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Notes from the Dream House

Selected Film Reviews 1963-2013

Philip French

Edited by Kersti French, Karl French, Patrick French and Sean French

Notes from the Dream House
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Categories: 20th Century, 21st Century, British, Film
Imprint: Carcanet Film
Publisher: Carcanet Press
Available as:
Paperback (320 pages)
(Pub. Oct 2018)
9781784106027
£19.99 £17.99
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(Pub. Oct 2018)
9781784106034
£15.99 £14.39
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  • Description
  • Author
  • Reviews
  • Notes from the Dream House is a ‘best of’ selection of reviews by the celebrated Observer film critic Philip French. Spanning half the history of cinema, his reviews cover a great variety of films, from westerns and gangsters to art movies and musicals – the hits and the misses, the good, the bad and the ugly.

    French takes on films as disparate as The Gospel According to St Matthew and Ted, The Remains of the Day and Caligula. His reviews are personal, witty, and sharply perceptive. Time and again he reveals not only an encyclopaedic knowledge of cinema but also an erudition, an enthusiasm, and a boundless curiosity. Taken together, they form an illuminating commentary on modern culture; but above all they are a distillation of one man’s lifelong love of cinema, a worthy memorial to one of the most respected and beloved of modern critics.
    Philip French
    Philip French was born in Liverpool in 1933. He did his national service in the Parachute Regiment and was educated at Exeter College, Oxford and in the United States at Indiana University, Bloomington. He spent most of his career as a talks producer for BBC Radio. He wrote movie essays and ... read more
    A 'welcome and overdue collection' 

    Sergio Angelini, Journal of British Cinema and Television



    'He never comes across as pretentious and his prose is often wistful and amusing...Breezing through the book is a delight.'

    Lee Pfeiffer, Cinema Retro  

    'In a critical landscape now dominated by amateurism and the taking of theatrically extreme positions, what a pleasure and an education it is to read the work of a judicious professional.'
    Jonathan Barnes, Times Literary Supplement

          'This collection is a joy from the opening page to the final credits: to open it at any given page is to soak up Phillip's range of interests, terms of reference, knowledge, understanding and humour.'
    Dan Carrier, The Camden New Journal


      'The publication of this book brings home to the reader the qualities that made Philip French stand out from other film reviewers. His ability with words was special and is evidenced throughout Notes from the Dream House... No review here is unworthy of attention'
    Mansel Stimpson, Film Review Daily


      'The book is a compact reminder of French's immense knowledge of film and the cinematic world... Notes from the Dream House is solid proof of the fact that French left nothing unseen.'
    Laila Obeidat, The London Magazine


    Praise for Philip French Philip French's I Found It at the Movies is an apparently random but charming collection from the Observer critic's nearly 50 years of writing on film. These pieces are elegant and learned, and they hark back to the era when French's predecessor CA Lejeune could usefully dismiss the mawkish home-front drama Millions Like Us with three words: 'And millions don't.'
    Nick Curtis, Evening Standard, Film Books of the Year 2011
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