The Story of Film: An Odyssey
The Story of Film: An Odyssey
TV ShowEnded

The Story of Film: An Odyssey

7.7 / 10
2011
1 season
15 episodes
Documentary

A worldwide guided tour of the greatest movies ever made and the story of international cinema through the history of cinematic innovation.

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Trailer

THE STORY OF FILM - Mark Cousins (Trailer)

Where to Watch(AU)

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video
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Amazon Prime Video with Ads

Streaming data provided by JustWatch via TMDB.

Cast

Seasons

  • Birth of the Cinema

    1.Birth of the Cinema

    7.8
    03-09-201163m

    Mark Cousins tells the story of cinema, starting in this episode with the birth of the movies, telling the glamorous, surprising stories of early moviemaking and the first film sta...

  • The Hollywood Dream

    2.The Hollywood Dream

    7.5
    10-09-201163m

    Movies in the Roaring Twenties: Hollywood became a glittering entertainment industry with star directors like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. But the gloss and fantasy was chall...

  • The Golden Age of World Cinema

    3.The Golden Age of World Cinema

    8.7
    17-09-201163m

    The 1920s were a golden age for world cinema. The programme visits Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Shanghai and Tokyo to explore the places where movie makers were pushing the boundaries of...

  • The Arrival of Sound

    4.The Arrival of Sound

    8.3
    24-09-201163m

    The coming of sound in the 1930s upends everything. We watch the birth of new types of film: screwball comedies, gangster pictures, horror films, westerns and musicals, and discove...

  • Post-War Cinema

    5.Post-War Cinema

    8.3
    01-10-201163m

    Mark Cousins explores how the trauma of war led to more daring creations for cinema, focusing on the darkening of American film and the drama of the McCarthy years. Screenwriters P...

  • Sex & Melodrama

    6.Sex & Melodrama

    8.3
    08-10-201163m

    Sex and melodrama in the movies of the fifties: James Dean, On the Waterfront and glossy weepies. We travel to Egypt, India, China, Mexico, Britain and Japan to find that movies th...

  • European New Wave

    7.European New Wave

    8.3
    15-10-201163m

    The explosive story of film in the late fifties and sixties: The great movie star Claudia Cardinale talks exclusively about Federico Fellini; in Denmark, Lars von Trier describes h...

  • New Directors, New Form

    8.New Directors, New Form

    8.3
    22-10-201163m

    The dazzling 1960s in cinema around the world: In Hollywood, legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler reveals how documentary influenced mainstream movies. Easy Rider and 2001: A S...

  • American Cinema of the 70s

    9.American Cinema of the 70s

    8.3
    29-10-201162m

    The maturing of American cinema of the late sixties and seventies: Buck Henry, writer of The Graduate, talks exclusively about movie satire of the time. Paul Schrader reveals his t...

  • Movies to Change the World

    10.Movies to Change the World

    8.3
    05-11-201163m

    The movies that tried to change the world in the seventies: Wim Wenders in Germany; Ken Loach and Britain; Pasolini in Italy; the birth of new Australian cinema; and then Japan, wh...

  • The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream

    11.The Arrival of Multiplexes and Asian Mainstream

    8.3
    12-11-201163m

    Star Wars, Jaws and The Exorcist created the multiplexes, but they were also innovative. In India the world’s most famous movie star, Amitabh Bachchan, shows how Bollywood was doin...

  • Fight the Power: Protest in Film

    12.Fight the Power: Protest in Film

    8.3
    19-11-201163m

    Protest in the movies of the 1980s: brave filmmakers spoke truth to power. American independent director John Sayles talks exclusively about these years. In Beijing, Chinese cinema...

  • New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia & Latin America

    13.New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia & Latin America

    8.3
    26-11-201163m

    Film in the 1990s enters a surprise golden age. In Iran we meet Abbas Kiarostami, who rethought movie making and made it more real. Then, in Tokyo, we meet Shinji Tsukamoto, who la...

  • New American Independents & The Digital Revolution

    14.New American Independents & The Digital Revolution

    8.3
    03-12-201164m

    Brilliant, flashy, playful movies in the English speaking world in the nineties. We look at what was new in Tarantino’s dialogue and the edginess of the Coen Brothers. The writer o...

  • Cinema Today and the Future

    15.Cinema Today and the Future

    8.3
    10-12-201164m

    Movies come full circle: They get more serious after 9/11, and Romanian movies come to the fore. But then David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive becomes one of the most complex dream films...

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