The Complete History of American Film Criticism

The Complete History of American Film Criticism is a chronicle of the lives and work of the most influential film critics of the past 100 years. From the first movie review in the New York Times in 1896 through the Silent Era, the pre- and postwar years, the Film Generation of the 1960s, the Golden Age of the 1970s, and into the 21st century, critics have educated generations of discriminating moviegoers on the differences between good films and bad. They call attention to great directors, cinematographers, production designers, screenwriters, and actors, and shed light on their artistic visions and storytelling sensibilities.

People interested in what the great film critics had to say have usually been shortchanged as to their backgrounds, and just why they are qualified to sit in judgment. Using mini-biographies, placed within a chronological framework, The Complete History of American Film Criticism is the biography of a profession whose cultural impact has left an indelible mark on the 20th century’s most significant art form.

Jerry Roberts is an acquisitions editor for Arcadia Publishing. He was a film critic and columnist for Copley Los Angeles Newspapers, Copley News Service, and the former Cinemania Web site, and has contributed to Daily Variety, DGA Magazine, and The Hollywood Reporter. He is a past coordinator of film programs for the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and is the author of the Encyclopedia of Television Film Directors, The Great American Playwrights on the Screen, Mitchum: In His Own Words, and Movie Talk from the Front Lines. He lives in Carson, California.