The New Biographical Dictionary of Film

A sometimes maddening work that invents its own genre -- neither dictionary nor encyclopedia nor film criticism nor any other known category. Instead it's no less than one man's critical reflections on major figures from the length and breadth of world cinema, alphabetically listed from Abbott and Costello to Terry Zwigoff. Whew! (Where did he ever get the time since no staff is acknowledged?) All the majors are present including non-Americans, along with "second thoughts" on Ford, Capra, and others. Moreover, the new edition updates older ones by adding a fresh generation of movie-makers as special interest to younger readers. Also present: major figures from off-screen, including such seminal contributors as cameraman John Alton, writer Ernest Lehman, and giving-the-devil-his-due, notorious studio boss Harry Cohn. Yes, it's a big book (989 pps.)-- most of the entries requiring no explanation. Still and all, Thomson needs to give us at least some idea why he included some marginal players, while excluding others. Why, for example, the distinctive and deserving Elisha Cook Jr., but not the equally distinctive and deserving Percy Helton whose gnome-like presence and raspy voice boosted many a 50's second feature. Sure, a discussion like this has no real resolution. Nonetheless, the question becomes an issue when Thomson devotes four full columns to non-movie, television star Johnny Carson, who may be a giant of popular culture, but whose only film credit is a single Connie Francis flick! So Carson comes at the expense of several deserving marginal players with real film credentials, including perhaps favorites of your own. (Mine being the luminescent and painfully sensitive Gail Russell, dropped from this edition.) Anyhow, there's a legitimate issue here that the author should address. Nonetheless, there are good reasons why this series has endured. Above all, Thomson has the courage of his convictions, unafraid to challenge received wisdom or conventional opinion, which means that every page may hold a surprise. (His revisionist appraisal of the universally revered John Ford should by now qualify as a classic.) Couple that with some of the liveliest prose around, plus a remarkable talent for distilling an essence into a short space, and an unusual approach to the movies results. Also, it's one of those rare books that can be read cover-to-cover or in snatches with equally satisfying results. Sure, there is a lot of grist for argument throughout -- in my view he overrates Clint Eastwood, Gary Cooper, and even Bob Mitchum, (he admires strong, silent types), and underrates Kubrick, but is dead-on with Ford. Still and all, this is a good book to set the critical juices flowing, and rightly deserves a fourth edition.

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film has, arguably, two flaws, that can also be seen as strengths that highly recommend the book. the narrative and the selection of entries are both highly subjective according to the whims of David Thomson, its brilliant, but often tendentious author. While some descriptions are neutral and a bit flimsy, most of them are the result of a mad moviegoer flailing with passionate, even eccentric preferences and dislikes. The second flaw is it is hardly a universal reference. It seems to have huge discussions about seemingly forgotten, albeit, important figures like Sidney Franklin and Victor Sjostrom and then insubstantive, perfunctory passages on people who seem to have had a huge presence in the history of motion pictures like Tom Mix and Dan Duryea. It also is about 50-50 that you will find someone you are looking for. As a heuristic exercise, I looked for the following seemingly indispensable film names from all periods and genres of film history this morning and found not one of them: Ben Turpin, Richard Roundtree, Ben Stiller, Dame May Whitty, John Lurie, Rod La Roque, Anna Q. Nilsson, John Bunny, Florence Lawrence, Alan Hale, Harry Carey, Ryan, O'Neil, Ali McGraw, Barbara Hershey, William Bendix, Ethel Merman, Chris Farley, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, and Phil Silvers. Not one of these household names at various epochs of the movie tradition turn up in the book. This makes the random browsing experience with the book somewhat limited and disappointing. Having said that, the book is a gem. The names who do appear in the book have mostly sprawling discussions about their place in the story of cinema and incisive references to their contribution with each mention of a film: "very funny in" such and such, "very good" in such and such. Even if you can't locate all people you are looking for in the book, it certainly references enough people who you can go to other texts or the internet for more detail. Coming away from a read on most of the biographical passages on his entries is a fulfilling experience like a great meal topped off by a fine pinot: you can't wait to get hungry again to go back for more.

