Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.
How to View and Appreciate Great Movies cover art

How to View and Appreciate Great Movies

By: Eric Williams, The Great Courses
Narrated by: Eric Williams
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £25.99

Buy Now for £25.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Listeners also enjoyed...

Adventures in the Screen Trade cover art
Easy Riders, Raging Bulls cover art
The Good, The Bad and The Multiplex cover art
A Short History of Film cover art
The Life and Writings of C. S. Lewis cover art
Macroeconomics Made Clear cover art
Screenwriting 101: Mastering the Art of Story cover art
The Nutshell Technique cover art
The Destructors and Other Stories cover art
No Country for Old Men cover art

Summary

What makes a movie “great”? Was it a particularly well-acted scene? The dramatic lighting? The emotion of the music? The tension that has built up? A powerful choice of words? The answer is, simply, yes.

Sit down with renowned professional filmmaker, author, and award-winning professor Eric R. Williams to unpack the elements of more than 250 “great” movies - some well-known, others less so - including Casablanca, Jaws, The Godfather, Star Wars, Rocky, Do The Right Thing, The Wizard of Oz, and more in order to gain insights and secrets that will change the way you view films. You’ll discover how from the moment you sit down, great filmmakers control every sensation the movie experience evokes: tremors or tears, goosebumps or giggles, and why it is that we invite them to do this. You’ll also uncover the tricks used to help us suspend our disbelief, let go of our cynicism, and buy into a story using sounds, scores, lighting, color, special effects, and more. You’ll discover how even these seemingly small details can greatly enhance or detract from the theme, atmosphere, and plot. 

Professor Williams often refers to filmmaking as a magic show. And once you pull back the curtain to see the creative process from the filmmaker’s point of view, the magic show can never be the same again. But understanding the intent of each aspect of moviemaking - from lighting to language, color to characters, stars to scores - arms you with new set of creative and analytical tools with which to bring to the theater or to revisit your old favorites. These insights will strengthen your love and appreciation for what’s unfolding before your eyes.

Roger Ebert once said, “Every great film should seem new every time you see it” and that’s exactly what How to View and Appreciate Great Movies ensures.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2018 The Great Courses (P)2018 The Teaching Company, LLC

What listeners say about How to View and Appreciate Great Movies

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    31
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    26
  • 4 Stars
    7
  • 3 Stars
    5
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Outstanding course!

I thoroughly enjoyed this course! It is packed full of fascinating and thought-provoking facts and movie insights about film production, screenwriting and sound design.
Encourages further study into the subject of 'cinematic literacy'.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

How to save cash on a film studies course

If you've ever wondered what it's like to study film, this is like the handbook version of year 1. If you were to go to the introductory lecture of each topic, this is what you'd get. If that's what you're after, then great.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
  • ML
  • 16-04-21

Excellent course

Enjoyable and well constructed.

Minor points:
-some analogies refer to American culture, which may not be known to non-US listeners.
- there are long pauses sometimes and I was wondering whether something had gone wrong.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very funny and didactic.

I love The Great Courses, and this is the course that I have enjoyed the most. It has taken me a year to complete it, as I have been watching most of the films. Eric accomplish what he promises at the beginning of the lectures, you change the way you see movies. Now I enjoy them at another deeper level. Thank you.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

high expectations.. old school America centric

I had high expectations for the subject as I enjoy movies and World movies however although the delivery is quite punchy I was mainly uninterested in his multiple references to too old old films like The Wizard of Oz The Godfather mainly male orientated movies like Raging Bull gangster movies bit of Spielberg America centric movies not films I never want to watch again
it's a shame that his material is so outdated but as someone said at least it is a grounding in a year 1 media studies course which I never took.
there is some more constructive information on the voice and point of view near the end. I much preferred the Egyptians great courses and I'm currently enjoying the great courses entitled writing great fiction which seems practical as well as thought provoking

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful