An Index to Short and Feature Film Reviews in the Moving Picture World: The Early Years, 1907-1915

(Hardback)

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Description

"The Moving Picture World" magazine was the industry standard during the silent cinema era. This index compiles all the films reviewed in the early volumes of this journal. In 1916, the magazine itself began providing an index to film reviews. Until now, researchers and scholars had to scour page-by-page through each weekly issue from 1907-1915 to find a desired review. This index, focusing on this period, lists films alphabetically by title, identifies manufacturers/distributors with their films and provides full dates and page locations for reviews. The index provides access to reviews of theatrical films, news pictorials, series and serials, and early travelogues. Many of the films included in this index are no longer extant, thus contemporary reviews may be the only means for analysis of these pioneering cinematic efforts. The reviews contain information about the standards and tastes of film in its infancy, and shed light on story content in those early days. Some of the titles in this index may shock the user, many will cause laughter, but all should be worthy of remembrance for their historical value. Over 27,000 films are listed. The preface chronicles the history of the journal and explains clearly how to use the book. No reviews are included - the index is designed to encourage and guide the user towards an increased familiarity with the "Moving Picture World", which is currently available on microfilm through the Library of Congress.

Reviews

"An invaluable resource tool....I await its publication with bated breath."-Gene Vazzana, editor The Silent Film Monthly
"As a long-time fan and avid collector of Moving Picture World magazine, I have advocated and "dreamed" of [this type of] book. Silent film culture (and the interest therein) is mounting; Annette's book will be crucially important--not only for enthusiasts of the genre, but also for encouraging current and unborn generations to climb aboard and savor."-Joe Franklin, television and radio personality
"Index to Moving Picture World fills a much needed gap for the cinema researcher, allowing the user to speedily check out the publication's coverage of those elusive shorts and feature films of the early silent era as well as to quickly know who manufactured the picture in question."-James Robert Parish, cinema chronicler
"The pioneering trade magazine Moving Picture World continues to serve as a kind of Bible for anyone researching the early days of filmmaking in this country. I'm very glad that a historian as diligent as Annette D'Agostino has taken on the task of indexing this invaluable reference source."-Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian
"The Moving Picture World is a gold mine of information for scholars of the silent film, but unfortunately it has been a lost mine to all but the hardiest prospectors. Now finally, with her book, Annette M. D'Agostino has provided us with a map that we can all use in our own discoveries of a very rich vein of cinema history."- Bob King, editor Classic Images
"This index will save an enormous amount of time--and even travel--and it will lead you to productions you never knew about. It is a significant contribution to our work."-Kevin Brownlow, filmmaker and historian
.,."experienced researchers will immediately see the value of having those 27,000 film reviews finally indexed and accessible."-The Big Reel
...experienced researchers will immediately see the value of having those 27,000 film reviews finally indexed and accessible.-The Big Reel
D, Agostino's index provides film scholars unprecedented access to thousands of films reviewed in one of the more respected early film periodicals. ... This index is recommended for academic and special libraries that support a film studies curriculm.- ARBA
..."experienced researchers will immediately see the value of having those 27,000 film reviews finally indexed and accessible."-The Big Reel
"D, Agostino's index provides film scholars unprecedented access to thousands of films reviewed in one of the more respected early film periodicals. ... This index is recommended for academic and special libraries that support a film studies curriculm."- ARBA

Author Bio

ANNETTE M. D'AGOSTINO is Adjunct Professor of Speech Arts at Hofstra University. She is the author of Harold Lloyd: A Bio-Bibliography (Greenwood, 1994) as well as numerous articles on Lloyd and the silent film era.