Film History

Finding Reviews

The key here is that you want to find reviews or articles written when the film was released, rather than 5 or 50 years later. 

The quickest ways to find a film review are from the database Film Index International or the print reference set Film Review Index:

Titles We Have Cataloged

Here are some of the main magazines, newspapers and journals we have physically or online access for your time period. Go to EWU Library Catalog Title Search to find the call number or hyperlink to online access. Most of them can be found EWU Cheney Main Level Periodicals AP2 (then alphabetically by title.)

• Life Magazine 1936-2000 - click Free Resource (Google Books has scanned 1936-1972)
• Nation 1915-present
• New Republic 1914-present
• New York Times 1913-1996 - Reference set of reprinted reviews (EWU Cheney Main Level Reference PN1995 .N4)
• New Yorker 1948-present
• Newsweek 1935-present
• Theatre Arts 1939-1964
• Time Magazine 1923-present

Media History Digital Library has scanned several of the older sources that pop up in the Film Review Index. Searching the whole site doesn't seem to work that well. Better to use the Advanced Search and type in the specific magazine in Title and film title as Keyword.

Variety is one resource that is searchable online and offers full text versions of their archived reviews. Click the Search icon magnifying glass at the top right, and type in the film title. 

Find Other Articles

Want to try to find articles about your film that aren't technically reviews?