Try to Tell the Story

Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 224 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: February 9, 2010
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-307-47317-2 (0-307-47317-1)

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Try to Tell the Story
A Memoir
Written by David Thomson

Format: Hardcover, 224 pages
Publisher: Knopf
On Sale: February 3, 2009
Price: $23.95
ISBN: 978-0-375-41213-4 (0-375-41213-1)

From one of our most celebrated film critics and historians now comes a beautifully written memoir about his first eighteen years, growing up as an only child in south London in the midforties and late fifties. Told with elegance and restraint, partly from the point of view of a child, partly... Read more >

"Have You Seen . . . ?"
A Personal Introduction to 1,000 Films
Written by David Thomson

Format: Hardcover, 1024 pages
Publisher: Knopf
On Sale: October 14, 2008
Price: $39.95
ISBN: 978-0-307-26461-9 (0-307-26461-0)

In 1975, David Thomson published his Biographical Dictionary of Film, and few film books have enjoyed better press or such steady sales.

Now, thirty-three years later, we have the companion volume, a second book of more than 1,000 pages in one voice—that of our most provocative contemporary film critic and historian.

Juxtaposing the... Read more >

Nicole Kidman

Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 304 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: January 8, 2008
Price: $15.95
ISBN: 978-1-4000-7781-6 (1-4000-7781-8)

From the brilliant film historian and critic David Thomson, a book that reinvents the star biography in a singularly illuminating portrait of Nicole Kidman—and what it means to be a top actress today. At once life story, love letter, and critical analysis, this is not merely a book about who Kidman... Read more >

Fan-Tan

Written by Marlon Brando and Donald Cammell
Edited by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 256 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: October 10, 2006
Price: $13.95
ISBN: 978-1-4000-9626-8 (1-4000-9626-X)

A wholly unexpected, hugely entertaining work from one of the greatest actors of our time: the story of an eccentric early-twentieth-century pirate, on the high seas from the Philippines to Shanghai—a larger-than-life character that Brando could have easily inhabited himself.

Anatole “Annie” Doultry is in his early fifties, with an imposing... Read more >

The Whole Equation
A History of Hollywood
Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 416 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: February 14, 2006
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-375-70154-2 (0-375-70154-0)

A magnificent history of Hollywood from the invention of film to the present day, by the everywhere acclaimed David Thomson, who has established himself as the “greatest living film critic and historian” (The Atlantic Monthly), “irreplaceable” (The New York Times), and simply “the best writer about the movies” (San Francisco Chronicle)... Read more >

The New Biographical Dictionary of Film
Expanded and Updated
Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 1008 pages
Publisher: Knopf
On Sale: November 16, 2004
Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-0-375-70940-1 (0-375-70940-1)

For twenty-five years, David Thomson’s Biographical Dictionary of Film has been not merely “the finest reference book ever written about movies” (Graham Fuller, Interview), not merely the “desert island book” of art critic David Sylvester, not merely “a great, crazy masterpiece” (Geoff Dyer, The Guardian), but also “fiendishly seductive” (Greil Marcus... Read more >

In Nevada
The Land, the People, God, and Chance
Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 352 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: October 10, 2000
Price: $14.00
ISBN: 978-0-679-77758-8 (0-679-77758-X)

Nevada is the place where Samuel Clemens became Mark Twain, Frank Sinatra became Chairman of the Board, divorce became an industry and gambling an institution. It was a place that Kit Carson could explore, where Bugsy Seigel could dream, and Howard Hughes might hide. It's the government's favorite place to test... Read more >

Beneath Mulholland
Thoughts on Hollywood and Its Ghosts
Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 288 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: November 24, 1998
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-0-679-77291-0 (0-679-77291-X)

David Thomson is at his incomparable best in this stunning collection of essays on Hollywood films--their stars and the illusions they create. He explores a sort of twilight zone where film actors and the characters they play become part of our reality, as living beings and as ghosts, residing on or... Read more >

Rosebud
The Story of Orson Welles
Written by David Thomson

Format: Trade Paperback, 480 pages
Publisher: Vintage
On Sale: September 30, 1997
Price: $16.00
ISBN: 978-0-679-77283-5 (0-679-77283-9)

Orson Welles arrived in Hollywood as a boy genius, became a legend with a single perfect film, and then spent the next forty years floundering. Welles floundered so variously, ingeniously, and extravagantly that he turned failure into "a sustaining tragedy"--his thing, his song.  Now the prodigal genius of the American cinema finally... Read more >