> Is there a history of film reviewing in the U.S.? I'm especially > interested in film reviewing meant for the most general "market"-- > i.e., not industry publications or "fan" publications. When did > reviews start appearing (especially regularly) in newspapers and > general interest magazines? [snip] > > Arthur Knight > American Studies & English > The College of William & Mary Arthur-- I plowed through quite a few old newspapers for my forthcoming book on John Barrymore, and my sense of the matter is that the mainstream press began offering movie reviews on a regular basis around 1912 or thereabouts -- a time that coincided with the emergence of the feature film. Papers such as the NY Times, NY Tribune, NY World, Minneapolis Journal, Boston Globe, Chicago Daily News, etc., all appeared to pick up on this idea at about this time. In many cases, the movie reviewers followed the lead of their drama peers by publishing their critiques the day after the movie opened. (I found this to be particularly true of the NY reviewers.) Hope this information helps. --Marty Norden ============================================================================= Martin F. Norden Dept. of Communication [log in to unmask] University of Massachusetts/Amherst tel: 413 545-0598, 545-1311 Amherst, MA 01003 USA fax: 413 545-6399 "Round up the usual suspects." ============================================================================= ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]