This is the fourth edition of a masterwork which first appeared in 1975 and was last issued in 1994. David Thomson reports that it contains 300 new entries, many on newcomers, 'but some on ancient figures who might have been included earlier'. Admitting that he is today less often exhilarated by a new film, less 'in love with cinema', than in his youth, Thomson confesses, 'I think that I have learned that I love books more than films.' He wonders whether the fault lies in himself or in the new generation of movies. In our ageing selves, I suspect. Film art has not declined during the half-century since directors held one spellbound with their heavily scripted, dialogue-shackled, theatre-rooted productions. As one of Thomson's generation, I recognise that the kindling wood of the imagination has fatally dampened. Goodbye, helpless empathy.

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