“If
journalism—including film criticism—is evanescent, Jerry
Roberts has struck a blow for all of us who have spent our lives
writing and talking about movies. I’m sure this impressive,
thoughtful book will be a valuable tool for anyone interested in the
subject.” —Leonard
Maltin
“Jerry
Roberts has achieved a remarkable feat of research and, in the areas
where I have any knowledge, is fair and accurate. Nothing on this
scale has ever been accomplished before.” —Roger
Ebert
The
Complete History of American Film Criticism is a historical overview 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.
Indeed, The Complete History of
American Film Criticism honors those who helped establish
the notion that film was 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.
“If
journalism—including film criticism—is evanescent, Jerry
Roberts has struck a blow for all of us who have spent our lives
writing and talking about movies. I’m sure this impressive,
thoughtful book will be a valuable tool for anyone interested in the
subject.”
—Leonard
Maltin
“Jerry
Roberts has achieved a remarkable feat of research and, in the areas
where I have any knowledge, is fair and accurate. Nothing on this
scale has ever been accomplished before.”
—Roger
Ebert
“The
amazingly comprehensive and well-organized The
Complete History of American Film Criticism arrives
at a time when the profession has become seriously endangered by the
continuing decline of print journalism. Jerry Roberts, a former film
critic, has not only been thorough, but also has made astute
appraisals of the major critics, most notably the influential,
prickly Pauline Kael. He has been gentlemanly in his considerations
of his colleagues and has made a strong case for the value of film
criticism, and in doing so, made those of us who have spent our lives
doing it feel that maybe our work in so specialized a field has not
been in vain.”
—Kevin
Thomas
“Jerry
Roberts has written a well-researched, admirably wide-ranging and
even-handed account of film criticism in America that is also a
passionate defense of this noble but increasingly embattled
profession.”
—Dave
Kehr
“Jerry
Roberts's much-needed The
Complete History of American Film Criticism is the first comprehensive overview of its kind. It has the added
benefit of rescuing from semi-oblivion numerous reputable
practitioners from the past.”
—Peter
Rainer
“A
thorough and informative history of 100 years of film criticism in
America that does not stint on satisfying gossip and
score-settling.”
—Shelf
Awareness
