The Complete History of American Film Criticism

February 22, 2010
Acquisitions editor for Arcadia Publishing and former movie critic Roberts presents the first comprehensive history of American film criticism, an admirably far-reaching work-from Frank E. Woods's work in the 1908 New York Dramatic Mirror to today's prominent online critics-that unfortunately reads more like recitation than scholarship. Roberts's attempt at "narrative history" moves chronologically, but in disorienting spurts that attempt to align the history of individual film critics, many of whom had careers more broad or influential than the format to accommodate. Pauline Kael, for example, appears again and again in chapters about the 1960s, 1970s, and the Television Age, but never in a way that coherently explains her-despite Roberts's penchant for needless biographical details (anyone who wants to know what killed every film critic since the '10s will find out here). While sentences from individual critiques are included, longer passages are few and far between, making it difficult to understand the impact or viewpoint of a given critic; the selections themselves also seem arbitrary (for instance, Roberts includes virtually nothing about The Godfather). For ardent film fans, this book may prove worthwhile for its thorough collection of facts, but a great history of American film criticism has yet to be written.

March 15, 2010
Considering that the only three works published on American film criticism have been anthologies, Roberts's ("The Great American Playwrights on the Screen") attempt to tackle 100 years of history is remarkable. He begins in 1908, when Frank Woods wrote the first movie reviews for the "New York Dramatic Mirror", and continues to the current era of established critics being often outshone by film bloggers. Roberts's historya compilation of brief biographies of all the important American film critics, with an untold number of quotes but little analysisreads like a shopping list. Film theorist Siegfried Kracauer's book "From Caligari to Hitler" receives but few lines and no mention that during World War II it inspired a school of sociological criticism, people who looked at movies for indications of the national character. Judy Stone, the "San Francisco Chronicle"'s well-regarded critic, is not even referenced. VERDICT In his introduction, Roberts writes that his book is intended "for the more committed moviegoers and passionate movie buff." And this ambitious but not exhaustive collection of critics' biographies is just that.Victor Or, Surrey P.L. & North Vancouver City Lib., BC

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