FARBER ON FILM: THE COMPLETE FILM WRITINGS OF MANNY FARBER

New York City, NY: The Library Of America, 2009. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: The Library Of America, 2009. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 924 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. One of the most important film collections of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in one meticulously edited and elegant volume, "Farber On Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber". ALL of the great film critic's essays. A consistently top-notch body of work that reminds us, in almost 1000 pages, how film criticism was once practiced as if it were an art form, and was treasured as such by cinephile-readers. "With serious film criticism in a serious and inexorable decline due to the dumbing-down of the movie-going audience, these writings by Manny Farber (1917-2008) constitute a pointed reminder of what has been lost. Farber is best-known for championing such maverick filmmakers as director Sam Fuller, most notably in a signature 1962 essay, in which he excoriated moribund 'white elephant art' and praised the 'termite art' made by eager, eccentric artists, art that eats its own boundaries. Amasses all of Farber's writings, from weekly reviews for The New Republic and The Nation in the 1940's and 1950's to wider-ranging essays of the 1960's and 1970's for such specialized publications as Artforum. Throughout, Farber's iconoclastic viewpoints - he panned 'The Magnificent Ambersons' and 'Casablanca' - and virtuosic prose provide limitless rewards for readers who can negotiate his unexpected intellectual and stylistic turns" (Gordon Flagg) . Even though she was herself frequently one of Farber's harsh targets, Susan Sontag respected Farber as the best full-time film critic America has ever had: "The liveliest, smartest, most original film critic this country ever produced" (Susan Sontag) . An absolute "must-have" title for Manny Farber collectors. This title is a great collection. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. The finest American film critic of the 20th century. A fine copy. . ISBN 159853050X.