David Desser writes: " This situation was further exacerbated by the situation I alluded to in an earlier post, the decline of the "public intellectual." The great, readable, exciting critics of the 50's (remember the glory days of CAHIERS DU CINEMA), 60's and into the 70's, were aided both by public intellectual forums like PARTISAN REVIEW (from the late 40's and the writingsd of Dwight Macdonald and Robert Warshow), to the beginnings of the small film journals, like FILM CULTURE. Neither CAHIERS, nor MOVIE (among others in Britain) nor FILM CULTURE were written for an "academic" audience (unlike, say, CINEMA JOURNAL, which I am NOT insulting [I am, after all the current editor!]). To Murray Pomerance's plaintive cry, "ISN'T THERE SOME WAY FOR US TO ADDRESS THIS AND BRING ABOUT A NEW SITUATION?," one can say that this very forum (the net!) is one solution. I also think that there is, and is always going to be, a significant difference between film criticism as "consumer guide" and more detailed, thoughtful criticism that is by nature difficult to produce in daily or weekly publications, whether it is newspapers, magazines, or even TV shows a la Siskel & Ebert (who ARE indeed the best of the TV bunch by far!) Denby in NEW YORK is very good, I agree (one can subscribe to it, but it is very New-York-City oriented, moreso than the NEW YORKER), but the one-page limitation on him (it seems) is literally limiting." One problem that deepens the situation David describes is the lack of outlets for "think pieces". Even Pauline Kael got something of an unusual spot with her position for the NEW YORKER. Sarris had the VILLAGE VOICE--and J. Hoberman is often very good there as well. But despite the continuation of a few mags that mainly center around New York (eg., NYRB) and some smaller press items, there aren't many outlets for the kinds of writing that Agee and MacDonald others practiced. On the other hand, I've read some very readable and cogent criticisms in various places on the net. Just as the short story as a form is now centered in writers living in or emerging from the academy, as opposed to the Hemingways and Fitzgeralds and Kate Chopins who earned their way in the literary marketplace of the magazine, so film criticism evolves in form. Perhaps there's something else in the nature of the film market itself. While foreign and independent films were often hard to come by in the pre-video days, reviewers could make them seem worth seeking out. With certain exceptions, no one seems to point to these films as being worth seeing--or at least for being controversial. But then, what these days could puzzle, shock, annoy or delight in the way that Bergman, Fellini, Kurosawa and so forth did when first seen on American shores? There's a whole world of films out there, but we hear precious little about any but a few. Don Larsson, Mankato State U (MN) ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]