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Thomson was born in London. He taught film studies at [[Dartmouth College]], and has been a regular contributor to ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[Film Comment]]'', ''Movieline'', ''[[The New Republic]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/107218/not-dead-just-dying|title=American Movies are Not Dead: They are Dying|first=David|last=Thomson|date=14 September 2012|via=The New Republic}}</ref> and ''[[Salon.com|Salon]]''. Thomson has served on the selection committee for the [[New York Film Festival]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Thomson |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/people/david-thomson |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=British Film Institute |language=en}}</ref> and scripted an award-winning documentary, ''[[The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (TV Movie 1988) - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385073/ |language=en-US |access-date=2022-06-27}}</ref> |
Thomson was born in London. He taught film studies at [[Dartmouth College]], and has been a regular contributor to ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[Film Comment]]'', ''Movieline'', ''[[The New Republic]]'',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://newrepublic.com/article/107218/not-dead-just-dying|title=American Movies are Not Dead: They are Dying|first=David|last=Thomson|date=14 September 2012|via=The New Republic}}</ref> and ''[[Salon.com|Salon]]''. Thomson has served on the selection committee for the [[New York Film Festival]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=David Thomson |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/people/david-thomson |access-date=2022-06-30 |website=British Film Institute |language=en}}</ref> and scripted an award-winning documentary, ''[[The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind]]''.<ref>{{Citation |title=The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (TV Movie 1988) - IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385073/ |language=en-US |access-date=2022-06-27}}</ref> |
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Thomson has written several biographies |
Thomson has written several biographies, notably ''Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles.'' In 1985 he published ''Suspects'', a [[Metafiction|metafictional]] novel that imagines the secret histories of [[film noir]] characters like ''[[Sunset Boulevard (film)|Sunset Boulevard]]''<nowiki/>'s Norma Desmond and ''[[Chinatown (1974 film)|Chinatown]]'s'' Noah Cross.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Kevin Burton |date=2018 |title=David Thomson's Suspects |url=https://thrillingdetective.com/2018/12/16/david-thompsons-suspects/ |archive-url= |website=Thrilling Detective}}</ref> He followed this in 1990 with ''Silver Light'', which mixes real and fictional people from the history of [[Western (genre)|the western]]; ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' notes that the “cast includes [[Willa Cather|Willa Cather,]] [[Montgomery Clift]], [[Charles Ives]], [[Roy Bean|Judge Roy Bean]] and numerous characters smuggled in from such movies as ''[[The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance]]'' and [[McCabe & Mrs. Miller|''McCabe and Mrs.'' ''Miller'']].”<ref>{{Cite web |date=1990 |title=Silver Light by David Thomson |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780394556222 |access-date=2023-02-10 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}</ref> Thomson has written screenplays, including ''Fierce Heat'', which was to be produced by [[Martin Scorsese]] and directed by [[Stephen Frears]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/may-2021/the-men-with-the-megaphone/|title=The men with the megaphone | Christopher Silvester|date=21 April 2021|website=The Critic Magazine}}</ref> |
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In ''[[The New Biographical Dictionary of Film]]'', Thomson memorializes his friend Kieran Hickey, a documentary filmmaker. Thomson wrote some of Hickey's films, including ''Faithful Departed'', a short documentary on the [[Dublin]] of [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''.[https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/faithful-departed/] Thomson credits Hickey with shaping his book: "I do not mean to shift the responsibility. Kieran helped in the research on all editions of this book; he commented and improved it at every page. But his deepest contribution was to the years of talk, the climate of taking pictures seriously, that made me think this book possible. If you feel the urge to talk back to this book, then know that Kieran paved the way." Hickey died in 1993, and Thomson writes that "in a way I feel the movies are over now that he's gone."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |title=[[The New Biographical Dictionary of Film]] |edition=Fifth |pages=447}}</ref> |
