Movie Mavens: Leslie Halliwell

Who: Leslie Robert James Halliwell (1929-1989).

What: British film critic, author of numerous books, including The Filmgoer's Companion (originally published in 1965, but revised countless times), Halliwell's Film Guide (originally published in 1977, also revised too many times to count), Double Take and Fade Away: Halliwell on Comedians (1987), the list goes on. 

His influence on me: Halliwell's film writings were among the first film criticisms I've ever read. Halliwell taught me a lot about watching films. When I was about 11, I read him for the first time (my then-stepfather was a huge fan). Turns out, Halliwell was extremely picky. He hated a lot more movies than he loved. He definitely was NOT a movie slut. He panned a lot of movies, and when he went after a film, he could be very caustic. Sometimes, I thought he was hard on movies. For instance, he hated Abbott and Costello movies and at the time, I worshipped Abbott and Costello (I still love Bud and Lou, for the record -- Halliwell failed to convince me on that one). Halliwell was especially fond of movies made in the 1930s and 1940s. The farther you get beyond the '40s, the more likely he is to hate the movie. By the time you get to the 1970s, he loathes most of the cinema. He wrote a column on film for The Daily Mirror. He rated films up to four stars -- a four-star film being a masterpiece -- and I think the very most recent film ever made to get a four-star rating from Halliwell was Bonnie and Clyde (1967). When he loved a film, which was rare, he heaped praise on it. For instance, he wrote of The Grapes of Wrath (1940): "A superb film which could scarcely be improved upon. Though the ending is softened from the book, there was too much here for filmgoers to chew on. Acting, photography, direction combine to make this unforgettable experience, a poem of a film." Halliwell was a gifted writer with a keen eye for great cinema. I didn't always agree with him, especially his refusal to accept more modern motion pictures. But he challenged me to defend why I liked certain movies and disliked others. He taught me about the language of film. And he deepened my appreciation, in general, of the art. 

Other Odds & Ends: According to the Website on Leslie Halliwell, LeslieHalliwell.com, Michael M. Binder is at work on a biography of Halliwell. If he ever publishes it, I'll be the first to read it. Here was Halliwell's Top 10 (his 10 favorite films of all time):

1. Citizen Kane
   
2. Trouble in Paradise
   
3. The Bride of Frankenstein
   
4. Le Million
   
5. A Matter of Life and Death
   
6. Lost Horizon (1937)
   
7. Sons of the Desert
   
8. The Philadelphia Story
   
9. The Maltese Falcon
   
10. The Lady Vanishes

Hunt's verdict: One of the greatest film critics of all time. A gentleman who simply loved movies and helped countless readers -- including me -- appreciate them as art.