What Cinema Is! offers an engaging answer to Andre Bazin's
famous question, exploring his 'idea of cinema' with a sweeping
look back at the near century of Cinema's phenomenal ascendancy.
* Written by one of the foremost film scholars of our time
* Establishes cinema's distinction from the current enthusiasm
over audio-visual entertainment, without relegating cinema to a
single, older mode
* Examines cinema's institutions and its social force through the
qualities of key films
* Traces the history of an idea that has made cinema supremely
alive to (and in) our times
