About the Author

Robin Wood has stubbornly resisted the trends of academic film studies and in so doing has remained one of its most influential voices. Certain to be of interest to film scholars and students, this book will also be particularly useful as a text for university courses on Hawks, popular cinema, and authorship in film

Reviews

Andrew Britton is a critic on fire. His ire is ablaze throughout these essays, particularly at the abstract, arcane, and illogical follies of theorizing away from the palpable grain of the text. Formalists and Marxists alike get taken to the woodshed, their flaws set aglow from the bite of Britton's lashings. Britton's own readings of specific films detail the ways in which sex and politics, desire and authority intertwine in concrete, historically situated ways. This collection is a treasure house of insights by a critic of formidable power."--Bill Nichols "professor of cinema at San Francisco State University and author of Introduction to Documentary and Representing Reality "
Andrew Britton's remarkable film criticism is distinguished by its keen intelligence, profound erudition, and consistent seriousness. It is criticism of the highest order, always placing film within the history of culture. By so doing, Britton gave to film studies a special dignity. In his brief life, Andrew Britton created an extraordinary legacy for all who care about the serious analysis of cinema. Barry Grant has performed a considerable service by returning this work to us."--Christopher Sharett "professor of communication and film studies at Seton Hall University and author of The Rifleman "
Even if you don't agree with Robin Woods claim in his introduction that Britton was, and remains, quite simply, the greatest film critic in the English language," this hefty collection, 534 large-format pages long, certainly proves that Wood's cantankerous Marxist disciple, who published mainly in Movie (UK) and CineAction (Canada), was a formidable figure."--Film Comment
Whether discussing George Eliot or Hitchcock, Blake or Ophuls, Britton's analyses-of a film text, a critical argument, or a cultural moment-challenge orthodoxy and expose imprecision. Britton on Film is an indispensable collection: the voice as fresh, and the arguments as urgent, as ever."--Edward Gallafent "reader in film the University of Warwick and author of On Directors: Quentin Tarantino "