I have bought every edition of this book (this is the fourth) and find each one well worth the money. Thomson is the best writer among the movie critics, probably the best writer that has ever reviewed movies. His writing is so good, even when disagreeing with him, I still love reading the reviews or biographical sketches. He has a tremendous poetic economy with the English Language: consider the following: About Bruce Dern in the film Coming Home: ". . . A rapturous embrace between Jane Fonda and Jon Voight was being watched by a wistful, suspicious Bruce Dern, his eyes lime pits of paranoia and resentment." Or Basil Rathbone: "The inverted arrow face, the razor nose, and a mustache that was really two fine shears stuck to his lip. Ladies looked fearfully at him, knowing that one embrace could cut them to ribbons." Both these passages capture the essence of the star perfectly. Just perfectly. The book is full of this kind of superior writing.The update has all the new stars, some who probably wish they were excluded. Who can not read a reviewer that says of Ben Affleck: ". . . Mr. Affleck is boring, complacent, and criminally lucky to have got away with everything so far." As I say, Thomson has a way of capturing things perfectly in a few words.

If you're looking for a standard reference work, look elsewhere (Katz is probably your best bet). That said, this is one of the finest books I've discovered in years. You can read it from cover to cover and never get bored, which is impossible to say about any other reference book that I know of.David Thomson is absolutely brilliant. I disagree with about half of what he writes here, but even when I disagree I respect his opinions and greatly admire the way in which he articulates them. Very often in these entries you will find that unexpected beauty and strangeness which is the hallmark of all great literature and all great art in general. Some of the passages are absolutely heartstopping. Here's Thomson on Jean Vigo:"L'Atalante is about a more profound attitude to love than Gaumont understood. It is love without spoken explanation, unaffected by sentimental songs; but love as a mysterious, passionate affinity between inarticulate human animals."Have you ever heard a more haunting, uncanny definition of love than this one? I certainly haven't. I read these words and then sat there like a fool in shock for five or six minutes, ruminating on their simple profundity.Thomson is also not afraid to be nasty, which is refreshing in this age of mindless, frothy hype being spewed in all directions on just about everyone. Here he is on Roberto Benigni:"Then came the thing called La Vite E Bella. As a matter of fact, I often echo that sentiment myself, but if there is anything likely to mar the bella-ness, it is not so much Hitlerism (I am against it), which is fairly obvious, as Benigni-ism, which walks away with high praise, box office, and Oscars. I despise Life Is Beautiful, especially its warmth, sincerity, and feeling, all of which I belive grow out of stupidity. Few events so surely signaled the decline of the motion picture as the glory piled on that odious and misguided fable."Sometimes that nastiness reaches the heights of pure poetry. Here is Thomson on Richard Gere:"There are times when Richard Gere has the warm affect of a wind tunnel at dawn, waiting for work, all sheen, inner curve, and posed emptiness. And those are not his worst times."Lest you think that Thomson is merely a curmudgeonly old British [man], let me emphasize that in many other places (through most of the book, in fact), he displays a humanity and generosity of spirit that is nothing short of exemplary. This book is not so much a reference on film as it is a meditation on life and everything in it. In these past hundred years movies have covered exactly that kind of encyclopedic range, both in their subject matter and in the lives of their makers. Thomson simply uses the world of cinema as a vehicle with which to explore the magnificent enigma of life and existence and somehow manages to pack more of that life into its 963 pages than any other book of any genre that I can think of. Opinionated, yes, but then again so is the Bible. A true desert island book

For those of us who are movie buffs, we're forever looking for biographical information on people in film. David Thomson goes way beyond the usual dry recitation of dates and facts and actually renders informed opinions on the people about whom he writes. Flip to any entry and you'll be entertained and informed by Thomson's refreshingly truthful take. He's one of the few people with the guts to say that Monster's Ball was not the greatest movie of all time, while giving kudos to Halle Berre for her performance. While I don't necessarily agree with all his opinions, it's great to read biographical material that actually offers commentary along with data. From Diane Lane to Bette Davis to Julia Roberts to Rudolf Valentino, Thomson offers comments and insights that no other volume does. I have the previous 1994 edition. Now, happily, I've got hours of happy reading ahead in the 2002 edition.This is a must-have, not just for film fans but for its pure entertainment value as a gigantic collection of biographical short takes.My highest recommendation.