"You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet" : The American Talking Film, History and Memory, 1927-1949

Here is a sweeping, and highly personal, history of American film, from the birth of the talkies (beginning with The Jazz Singer and Al Jolson's memorable line "You ain't heard nothin' yet") to the decline of the studio system.

By far the largest section of the book celebrates the work of the great American film directors, with giants such as John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles, and Howard Hawks examined film by film.

Sarris also offers glowing portraits of major stars, from Garbo and Bogart to Ingrid Bergman, Margaret Sullavan, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, and Carole Lombard.

There is a tour of the studios - Metro, Paramount, RKO, Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, Universal - revealing how each left its own particular stamp on film.