Film Resources
Michigan State University Library
The Digital and Multimedia Library at the MSU Library holds a collection of well over 4,000 small format motion pictures. In addition to the local holdings, MSU patrons have access to the statewide film catalogs through The Michigan Library Consortium. For a guide to print materials on film, the research guides below can help you locate secondary and primary sources at MSU.
Research Indexes for Film Studies
Our library also has a substantial collection of original studio press books and souvenir programs in Special Collections as well as on microfilm.
We highlight below three such collections.
Latinos in Film
The collection is focused primarily on films portraying Latino characters, and includes materials about major Latino stars, such as Lupe Vélez and Dolores Del Rio (both strongly represented in this collection). However, many of the great Latino movie stars in Hollywood films -- Rita Hayworth, Anthony Quinn, Lupe Vélez, Cesar Romero, for instance -- portrayed many different kinds of roles during their long careers, and this collection reveals some of the diversity of their work. Although the bulk of the items here are associated with Hollywood movies, there are some examples of Cuban, Mexican, and South American film, as well as a collection of campaign sheets and posters from Britain, Italy, Mexico, Cuba, and other countries (based on Hollywood releases). The collection contains approximately 590 pieces of rare movie ephemera -- promotional photographs, posters, lobby cards, photoplay book editions, campaign books, press kits and television/movie scripts -- dating from the silent film era to 2005.
German Film Press Books
This collection of press book is comprised of over 650 titles from throughout the twentieth century. Printed in German, these materials were published by the studios to advertise movies in Germany from various countries, including the United States, Britain, France, and Germany.
Cinema Press Books from the Original Studio Collections
The main library has a large collection of press books on microfilm. These include films made at Hollywood studios before 1950: United Artists, 1919-1949; Warner Bros, 1922-1949; Monogram Pictures, 1937-1946. The microfilm reproduces original print sources at the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research.
This microfilm set is located on 2W of the Main Library. See the Press book mircrofilm guide.
Some of the advertising materials including the press books owned by the library may be viewed by film title. Click on this link and type “Motion Picture Programs” into the search prompt. http://magic.msu.edu/search~/d
Other Film Resources
Film Databases and Research Guides
University of California Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive. A great resource for full-text reviews and original source material with a searchable database.
Internet Movie Databas. A searchable database for film titles, directors, and other talent with links to reviews and trivia.
British Film Insistute, Researcher's Guide
Early Visual Media. Essays, images, and research guides for pre-cinematic/ proto-cinematic visual technologies and culture.
UC Berkeley Library, Film Bibliographies and Filmogrophies.Bibliographies by director, genre, individual films, and national cinemas, as well as bibliographies on cinematic representations of race, ethnicity, and gender.
Yale University Film Studies, Film Analysis Tutorial.A self-guided, well-illustrated tutorial on the basic vocabulary and methods of film studies and film techniques.
Yale University Film Studies Research Guide. Though this is keyed to the holdings at the Yale library, this guide is a great resource for finding materials related to film studies, and for staying on top of new film-related publications.
Digital History, Hollywood's America. Contains trailers for historically significant American films, primary documents related to Hollywood; chronologies of American film history, research guides, and bibliographies.
Films On-line
UbuWeb: Film & Video: Offer quick online access to the work of many great avant-garde and experimental filmmakers. The quality of the films vary.
IInternet Archive, Movie Archive. Watch various government and industrial documentaries, animation, home movies, and a number of ephemeral films on this online database.
Library of Congress, Edison Motion Pictures. Downloadable films made by Edison’s studio drawn from the Library of Congress’s Paper Print Collection. Site also offers a history of Edison’s work.
The Auteurs. A for-profit cinephilic blog, discussion forum, and, most impressive, online film library with high-quality video streaming, and a “free film of the month.” Subscribers get online access to a number of new releases from film festivals and newly restored prints.
Luxonline. A web resources for exploring British-based artists’ film and video.
SnagFilms. A great source for contemporary documentary films.
Film Criticism and Blogs
Senses of Cinema.An online journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema.
Cineaste. “America’s Leading Magazine on the Art and Politics of Cinema,” Cineaste makes many of its critical essays, film reviews, and interviews available for free. For full library e-access dating back to 1992, see Cineast at MSU Main Library.
Rogue. An online journal of film criticism
Jonathan Rosenbaum. Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has written several books and for years wrote for the Chicago Reader. He website includes his always-interesting and informative “notes” on contemporary film/media culture and history, as well as an archive of his earlier publications.
Fred Camper. Artist, writer and lecturer on film, art, and photography, Camper maintains a website onto to which he has generously posted his essays on cinema. Be sure to check out the links at the bottom of this page to read his work on American avant-garde film and the work of Stan Brakhage.
Documentary is Never Neutral. Eccentric, but useful, site on experimental documentary with full-text canonical essays on documentary theory and practice.
Society for Cinema and Media Studies. Professional organization for film and media scholars. This site also has a number of useful databases on film journals and other film-related organizations.
David Bordwell. Film scholar David Bordwell maintains this site with access to material from his books and essays on cinema, as well as his blog on film culture. You'll find here links to a number of other film resources, blogs, and journals.
Dave Kehr. Former film critic at the Chicago Reader and currently writing for the New York Times, Kehr maintains a blog on film culture and cinephilia.
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