FILM REVIEW DAILY

THE WORLD’S LONGEST-RUNNING FILM ANNUAL

Welcome to Film Review! After 71 years and 70 issues of the ground-breaking volume kicked off by F. Maurice Speed in 1944, the digital age caught up with us (and we with it). So, as the 70th edition – Film Review 2014-2015 – hit the bookstalls, we launched the Film Review Daily website with up-to-date critiques by our usual panel of discerning and frequently movie-loving critics.

As the Annual had covered film releases for the last seven decades, it seemed only proper that we continued the tradition. Reviews old and new are being uploaded on a daily basis, along with an expanded In Memoriam section, as well as News & Features. For fans of the Annual, it should be pointed out that Mansel Stimpson and James Cameron-Wilson are still very much on board, with Michael Darvell providing the obituaries.

For those unfamiliar with F. Maurice Speed’s publishing phenomenon, a quick history lesson: In 1944, the first handsomely produced volume sold 80,000 copies. The following year, the second Film Review annual shipped 250,000 copies. The second edition of the annual did so well that it provided Maurice with the funds to buy a house and to furnish it “lavishly,” in his own words. Contributors over the years included luminaries such as Ingrid Bergman, Bing Crosby, Cecil B. DeMille, Walt Disney, Clark Gable, Sir Alec Guinness, Rita Hayworth, Audrey Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, Bob Hope, Burt Lancaster, James Mason, Gregory Peck, and Michael Powell—to name a few.

Later on, the book attracted the penmanship of such venerable writers as William K. Everson, Peter Cowie, Oswell Blakeston, Ivan Butler, Derek Elley, Allen Eyles, Gordon Gow, Marshall Julius, Peter Noble, Jonathan Rigby and Anthony Slide. In the intervening years, the Annual also passed through the hands of several publishers, starting out with Macdonald and then moving on to W.H. Allen, Columbus, Virgin, Reynolds & Hearn and then, finally, Signum Books. Since Maurice hung up his typewriter, Film Review was edited by four other journalists (including myself, for two decades) and in its final years the duties were shared by Michael Darvell and Mansel Stimpson. Of course, you can't keep a good brand down.

James Cameron-Wilson
Executive Editor, Film Review