Film Critics and British Film Culture - by Robert Shail & Sheldon Hall (Hardcover)

About the Book

Examines how British film critics and commentators have helped shape our understanding of cinema culture.

Book Synopsis

For decades, cinema audiences have turned to the film reviews featured in national and local newspapers, listened to commentators via radio, television and, latterly, the internet, and read fan magazines to learn about the latest releases. These critics helped shape the responses of generations of film fans, creating success and failure, as well as controversy.

This wide-ranging collection brings together some of the leading academics on British film history to consider the role of these commentators. It covers the work of influential critics like Dilys Powell and Raymond Durgnat and key magazines such as Time Out, Monthly Film Bulletin and Radio Times. Contributors include leading scholars such as James Chapman, Pamela Hutchinson and Julian Petley, along with the screenwriter and filmmaker David McGillivray and others who have worked as film journalists themselves.

For film students or cinema enthusiasts anywhere, this volume provides an insightful analysis of the British film critic.

Review Quotes

Ever quoted or questioned a critic? Ever wondered if a critic can influence the box office or create a deeper change in the public's perception of cinema? Every seriously considered what a movie critic does all day? Well, then this collection of essays on British film criticism by a collection of scholars and critics, is definitely for you. Bonus points if British cinema and cinemagoing are your bag.--Pamela Hutchinson "Silent London"

There are many great pieces of research in this book about how British cinema was seen vis-à-vis Hollywood and European cinema in different decades and from a range of perspectives: the specialist cinephile, LGBTQ+ criticism, the dialectically minded, the genre enthusiast. The addition of other media in Melanie Selfe's chapter on broadcast and on non-specialist publications in Sheldon Hall's piece on TV magazines are particularly useful. Read it!--Bryony Dixon "Sight & Sound"

This lively, wide-ranging collection focuses on an important dimension of British film culture - the role of the film critic - that has been neglected, mined unthinkingly or marginalised in previous accounts. Encompassing film annuals and broadcast media as well as newspaper columnists, these well-researched accounts - breathing life in by-line names such as C.A. Lejeune or Dilys Powell - provide fascinating historical detail to illuminate the broader historical contexts in which they were produced and circulated. Giving the lie to assertions that there is no such thing as British film culture, this collection will make essential reading for anyone interested in its changing nature and significance.-- "Andrew Spicer, Professor of Cultural Production, University of the West of England Bristol"