--- product_id: 208415854 title: "The Movie Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained" price: "R806" currency: ZAR in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/208415854-the-movie-book-big-ideas-simply-explained store_origin: ZA region: South Africa --- # The Movie Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained **Price:** R806 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** The Movie Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained - **How much does it cost?** R806 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.za](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/208415854-the-movie-book-big-ideas-simply-explained) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Learn about the visual and performing arts in The Movie Book. Part of the fascinating Big Ideas series, this book tackles tricky topics and themes in a simple and easy to follow format. Learn about Movies in this overview guide to the subject, great for beginners looking to learn and experts wishing to refresh their knowledge alike! The Movie Book brings a fresh and vibrant take on the topic through eye-catching graphics and diagrams to immerse yourself in. This captivating book will broaden your understanding of Movies, with: - More than 100 of the best movies ever made worldwide - Packed with facts, charts, timelines and graphs to help explain core concepts - A visual approach to big subjects with striking illustrations and graphics throughout - Easy to follow text makes topics accessible for people at any level of understanding The Movie Book is the perfect introduction to the rich history of cinema like never before - from the golden age of black-and-white films to international art-house and 21st-century sci-fi, aimed at adults with an interest in the subject and students wanting to gain more of an overview. Here you’ll discover more than 100 of the best movies ever made, uncovering the key themes and big ideas behind the world's most celebrated cinematic gems. Your Movie Questions, Simply Explained This book brings cinema to life with iconic quotes and film stills, posters, biographies of directors, actors, and actresses, along with narrative timelines and infographics exploring key themes. If you thought it was difficult to learn about the best cinematic masterpieces, The Movie Book presents key information in an easy to follow layout. Learn everything about your favorite movies, as well as celebrated classics and the films to watch before you die, through iconic quotes and stills, posters, biographies, memorabilia and narrative timelines, through fantastic mind maps and step-by-step summaries. The Big Ideas Series With millions of copies sold worldwide, The Movie Book is part of the award-winning Big Ideas series from DK. The series uses striking graphics along with engaging writing, making big topics easy to understand. Review: Fun and informative - When I bought this book I saw that it was a series, and after reading this book, I'm sold. This book is so well set up that it's easy to go from movie to movie, starting with the 1902-1931 visionary movies. I have to admit that I haven't seen many of these but they are laid out on a time line that shows how the movies slowly built from a 46 second short to movies with talking in them, though the last movie of this series is the Charlie Chaplin hit silent movie City Lights. Each movie is broken down to in context which gives you the genre, director, writers, stars and then some movies that have either come before, or after the title movie. There's a box where you learn a little something about the director and other movies he also directed. In large block letters above the title of the movie, there is whatever saying the movie might be famous for. The book is broken up into these sections. Visionaries 1902-1931 A Golden Age In Black And White 1931-1949 Fear And Wonder 1950-1959 Rebel Rebel 1960-1974 Angels And Monsters 1975-1991 Small World 1992-Present There were many movies I'd never seen, yet with this book, I feel as if I can get the main theme of the movie, who was in it, who directed and why it's significant. There are even gems like Travis Bickle's(Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver) transformation, something you might not have realized or seen drawn out so clearly. With it's wonderful movie photos, this book reminds me of the books I used to buy for the kids(the Ripley's believe it or not). I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for other books in the series that have a subject that sparks my interest. Review: Great book on movie history - Detailed and well done. A wealth on information. More text than I expected, not for children. Love their entire series. Awesome ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #275,416 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #41 in Movie Reference #43 in Movie Guides & Reviews #398 in Movie History & Criticism | | Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 787 Reviews | ## Images ![The Movie Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81hCrC91zqL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Fun and informative *by R***Y on January 13, 2016* When I bought this book I saw that it was a series, and after reading this book, I'm sold. This book is so well set up that it's easy to go from movie to movie, starting with the 1902-1931 visionary movies. I have to admit that I haven't seen many of these but they are laid out on a time line that shows how the movies slowly built from a 46 second short to movies with talking in them, though the last movie of this series is the Charlie Chaplin hit silent movie City Lights. Each movie is broken down to in context which gives you the genre, director, writers, stars and then some movies that have either come before, or after the title movie. There's a box where you learn a little something about the director and other movies he also directed. In large block letters above the title of the movie, there is whatever saying the movie might be famous for. The book is broken up into these sections. Visionaries 1902-1931 A Golden Age In Black And White 1931-1949 Fear And Wonder 1950-1959 Rebel Rebel 1960-1974 Angels And Monsters 1975-1991 Small World 1992-Present There were many movies I'd never seen, yet with this book, I feel as if I can get the main theme of the movie, who was in it, who directed and why it's significant. There are even gems like Travis Bickle's(Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver) transformation, something you might not have realized or seen drawn out so clearly. With it's wonderful movie photos, this book reminds me of the books I used to buy for the kids(the Ripley's believe it or not). I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for other books in the series that have a subject that sparks my interest. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great book on movie history *by M***N on March 4, 2024* Detailed and well done. A wealth on information. More text than I expected, not for children. Love their entire series. Awesome ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ A very good book - but everyone will like it differently *by J***Y on September 9, 2020* I'm enjoying this book and I do recommend it, it's just exactly what I hoped for. Close, though. The author's focus is more on movies that were influential, broke new ground, or changed the way movies were made - which is fine, but it results in an odd list of movies. I love movies of all eras, and perhaps this is a bit unsophisticated of me, but I really don't care to read about foreign films - not because they're foreign, but because I know I probably can't jump over to Prime or Netflix or the DVD section at the library or the store and find any of them. If I can't watch them, I don't care to read about them. I haven't counted, but I'd say 20-25% of the movies here fall into that category. In the back, the author lists brief descriptions of scores of runner's up - there are a lot of movies on that list I would have loved to see instead of the tiny-budget and/or foreign films. But, of course, what to include is always going to be subjective... but I'm sorry, any book that covers a handful of relatively boring Westerns and makes no mention of the incredible "Unforgiven" has missed its mark. I do like the analysis of the story, but oftentimes I'm left wanting more. On one hand, I'd like the book to cover a lot more of the good, popular movies, but at the same time, I'd like to see even more analysis of some of the deserving films. How the author chooses to fill the pages is interesting as well. Star Wars, for example, gets one page, but Blade Runner gets six. And this is probably my fault, but the latest movie in the book is 2014's "Boyhood". For some reason, when I saw the Amazon promo for this book, I thought it was a new release (2020) but it's actually 2016. So, it really is a good book - but probably every reader will wish for more, less, different content from such a broad field. ## Frequently Bought Together - The Movie Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (DK Big Ideas) - The Literature Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (DK Big Ideas) - The Art Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained (DK Big Ideas) --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/208415854-the-movie-book-big-ideas-simply-explained](https://www.desertcart.co.za/products/208415854-the-movie-book-big-ideas-simply-explained) --- *Product available on Desertcart South Africa* *Store origin: ZA* *Last updated: 2026-05-30*