Acting in the Cinema - by James Naremore (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this richly detailed study, James Naremore focuses on the work of film acting, showing what players contribute to movies. Ranging from the earliest short subjects of Charles Chaplin to the contemporary features of Robert DeNiro, he develops a useful means of analyzing performance in the age of mechanical reproduction; at the same time, he reveals the ideological implications behind various approaches to acting, and suggests ways that behavior on the screen can be linked to the presentation of self in society.

Naremore's discussion of such figures as Lillian Gish, Marlene Dietrich, James Cagney, and Cary Grant will interest the specialist and the general reader alike, helping to establish standards and methods for future writing about performers and their craft.

From the Back Cover

in this sensitive examination of the work of film acting, James Naremore develops a useful means of analyzing performance in the age of mechanical reproduction; at the same time, he reveals the ideological implications behind various on the screen can be linked to the presentation of self in society.

Review Quotes

"Each chapter is richly informed about the films and their various cultural intersections, so the reader has the sense of participating in a fascinating discussion that refuses the temptation of closure and eventually stops without concluding. If Naremore's book is, like the concept it describes, a bit of a baggy monster, it is well worth the encounter."--"Choice

About the Author

James Naremore is director of the film studies program at Indiana University.