Penelope Houston (film critic)
Penelope Houston (9 September 1927 – 26 October 2015) was an English film critic and journal editor. She edited
Biography
Born in Kensington, London, she was the daughter of Duncan McNeill Houston and his wife Eilean (née Marlowe).[1][2] Her father was a rubber broker, while her maternal grandfather was Thomas Marlowe, an early editor of the Daily Mail.[2] She attended Wimbledon High School, before winning a scholarship to Roedean School, near Brighton; the school was evacuated to the Lake District during the war.[1][3]
In 1947, she was the first editor of the short-lived film journal
In 1950, she joined
Houston became the editor of Sight & Sound, then a quarterly journal, in 1956 after Lambert departed for a career as a Hollywood screenwriter.
Houston was the author of several books on cinema, including The Contemporary Cinema (1963) and Keepers of the Frame: Film Archives (1994).[10] She also wrote a short book on a film directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Went the Day Well? (1942).[5]
Houston was an amateur player of golf and a follower of horse racing, on which she gambled.[2] She commented in 2001: "I wouldn’t go into film criticism now if you offered me the top job on a plate. It is so boring. Who wants to spend their days looking at special effects movies from Hollywood made for 15-year-olds?"[7]
Her younger brother, Tom, survived her.[1][2]
References
- ^ a b c d "Penelope Houston". The Times. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2015. (subscription required)
- ^ a b c d Malcolm, Derek (5 November 2015). "Penelope Houston obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
- ^ a b "Penelope Houston, editor - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. London. 30 November 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
- ^ a b c "Penelope Houston, 1927-2015". Sight & Sound. 27 October 2015. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ a b c Shoard, Catherine (28 October 2015). "Penelope Houston, Sight & Sound editor for 35 years, dies aged 88". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ Wigley, Samuel (25 April 2014). "Voting for the Sight & Sound poll... in 1962". BFI Film Forever. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ a b Riley, John (30 October 2015). "Penelope Houston: Vital commentator on post-war cinema who edited 'Sight & Sound' film magazine for 35 years". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2015.
- ^ Robinson, David (29 April 2013). "Gavin Lambert". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
- ^ Henry K. Miller, "Penelope Houston: Viewer at the Top", Sight & Sound, January 2016.
- ^ "AllMovie | Movies and Films Database | Movie Search, Ratings, Photos, Recommendations, and Reviews". AllMovie. Retrieved 16 February 2021.