nor does Cardullo explain why his chronology excludes pre-1956 neorealist works by Fellini and Antonioni, or why it privileges origins and precursors over subsequent influ- ences at home and abroad (including latter-day Italian neorealists like Rosi, Olmi, and the Taviani brothers). It may well be this pervasive influence that made the move- ment so important. MARSHA KINDER

Denisoff, R. Serge, and William D. Romanowski. Risky Business: Rock in Film. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transac- tion Publishers, 1991. $49.95. With almost 800 pages, this is the most ambitious book on rock-and-roll and film so far published. It is valuable in two ways. First, as a work of reference, it provides for each of 150 films the history of its production, a plot summary, an overview of reviews, and an account of the financial return of both the film and the records associated with it-all in very great detail. Second, as a guidebook through the corridors of the culture industries, it traces the history of the ways the media have become totally integrated as industries, be- ginning from the halting first steps at accommodation in the late 1950s and maturing in the late 1970s in the "synergy" (an industry term) by which the music, film, and eventually video divisions of entertainment corpora- tions have subsequently fed off each other.

It is relatively unconcerned with formal, theoretical, or ideological matters. Perhaps inevitably, some genres are slighted: rockumentaries (concert documentaries) are bundled into an inadequate epilogue, as are blaxploitation films; Presley's entire 1960s work is ignored, and his one great film, King Creole, is never mentioned. The book's more than occasional typos and minor errors are annoy- ing, and while for some its Variety-aping style will come as a welcome relief from the aridity of scholarly prose, others will be irritated by it. But this is a small price to pay for what is a veritable treasure trove of information that will be indispensable for the foreseeable future.

DAVID JAMES

Denzin, Norman K. Hollywood Shot by Shot: Alcoholism inAmerican Cinema. Hawthorne, N.Y.: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991. $39.95 cloth; $22.95 paper. Commencing with the A Star Is Born series (its genesis was What Price Holly- wood? in 1932) a sociologist examines alcoholism films, spotting markers that define audience perceptions, locat-

one-volume general texts (like Arthur Knight's The Live- liest Art and my own Close-up, cowritten with Beverle Houston). Yet it omits (even from the exhaustive biblio) Robert Kolker's The Altering Eye, which argues that neorealism represents a crucial "pivot" in film history. Similarly, although it includes an assortment of articles and interviews on individual film-makers and films, it omits Peter Brunette's Roberto Rossellini, which contrib- utes important new ideas on the movement. Nor does Cardullo explain why his chronology excludes pre-1956 neorealist works by Fellini and Antonioni, or why it privileges origins and precursors over subsequent influ- ences at home and abroad (including latter-day Italian neorealists like Rosi, Olmi, and the Taviani brothers). It may well be this pervasive influence that made the move- ment so important. MARSHA KINDER

Denisoff, R. Serge, and William D. Romanowski. Risky Business: Rock in Film. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transac- tion Publishers, 1991. $49.95. With almost 800 pages, this is the most ambitious book on rock-and-roll and film so far published. It is valuable in two ways. First, as a work of reference, it provides for each of 150 films the history of its production, a plot summary, an overview of reviews, and an account of the financial return of both the film and the records associated with it-all in very great detail. Second, as a guidebook through the corridors of the culture industries, it traces the history of the ways the media have become totally integrated as industries, be- ginning from the halting first steps at accommodation in the late 1950s and maturing in the late 1970s in the "synergy" (an industry term) by which the music, film, and eventually video divisions of entertainment corpora- tions have subsequently fed off each other.

It is relatively unconcerned with formal, theoretical, or ideological matters. Perhaps inevitably, some genres are slighted: rockumentaries (concert documentaries) are bundled into an inadequate epilogue, as are blaxploitation films; Presley's entire 1960s work is ignored, and his one great film, King Creole, is never mentioned. The book's more than occasional typos and minor errors are annoy- ing, and while for some its Variety-aping style will come as a welcome relief from the aridity of scholarly prose, others will be irritated by it. But this is a small price to pay for what is a veritable treasure trove of information that will be indispensable for the foreseeable future.

DAVID JAMES

Denzin, Norman K. Hollywood Shot by Shot: Alcoholism inAmerican Cinema. Hawthorne, N.Y.: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991. $39.95 cloth; $22.95 paper. Commencing with the A Star Is Born series (its genesis was What Price Holly- wood? in 1932) a sociologist examines alcoholism films, spotting markers that define audience perceptions, locat-

one-volume general texts (like Arthur Knight's The Live- liest Art and my own Close-up, cowritten with Beverle Houston). Yet it omits (even from the exhaustive biblio) Robert Kolker's The Altering Eye, which argues that neorealism represents a crucial "pivot" in film history. Similarly, although it includes an assortment of articles and interviews on individual film-makers and films, it omits Peter Brunette's Roberto Rossellini, which contrib- utes important new ideas on the movement. Nor does Cardullo explain why his chronology excludes pre-1956 neorealist works by Fellini and Antonioni, or why it privileges origins and precursors over subsequent influ- ences at home and abroad (including latter-day Italian neorealists like Rosi, Olmi, and the Taviani brothers). It may well be this pervasive influence that made the move- ment so important. MARSHA KINDER

Denisoff, R. Serge, and William D. Romanowski. Risky Business: Rock in Film. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transac- tion Publishers, 1991. $49.95. With almost 800 pages, this is the most ambitious book on rock-and-roll and film so far published. It is valuable in two ways. First, as a work of reference, it provides for each of 150 films the history of its production, a plot summary, an overview of reviews, and an account of the financial return of both the film and the records associated with it-all in very great detail. Second, as a guidebook through the corridors of the culture industries, it traces the history of the ways the media have become totally integrated as industries, be- ginning from the halting first steps at accommodation in the late 1950s and maturing in the late 1970s in the "synergy" (an industry term) by which the music, film, and eventually video divisions of entertainment corpora- tions have subsequently fed off each other.

It is relatively unconcerned with formal, theoretical, or ideological matters. Perhaps inevitably, some genres are slighted: rockumentaries (concert documentaries) are bundled into an inadequate epilogue, as are blaxploitation films; Presley's entire 1960s work is ignored, and his one great film, King Creole, is never mentioned. The book's more than occasional typos and minor errors are annoy- ing, and while for some its Variety-aping style will come as a welcome relief from the aridity of scholarly prose, others will be irritated by it. But this is a small price to pay for what is a veritable treasure trove of information that will be indispensable for the foreseeable future.

DAVID JAMES

Denzin, Norman K. Hollywood Shot by Shot: Alcoholism inAmerican Cinema. Hawthorne, N.Y.: Aldine de Gruyter, 1991. $39.95 cloth; $22.95 paper. Commencing with the A Star Is Born series (its genesis was What Price Holly- wood? in 1932) a sociologist examines alcoholism films, spotting markers that define audience perceptions, locat-

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