A completely revised and rewritten new edition of the pioneering film
book first published in 1970, Early American Cinema, New and Revised
Edition provides a concise history of the American motion picture
industry before 1920, documenting the work of the early production
companies, releasing organizations, filmmakers, and performers, and will
serve both as a textbook and a reference source. Chapters cover
pre-cinema, the Motion Picture Patents Company, independent filmmaking,
the birth of the feature film, Thomas H. Ince, D.W. Griffith, sound and
music, the star system, the role of women, new technologies, genres, and
the languge, business, and art of the film. The book includes
suggestions for further reading, together wiht a general bibliography,
and lengthy bibliographies on Ince and Griffith.