Lovers of Cinema: The First American Film Avant-Garde, 19191945 is indeed a book that the conscientious film scholar cannot afford to be without. . . . This volume signals the beginning of a new era in the discussion of the early American avant-garde.WheeLovers of Cinema: The First American Film Avant-Garde, 19191945 is indeed a book that the conscientious film scholar cannot afford to be without. . . . This volume signals the beginning of a new era in the discussion of the early American avant-garde.Wheeler Winston Dixon, Film Quarterly Marshaling his broad cinematic and cultural knowledge, editor Jan-Christopher Horak has compiled in Lovers of Cinema a ground-breaking group of articles on this neglected film period. With one exception, all are original to this volume, and many are the first to treat comprehensively such early filmmakers as Mary Ellen Bute, Theodore Huff, and Douglass Crockwell. Also included in the book is a listing of all American avant-garde films produced in the years before World War II as well as a bibliography of the most relevant criticism, literature, and news accounts.