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Resources for Film Research

Reference

reelResources for Time Period Research:  Use these and similar resources at the Vairo Library to understand the social, cultural, and political environment during the eras in which your film was set or produced.

Film industry encyclopedias, dictionaries, and reader's guides can be found in electronic and print format at Vairo Library.

Gale Virtual Reference Library: a database of the latest editions of over 100 full-text specialized encyclopedias. Selected film references include:

Contemporary Theatre, Film Television
Historical Dictionary of African American Cinema
History of the American Cinema
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers
VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever

Browse the Vairo Library print reference collection in the call number range: PN1625 - PN1998. Helpful references include:

Critical Dictionary of Film and Television Theory (Ref PN1993.45.c75 2001
Encyclopedia of American Independent Filmmaking (Ref. PN1993.45.L63 2002)
The Film Studies Dictionary (Ref PN1993.45.B53 200
The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made (Ref. PN1995.C343 1999)
Reel Women: Pioneers of the Cinema, 1896 to the Present (Ref. PN1998.2.A24 1991)
Within our Gates : Ethnicity in American Feature Films, 1911-1960 (Ref. PN1995.9.M56W58 1997)
Women Filmmakers & their Films (Ref. PN1998.2.W66 1998)

Film Criticism & Analysis
reelArticles

Theoretical analysis and scholarly criticism can be found in many of the journals indexed in ProQuest and MLA International Bibliography. Ask for help if you need assistance using these databases.

ProQuest (multiple databases): Display the scholarly articles in your ProQuest search results by clicking on the  SCHOLARLY JOURNALS  tab.

MLA International Bibliography: includes bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore and includes coverage from 1963 to the present. The MLA International Bibliography provides access to scholarly research in nearly 4,000 journals and series. It also covers relevant monographs, working papers, proceedings, bibliographies, and other formats.

Books

Film theory, criticism, and analysis can be found in books in the Vairo Library General Collection (call numbers: PN1993 - PN1998). You can check out these books and many more at the library circulation desk. Identify additional sources in all Penn State libraries by searching THE CAT, Penn State's online catalog.

American Films of the 70s: Conflicting Visions (PN1993.5.U6L44 2000)
Celluloid Mavericks: A History of American Independent Film (PN1995.9.P7M418 2000)
A Certain Tendency of the Hollywood Cinema, 1930-1980 (PN1993.5U6R38 1985)
History of American Cinema (vol. 9)- Lost Illusions: American Cinema in the Shadow of Watergate and Vietnam, 1970-1979 (PN1993.5.U6C636 2000
The New American Cinema (PN1993.5.U6N47 1998)

Comedy/Cinema/Theory (PN1995.9.C55C65 1991)
Film: A Modern Art (PN1995.S79 1986)
Film and the Critical Eye (PN1995.D44)
Film Theory and Criticism (PN1994.M364 1985)
Image and the Mind: Film, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science (PN1995.C795 1995)
On Filmmaking (PN1995.D56 1986)
A Viewer Guide to Film: Arts, Artifices, and Issues (PN1994.G585 1992)

The Cinema of Oliver Stone (PN1998.3.S76K35 1995)
The Cinema of Martin Scorsese (PN1998.3.S39F75 1997)
Daughters of the Dust: the Making of an African American Woman's Film (PN1997.D313343D3 1992)
Hitchcock's America (PN1998.3.H58H575 1999)

Film Reviews

reelArticles

Find film reviews in journals, magazines, and newspapers by searching ProQuest

ProQuest (multiple databases):  includes full text articles from popular and scholarly publications in a wide range of disciplines. Major national and regional newspapers are also included.
Focus your ProQuest search on motion picture reviews by entering your keywords, and under MORE OPTIONS, select:

  • Document Type = FILM REVIEW

Web Sites

The following web sites are popular sources for movie reviews, plots, and background information.

Movie Review Query Engine http://www.mrqe.com:  includes film reviews from major newspapers and journals, as well as the alternative press and specialized film journals. Also includes film comments from the Internet newsgroup: rec.arts.movies.reviews

Covers over 25,000 film titles, with over 190,000 reviews. Whenever possible, movie titles are linked to coverage in the Internet Movie Database.

Internet Movie Database (IMDb) http://us.imdb.com: Over 260,000 film and television productions made since 1892. It includes information on directors, cast & crew, film locations, awards, quotes, movie stills, and more. (Caution: reviews written by database users only.) All information is accessible through the "search the database for" form at the top of the left column.

All Movie Guide http://allmovie.com: includes plot summaries, reviews, and general information on more than 206,000 film titles. Highlights include links to: "Similar Movies," "Movies with the Same Personnel," and "Other Related Movies." Also includes over 50 film industry "Essays" on a wide range of topics and genres.

Reel Classics http://www.reelclassics.com: A comprehensive site on classic movies.

Silent Era: The Silent Film Website http://www.silentera.com/people/index.html: Comprehensive listing of silent era films and people (actors, actresses, cinematographers, executives, directors, writers), and convenient catalog of titles available on DVD or VHS.

Comprehensive Guide to Film Research Sites on the Web http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2005/september05/filmresources.cfm

Free Moving Image Archive
Internet Moving Image Archive
http://www.archive.org/details/movies:  Library of thousands of digital movies, films, and videos uploaded by Archive users. Movies range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts. Many of these videos are available for free download.

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