Film encyclopaedias

[Dudley]

Turning to the board for Xmas present help...

Wanted: suggestions for a really good reference book on film.  

Requirements:
- Should be really encyclopaedic, with good coverage of world cinema, early cinema AND Hollywood blockbusters.
- Should actually give some idea of the quality of each film.
- Should be so good that the person won't need to buy another reference work for many years.

Any ideas gratefully received.

[Dandontdare]

I think Halliwells is generally regarded as the 'bible' of film encycolpaedias, but I don't know if they do a complete over-arching volume as you suggest.

[Gavin_Leahy_Block]

Got a Halliwells encyclopedia myself, and while I find great for referencing nearly all films irrelevant of age, type or language the detail given on some of the films is marginal at best. But despite this I think it the complete encyclopedia causing it to be very bulky.

[Byron Virgo]

Problem with Halliwell's is that, much like Leslie Halliwell himself, they're traditionally seen as disliking anything released after about 1951, the descriptions themselves are pretty slim and, like Empire, the star rating system (do they still do that?) doesn't necessarily match the review. Time Out, on the other hand, tends to have much better, and certainly more in-depth reviews, but the number of films featured is considerably fewer than Halliwell's due to space considerations (they still manage a pretty good mix between arthouse and blockbuster), and the later certainly wins when it comes to the all-important cast and crew lists. There again, both do have some glaring omissions: famously, the Sid James/Adam Faith Loch Ness Monster vehicle What a Wopper! (and written by Dalek creator Terry Nation) from 1961 was never included in any film guides, though I don't know if that still holds true today...

[Rex Banner]

Video Hound's Golden Movie Retriever is a great alternative to Halliwells.

http://www.amazon.com/Videohounds-Golde ... 902&sr=8-1

[I, Cosh]

Halliwell's is worth it for the increasingly contemptuous entries on the Police Academy series alone.

[satchmo]

I swear by Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide, my battered 1997 edition is always nearby. It has informative 100-ish word reviews of about 18,000 films and an actor and director guide at the back. It is quite American in it's outlook, and uses US names (La Haine is listed as Hate) but usually has a listing to help you out (Matter of Life and Death-see Stairway to Heaven etc.)
But it does have a picture of Leonard Maltin on the front, he's no George Raft

http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/6126 ... oduct.html

[Tommy Alpha]

I guess this doesn't exactly match what you're looking for, but Wallflower press have a fantastic array of film books.  They also make Electric Sheep, which is probably my favourite film magazine.

[dweezil2]

I'm probably not being very helpful here, but if it's a specific genre you're after, the Aurum Film Encyclopedia of Science Fiction by Phil Hardy is indispensable (there's also a Horror and Western editions available) unfortunately there hasn't been an update since '95 and one is criminally overdue. The Time Out guides are usually pretty good too.