David Robinson (film critic and author)
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David Robinson (born 1930) is a British film critic and author. He started writing for Sight and Sound and the Monthly Film Bulletin in the 1950s, becoming editor of Sight and Sound and deputy editor of the Monthly Film Bulletin from 1955-1956. He was film critic of The Financial Times from 1958 to 1973, before taking up the same post at The Times in 1973. He remained the paper's main film reviewer until around 1990 and a regular contributor until around 1996.
His books include Hollywood in the Twenties (1968) and World Cinema (1973), but he is probably best-known as the official biographer of Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin: His Life and Art, first published in 1985, and revised for a second edition in 2001, is regarded as the definitive book on the subject, and Robinson has become a sort of unofficial spokesman for Chaplin in the media in recent years. He has also written a book on Buster Keaton. He is president of The Pordenone Silent Film Festival, which takes place in Italy every October.