World Film Directors: Volume One 1890-1945

The first volume of World Film Directors covers 202 directors with a detailed, often film-by-film biography, filmography, and bibliography. It is less opinionated than Richard Roud's Cinema: a critical dictionary ( Viking, 1980) and not as complete or contemporary (by design) as the annual Film Directors . The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, edited by Christopher Lyon ( LJ 11/1/84) includes more names and a better bibliography. However, World is the best of the bunch, mainly because of the quality and scope of its writing and the condensing of critical viewpoints. If you needed to know more about these people and their films, you'd have to turn to a full-length biography. Indispensable.David Bartholomew, NYPL