In ''[[The New Biographical Dictionary of Film]]'', Thomson memorializes his friend Kieran Hickey, a documentary filmmaker. Thomson wrote some of Hickey's films, including ''Faithful Departed'', a short documentary on the [[Dublin]] of [[James Joyce]]'s ''[[Ulysses (novel)|Ulysses]]''.[https://ifiarchiveplayer.ie/faithful-departed/] Thomson credits Hickey with shaping his book: "I do not mean to shift the responsibility. Kieran helped in the research on all editions of this book; he commented and improved it at every page. But his deepest contribution was to the years of talk, the climate of taking pictures seriously, that made me think this book possible. If you feel the urge to talk back to this book, then know that Kieran paved the way." Hickey died in 1993, and Thomson writes that "in a way I feel the movies are over now that he's gone."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Thomson |first=David |title=[[The New Biographical Dictionary of Film]] |edition=Fifth |pages=447}}</ref> |
Revision as of 21:37, 10 February 2023
David Thomson | |
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Born | London, England | 18 February 1941
Occupation | Film critic |
David Thomson (born 18 February 1941) is a British film critic and historian based in the United States, and the author of more than 20 books. His reference works in particular — Have You Seen...?: A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films (2008) and The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (6th edition, 2014) — have been praised as works of high literary merit and eccentricity despite some criticism for self-indulgence .[1] Benjamin Schwarz, writing in The Atlantic Monthly, called him "probably the greatest living film critic and historian" who "writes the most fun and enthralling prose about the movies since Pauline Kael".[2] John Banville called him "the greatest living writer on the movies" [3] and Michael Ondaatje said he "is our most argumentative and trustworthy historian of the screen." In 2010, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film was named the greatest book on the cinema by a poll in Sight & Sound.[4]
Biography
Thomson was born in London. He taught film studies at Dartmouth College, and has been a regular contributor to The New York Times, Film Comment, Movieline, The New Republic,[5] and Salon. Thomson has served on the selection committee for the New York Film Festival,[6] and scripted an award-winning documentary, The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind.[7]
Thomson has written several biographies, notably Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles. In 1985 he published Suspects, a metafictional novel that imagines the secret histories of film noir characters like Sunset Boulevard's Norma Desmond and Chinatown's Noah Cross.[8] He followed this in 1990 with Silver Light, which mixes real and fictional people from the history of the western; Publishers Weekly notes that the “cast includes Willa Cather, Montgomery Clift, Charles Ives, Judge Roy Bean and numerous characters smuggled in from such movies as The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and McCabe and Mrs. Miller.”[9] Thomson has written screenplays, including Fierce Heat, which was to be produced by Martin Scorsese and directed by Stephen Frears.[10]
In The New Biographical Dictionary of Film, Thomson memorializes his friend Kieran Hickey, a documentary filmmaker. Thomson wrote some of Hickey's films, including Faithful Departed, a short documentary on the Dublin of James Joyce's Ulysses.[1] Thomson credits Hickey with shaping his book: "I do not mean to shift the responsibility. Kieran helped in the research on all editions of this book; he commented and improved it at every page. But his deepest contribution was to the years of talk, the climate of taking pictures seriously, that made me think this book possible. If you feel the urge to talk back to this book, then know that Kieran paved the way." Hickey died in 1993, and Thomson writes that "in a way I feel the movies are over now that he's gone."[11]
He has confessed that he prefers writing books to film writing.[12]
Thomson lives in San Francisco with his wife and their two sons. On 1 April 2014, the San Francisco International Film Festival announced that Thomson would receive the Mel Novikoff Award at the 57th annual SFIFF.[13]
Favorite films
