Richard Lester

Hardback

Main Details

Title Richard Lester
Authors and Contributors      By (author) Neil Sinyard
SeriesBritish Film-Makers
Physical Properties
Format:Hardback
Pages:232
Dimensions(mm): Height 216,Width 138
Category/GenreIndividual film directors and film-makers
ISBN/Barcode 9780719067563
ClassificationsDewey:791.43092
Audience
General
Illustrations Illustrations, black & white

Publishing Details

Publisher Manchester University Press
Imprint Manchester University Press
Publication Date 1 July 2010
Publication Country United Kingdom

Description

Richard Lester is of the most significant yet misunderstood directors of the post-war era. Indelibly associated with the Beatles and the 'swinging Sixties' because of his direction of A Hard Day's Night and Help and his joyous sex comedy The Knack, Lester has tended to be categorised as a modish director whose heyday passed when that decade's optimism slid into disillusionment and violence. This book offers a critical appreciation and reappraisal of his work, arguing that it had much greater depth and variety than he has been given credit for. His versatility encompasses the Brechtian anti-heroics of How I Won the War; the surreal nuclear comedy of The Bed-Sitting Room and the swashbuckling adventure of The Musketeers films. He has even, in his instinctively iconoclastic manner, cut Superman down to size. The book should win new admirers for a director with a gift of making movies whose visual wit and imaginative imagery reveal an intelligent and enquiring scepticism about heroes and society. Including comments from Lester himself and illustrations from his own private collection, the book is a must for film scholars and enthusiasts alike. -- .

Author Biography

Neil Sinyard is Professor and Head of Film Studies at the University of Hull, UK -- .