"A reference book of extraordinary literary merit, this eccentric, audacious, sparkling work returns — revised, updated, and bulging with 300 new entries (including Rin Tin Tin and Graham Greene), which helps to account for its nearly 1,000 closely printed double-column pages. Probably the greatest living film critic and historian, Thomson, an Englishman who lives in San Francisco, writes the most fun and enthralling prose about the movies since Pauline Kael....The book is a marvel." Benjamin Schwartz, Atlantic Monthly (read the entire Atlantic review)
Synopses & Reviews
For twenty-five years, David Thomson's
Biographical Dictionary of Film has been not merely "the finest reference book ever written about movies" (Graham Fuller,
Interview), not merely the "desert island book" of art critic David Sylvester, not merely "a great, crazy masterpiece" (Geoff Dyer,
The Guardian), but also "fiendishly seductive" (Greil Marcus,
Rolling Stone).
Now it returns, with its old entries updated and 300 new ones — from Luc Besson to Reese Witherspoon — making more than 1,300 in all, some of them just a pungent paragraph, some of them several thousand words long. In addition to the new "musts," Thomson has added key figures from film history — lively anatomies of Graham Greene, Eddie Cantor, Pauline Kael, Abbott and Costello, Noël Coward, Hoagy Carmichael, Dorothy Gish, Rin Tin Tin, and more.
Here is a great, rare book, one that encompasses the chaos of art, entertainment, money, vulgarity, and nonsense that we call the movies. Personal, opinionated, funny, daring, provocative, and passionate, it is the one book that every filmmaker and film buff must own. Time Out named it one of the ten best books of the 1990s. Gavin Lambert recognized it as "a work of imagination in its own right." Now better than ever — a masterwork by the man playwright David Hare called "the most stimulating and thoughtful film critic now writing."
Review:
"[O]ne still turns to Thomson for witty writing and potent, razor-sharp insights. With immense passion for pictures, he plunges past the IMDb into the very soul of film." Publishers Weekly
Review:
"[A] deservedly treasured reference work...Thomson proves anew that he is irreplaceable....One of the most probing accounts ever written of a human being's engagement with the movies." Sarah Kerr, The New York Times Book Review
Review:
"Thomson's love for the medium is proprietary, possessive, suffused with an academic's breadth of knowledge and a fan's mad crushes....[H]is book deserves a home on whatever flat surface is available between you and your DVD player. (Grade: B+)" Entertainment Weekly
Review:
"[Thomson is] an awfully good writer....Earlier editions have been my constant companions for decades, consulted almost weekly....I happily welcome this latest revision....May our quarrels never end." Richard Schickel, The Los Angeles Times
Review:
"[T]renchant, sometimes witty, prose and...up-to-date coverage." Library Journal
Review:
"Even more seductive than the last edition....One of the most influential books on cinema ever written." Henry Cabot Beck, New York Daily News
Review:
"Mr. Thomson is, I think, the last of the great film writers....[T]his book is the most beautiful of torch songs, and more than bright enough to light up the gloom." Tom Shone, The New York Observer
Review:
"Anyone who cares about the movies will find more than enough here to learn from, delight in, and argue with....Thomson's marvelously entertaining book offers a reliable source of pleasure and provocation." Boston Globe
Review:
"[C]apable of producing and sustaining a comprehensive saga of the art and business...Thomson has labored at including producers, writers, moguls, and even agents, but his snarkiest writing is reserved for actors." Village Voice
Review:
"The single most stunningly informative, learned and provocative book I've encountered about the movies....The breadth of Thomson's research and his skill in writing about that knowledge will take your breath away, whether you are a scholarly aficionado or a weekend filmgoer." The State (Columbia, SC)
Review:
"An intellectual Filmgoer's Companion...an invaluable standard text for students, fans, and serious enthusiasts." Peter Bogdanovich, director of The Last Picture Show
Review:
"A treasure....Unique, fascinating and more than a little addictive....A great critic's great work." Laura Miller, San Francisco Examiner
Review:
"Delicious, one of the best and most useful books written about the movies." Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle
About the Author
David Thomson was born in London. He has taught film studies at Dartmouth College, has served on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival, and has been the editor of the
Journal of Gastronomy. He is a regular contributor to the
New York Times,
Film Comment,
Movieline,
The New Republic,
Salon, and
The Independent (London). He was the screenwriter on the award-winning documentary
The Making of a Legend: Gone With the Wind. His other books include
Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick,
Rosebud, and three works of fiction:
Suspects,
Silver Light, and
Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes. David Thomson lives in San Francisco with his wife and their two sons.
