From the early flickers of the first rocket ship to the moon to today's special-effects extravaganzas, films of science fiction and fantasy have made moviegoers by the millions gasp with delight and gape in wonder. Now, at last, a single book evokes the same sense of fun and fascination as has kept generations of audiences enthralled with the fantastic world.
Films of Science Fiction and Fantasy truly goes where no book has gone before. For the first time, science fiction and fantasy films have been combined in one supergenre, a genre that has long become a mainstream. Frankenstein's monster and Godzilla share the pages with Yoda and E.T.; Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. Everyone's favourite movies and characters will be found here: the book spans the globe, covering Europe and Japan as well as Hollywood, and includes works from the turn of the century through those of the present day.
Organized thematically to give the images visual unity, Films of Science Fiction and Fantasy is divided into chapters on such subjects as Space, Mad Scientists, Dinosaurs and Other Things, Aliens Among Us, and High Fantasy. Author Baird Searles analyzes, in his inimitable style -- sometimes droll, sometimes provocative, always captivating -- the unique concepts and contents of some 280 films and shows how they built on those that came before them. Filmgoers everywhere will be newly astonished by the astounding vision of A Trip to the Moon, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and 2001; enraptured by the romance of La Belle et la Bête and The Princess Bride; caught up in the terror of Vampyr and Night of the Living Dead; bewitched and beguiled by they whimsy of Blithe Spirit and The Purple Rose of Cairo; and will marvel at the wonderments of the hundreds of other cinematic spectacles covered in this volume.
The singular essence of each of the movies has also been captured in more than 260 illustrations, many of which have never before been reproduced in a book; all are accompanied by detailed and witty captions. Taken together, text, pictures, and captions open the door to unseen and impossible worlds. For on film -- and in this book -- seeing really is believing.