This second edition of Moran and Vieth's dictionary retains its predecessor’s key features: separate chronologies and brief historical overviews of the Australia and New Zealand/Aotearoa film industries; up-to-date entries on each country’s films, cinematic personnel, organizations, genres, and themes; and an in-depth combined bibliography. Aveyard (Univ. of Sydney, Australia) and Moran (independent scholar) thoroughly revised the entries throughout; Vieth is credited posthumously as coauthor of the first edition (CH, May'06, 43-5004). Additions include recent innovations like digital cinema and such notable films as Animal Kingdom, Australia, Happy Feet, the Hobbit trilogy, and Lion. . . the extensive cross-references prove useful: terms with their own entries are boldfaced in the text. The bibliography, slimmed down to 55 pages. . . does provide a useful historical perspective. As the authors note, this dictionary is not meant to be exhaustive, but it supplements some of the more thorough, though somewhat dated, sources listed in the bibliography, e.g., The Oxford Companion to Australian Film, ed. by Brian McFarlane, Geoff Mayer, and Ina Bertrand (CH, Sep'00, 38-0024), and Celluloid Dreams: A Century of Film in New Zealand, editor in chief Geoffrey Churchman (1997).



Summing Up: Recommended. All readers.

Choice Reviews

This book, in its second edition and part of the Historical Dictionaries of Literature and the Arts series, focuses on cinema and films produced, directed, and/or filmed in the countries of Australia or New Zealand. Australian entries take up about 75 percent of the book, while New Zealand takes up around 25 percent of the content. Each country begins with a chronology of the cinema followed by an introduction/history of cinema in that country. Essays focus on actors, directors, films, companies, and locations, with cross-references in bold and see also references in capitals after the essay. As is common with this series, an extensive bibliography related to the topic for each country is provided. For instance, in the New Zealand section, there are essays related to the hugely successful films The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, which brought international and tourist attention to New Zealand almost immediately after their releases. An interesting and focused volume for public and academic libraries.

American Reference Books Annual