Chronicle Of A Camera (Arri II book) review

[charles pappas]

I ordered and received this book several months ago and read it straightaway. The subtitle is "The Arriflex 35 in North America, 1942-1972," and it does cover that topic thoroughly. It is written by Norris Pope, an academic and self-professed owner and user of an Arri II and is available through the University of Mississippi Press for just under $20 delivered.

The book is, as mentioned thorough, and is of course well-researched which leads to my only minor "criticism," that some paragraphs of the book read as a laundry list of films made partly or entirely with the camera of honor. More than offsetting that, however,  the book contains many fascinating anecdotes about Arri II-made films and those who made them in the timeframe covered, none of which I had come across.

My impression is that in researching the book, the author, heard numerous anecdotes about low-budget and exploitation filmmakers and could have written 300 pages instead of 120 pages of narrative, 20 pages of photos and about 40 pages of Appendix and Notes (all well-worth reading) but chose to stay on point, as perhaps befits an academic.

Needless to say,  the book offers much consideration of this small reflex camera's many influences on the post-war movie-making process, including cinema-verite and documentary filmmaking. One example: the Arri II's role in increasing the accessibility of depth of field manipulation by lower budget productions. I should mention that the book also discusses the Arri II's role in European filmmaking as well as the Camflex's similar role.

If niche history of the film industry holds any appeal to you, and you appreciate "hands-on," commemorations of cinematography (sans lighting), I would recommend purchasing this book  (assuming a $20 bill is not a onerous burden).

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by charles pappas
correction

[Satsuki Murashige]

Thank you Charles, looks very interesting - I just ordered a copy, can’t wait to read it!

It was $35 with delivery for the paperback, they must have raised prices in the past few months. Still very reasonable for what I’m assuming is a small printing run from a university press. 

[charles pappas]

Satsuki, I double checked and you're right, they crazy raised the prices.  I ordered the hardcover in August and it has almost tripled since then. 

If I were buying now I would probably drop them a line and see if they could do something about that increase.

At any rate, it's fun to read and won't be regretted, I believe. 

[Satsuki Murashige]

I wouldn’t be surprised if they were forced to raise prices to cover expenses. A few people I know have published limited runs thru university presses, none of them to my knowledge made any profit from it.

I’m happy to support the author and look forward to reading the book ?

[Raymond Zananiri]

Does the book exclusively discuss the Arri II? Is the Arri III discussed at all? Of course, it has a much shorter and less eventful history than the II. So probably not

[charles pappas]

Not a word about Arri III, just a little bit of history of the early 35mm BLs.

I add that the book has virtually none of the info abut the Arri II that one finds in the camera's operator's manual.