This book is both
more and less than history, a work of imagination in its own right, a piece of
movie literature that turns fact into romance.' Gavin Lambert was reviewing the
first edition of David Thomson's monumental work in 1975. In the eight years since
the third edition was published, careers have waxed and waned, reputations been
made and lost, great movies produced, trends set and scorned. This fourth
edition has 200 entirely new entries and every original entry has been
re-examined. Thus the roster of directors, actors, producers, screenwriters and
cameramen is both historical and contemporary, with old masters reappraised in
terms of how their work has lasted. Each of the 1,000 profiles is a keenly
perceptive, provocative critical essay. Striking the perfect balance between
personal bias and factual reliability, David Thomson - novelist, critic,
biographer and unabashed film addict - has given us an enormously rich
reference book, a brilliant reflection on the art and artists of the cinema.