David Robinson (born 6 August 1930 in

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

critic and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. He is a former film critic for both the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'' and ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' and wrote the official biography of

Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is consider ...

Life

Robinson began to write for '' Sight and Sound'' and the ''

Monthly Film Bulletin ''The Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 to April 1991, when it merged with ''Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those with a ...

'' during the 1950s, becoming assistant editor of ''Sight and Sound'' and editor of the ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' from 1957 to 1958. He was film critic of the ''

'' from 1958 to 1973, before taking up the same post at ''

'' in 1973. He remained the paper's main film reviewer until around 1990 and a regular contributor until around 1996. From 1997 to 2015, he was director of the

Giornate del cinema muto Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...

silent film festival, which takes place in

Pordenone Pordenone (; Venetian and fur, Pordenon) is the main ''comune'' of Pordenone province of northeast Italy in the Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The name comes from Latin ''Portus Naonis'', meaning 'port on the Noncello (Latin ''Naon'') River'. ...

, northern Italy, every October. Robinson is also a supporter of the UK-based silent-film society Bristol Silents and the annual Slapstick comedy festival, also based in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

and usually held in January (the 2021 festival took place online in March). He played a part in the creation of the award-winning

Museum of the Moving Image The Museum of the Moving Image is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios (now Kaufman Astoria Studios), in the Astoria neighborhood in Queens, New York City. The museum originally opened in 1988 as the Amer ...

on London's South Bank which opened in 1988 and closed in 1999. In 1973, he was head of the jury at the 23rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 1995 he was a member of the jury at the 19th Moscow International Film Festival. He lives in

Bath, Somerset Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...

. In 2019 he appeared in Chris Wade's documentary ''Charlie Chaplin: The Making of a Genius''.

Works

Robinson's books include ''Hollywood in the Twenties'' (1968) and ''The History of World Cinema'' (1973) which was expanded and revised as ''World Cinema: A Short History'' (''World Cinema 1895-1980'' on the cover, 1981). Robinson is the official biographer of

and his book, '' Chaplin: His Life and Art'', was first published in 1985 (in a revised form in 1992 and 2001). An illustrated biography entitled ''Charlie Chaplin: The Art of Comedy'' was published by

Thames & Hudson Thames & Hudson (sometimes T&H for brevity) is a publisher of illustrated books in all visually creative categories: art, architecture, design, photography, fashion, film, and the performing arts. It also publishes books on archaeology, history, ...

in 1996, as part of their ‘

New Horizons ''New Horizons'' is an Interplanetary spaceflight, interplanetary space probe that was launched as a part of NASA's New Frontiers program. Engineered by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) and the Southwest Research ...

’ series. He has also written a book on

Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...

. For the centenary of cinema in 1995, Robinson wrote ''The Chronicle of Cinema 1895-1995'', a 127-page introduction to film history. This was serialised in the form of five supplementary magazines accompanying '' Sight and Sound'' from September 1994 to January 1995.

Notes

References

External links

David Robinson articles
a
Brenton Film
1930 births Living people English biographers English film critics English male journalists People educated at Lincoln Grammar School People from Lincoln, England The Times people Male biographers {{England-nonfiction-writer-stub