Thomson participated in the Sight & Sound poll in 2002 and 2012. In 2002, he prefaced his list with a "Love You, Too" to Sunrise, The Passenger, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, In a Lonely Place, L'Atalante, Madame de..., The Red Shoes, Point Blank, Persona, The Lady Eve, The Awful Truth, The Shop Around the Corner, Rear Window, Meet Me in St. Louis, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Night of the Hunter, The Eclipse, Providence, Belle de Jour, Chinatown, Mulholland Drive and just about everything by Howard Hawks except the one I will come to, eventually" before naming his top ten as, chronologically, La Regle de Jeu, His Girl Friday, Citizen Kane, Ugetsu Monogatari, A Man Escaped, Pierrot Le Fou, Celine and Julie Go Boating, That Obscure Object of Desire and Blue Velvet.[14]
In the 2012 poll, Thomson's list was, alphabetically: Blue Velvet, Céline and Julie Go Boating, Citizen Kane, The Conformist, Hiroshima mon amour, His Girl Friday, Pierrot le Fou, The Rules of the Game, The Shop Around the Corner and Ugetsu Monogatari.[15]
Bibliography
- Movie Man (1967)
- A Bowl of Eggs (1970)
- Hungry as Hunters (1972)
- Wild Excursions: The Life and Fiction of Lawrence Sterne (1972)
- A Biographical Dictionary of Film (1975; 6th ed., 2014)
- Scott's Men (1977, reissued in 2002 as Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen)
- America in the Dark: Hollywood and the Gift of Unreality (1978)
- Overexposures: A Crisis in American Filmmaking (1981)
- Suspects (1985)
- Warren Beatty and Desert Eyes (1987)
- Silver Light (1990)
- Showman: The Life of David O. Selznick (1993)
- 4-2 (1996)
- Rosebud: The Story of Orson Welles (1997)
- Beneath Mulholland: Thoughts on Hollywood and Its Ghosts (1998)
- The Alien Quartet: A Bloomsbury Movie Guide (Bloomsbury Publishing, 208 pages, 1999, ISBN 1-58234-030-7, as The Alien Quartet (Pocket Movie Guide), 2000 ISBN 0-7475-5181-2
- The Big Sleep (BFI guide) (2000)
- In Nevada: The Land, The People, God, and Chance (2001)
- Hollywood: A Celebration (DK, 2001)
- Cinema: Year by Year (Intro only) (DK, 2005)
- Marlon Brando (2003)
- The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood (2004)
- Fan Tan (introduction; a novel written by Donald Cammell and Marlon Brando) (2005)
- Nicole Kidman (2006)
- "Have You Seen...?": A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films (2008)
- Try to Tell the Story (2009)
- The Moment of Psycho: How Alfred Hitchcock Taught America to Love Murder (2009)
- Humphrey Bogart (Great Stars) (2009)
- Ingrid Bergman (Great Stars) (2009)
- Gary Cooper (Great Stars) (2009)
- Bette Davis (Great Stars) (2009)
- The Big Screen: The Story of the Movies and What They Did to Us (2012)
- Moments That Made the Movies (2013)
- Why Acting Matters (2015)
- How to Watch a Movie (2015)
- Breaking Bad: The Official Book (2015)
- Television: A Biography (2016)
- Sleeping With Strangers: How the Movies Shaped Desire (2019)
- Murder and the Movies (2020)
- A Light in the Dark: A History of Film Directors (2021)
References
- ^ Emerson, Jim. "Nicole Kidman: David Thomson's plaything | Scanners | Roger Ebert". Rogerebert.com.
- ^ The Atlantic, November 2002 issue.
- ^ John Banville, in Read all about it: NS Books of the Year 2012, The New Statesman, 29 November 2012.
- ^ "Sight & Sound's top five film books". Sight & Sound. June 2010.
- ^ Thomson, David (14 September 2012). "American Movies are Not Dead: They are Dying" – via The New Republic.
- ^ "David Thomson". British Film Institute. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
- ^ The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (TV Movie 1988) - IMDb, retrieved 27 June 2022
- ^ Smith, Kevin Burton (2018). "David Thomson's Suspects". Thrilling Detective.
- ^ "Silver Light by David Thomson". www.publishersweekly.com. 1990. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
- ^ "The men with the megaphone | Christopher Silvester". The Critic Magazine. 21 April 2021.
- ^ Thomson, David. The New Biographical Dictionary of Film (Fifth ed.). p. 447.
- ^ Thomson, David; Teodoro, José (11 March 2009). "The 21st Interview: DAVID THOMSON". Stop Smiling. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
- ^ D'Arcy, David (24 April 2014). "How Can the Nation's Oldest Film Festival Survive? With New Leadership, San Francisco Looks to the Future". IndieWire. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
- ^ Thomson, David (2 June 2002). "David Thomson: My Top Ten". The Independent.
- ^ "David Thomson". British Film Institute. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
External links
- David Thomson at publisher Random House
- David Thomson at IMDb
- Interview with Thomson
- David Thomson at Library of Congress, with 60 library catalogue records
- Works by or about David Thomson at Internet Archive