The Movies by Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer

The Movies (Revised Edition in Illustrated Dust Jacket)

An Illustrated History of American Motion Pictures, from the Nickelodeon Era Through the Sixties

Bibliographic Specifications

• Title: The Movies
• Authors: Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer
• Publisher: Spring Books, London
• Publication Date: 1971
• ISBN-10: 0600360440
• Edition Details: Revised Edition, 1971.
• Binding: Publisher's blue cloth boards with red endpapers, in illustrated dust jacket.
• Physical Format: Large quarto-size illustrated volume, approximately 28 x 22 cm. Profusely illustrated with black-and-white film stills throughout.
• Language: English

Official Condition Report

• The Book: Very Good (VG)
• Exterior / Boards: The plain dark blue cloth boards are clean, with a few light specks and some dust marks. The spine edge is intact. The book is protected by its illustrated dust jacket, which is described below.
• Interior: The cream pages are lightly toned and clean in the sections examined, with no marks seen. The red endpapers are clean and the binding appears tight. Black-and-white film stills run throughout.
• The Dust Jacket: Present. The illustrated jacket, with a colour collage design, shows light surface scuffing and scratches, mainly on the back. The spine is chipped at the head with a small tear at the top left, and there is some edge wear at the tail. The edges are slightly worn, and there is ageing and tape residue to the flap edges, with yellowed tape visible on the inside of the flaps. The jacket is protected in a durable archival-type plastic cover. Jacket grade: Good to Very Good.

Synopsis & Historical Value

The Movies is a large, lavishly illustrated history of American cinema, told through photographs and film stills with explanatory text. This 1971 revised edition brings the story forward from the nickelodeon era through the sixties.

The chapters are arranged broadly by decade and by theme. They follow the early stars and studios, the star system, comedy, westerns and war films, the arrival of sound, Hollywood in the Thirties, the war years and postwar decade, and the new generation of directors.

It is a handsome and useful reference for the golden age of Hollywood, and a collectible copy for anyone interested in film history and the visual record of the studio era.

Author Profile: Richard Griffith & Arthur Mayer

Richard Griffith (1912-1969) was an art critic and film historian who worked at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1940-42 and again from 1949 to 1965. He became Curator of the Museum's Film Library in 1951 and established the Film Preservation Fund, which helped save many classic films. He also wrote The Movie Stars (1970).

Arthur Mayer (1886-1981) was born in Demopolis, Alabama, and worked as a film publicist, exhibitor and distributor. He ran the Rialto Theater in New York and later taught film at Dartmouth, Stanford and the University of Southern California. His memoir Merely Colossal appeared in 1953.

The Movies Griffith and Mayer · illustrated history of Hollywood · Spring Books 1971 film book · Richard Griffith film historian · Arthur Mayer cinema history · vintage film stills book · history of American cinema