Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews
Harrison's Reports and Film Reviews is the 15-volume reprint of the complete run of the weekly magazine Harrison's Reports from its founding in 1919 to its demise in 1962. Volumes 1 through 14 are facsimile reprints of the more than 2,000 weekly issues. The reprints were edited by D. Richard Baer and published 1992-1995 by Hollywood Film Archive.
Film review index
Volume 15 is an alphabetical index of the films reviews, approximately 17,000 in all. Films are also indexed by alternate titles and original foreign language titles.
Over 99% of the reprints were reproduced from original issues, the rest from photocopies or microfilm blowups. The index volume includes a two-page narrative titled “A Brief History of these Reprints” about how all the issues were gathered.
Volumes and years covered
| Volume | Date Range | ISBN |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1919–1922 | 978-0-913616-11-6 |
| 2 | 1923–1925 | 978-0-913616-12-3 |
| 3 | 1926–1928 | 978-0-913616-13-0 |
| 4 | 1929–1931 | 978-0-913616-14-7 |
| 5 | 1932–1934 | 978-0-913616-15-4 |
| 6 | 1935–1937 | 978-0-913616-16-1 |
| 7 | 1938–1940 | 978-0-913616-17-8 |
| 8 | 1941–1943 | 978-0-913616-18-5 |
| 9 | 1944–1946 | 978-0-913616-19-2 |
| 10 | 1947–1949 | 978-0-913616-20-8 |
| 11 | 1950–1952 | 978-0-913616-21-5 |
| 12 | 1953–1955 | 978-0-913616-22-2 |
| 13 | 1956–1958 | 978-0-913616-23-9 |
| 14 | 1959–1962 | 978-0-913616-24-6 |
| 15 | Index 1919-1962 | 978-0-913616-25-3 |
| set | 15 volumes | 978-0-913616-10-9 |
Volume summaries
At the front of each volume is a one-page summary of the more important issues discussed in the editorials of that period.
Original indexes reprinted
Harrison's Reports published its own index up to eight times per year. In the reprint volumes, these indexes are printed on yellow paper at the beginning of each calendar year's gathered reprints of 52 (occasionally 53) weeks of issues.
Index of shorts
Although Harrison's Reports reviewed only feature films, not shorts, the indexes included lists of forthcoming and recently released shorts, grouped by releasing company. Published separately from these reprints, An Index to Short Subjects Listed in Harrison’s Reports 1926-1962 by Gerald Jones (self-published November 2004) is a complete alphabetical index of all the shorts and cartoons listed in the many separate indexes. This index is available online.
Index to Harrison’s Reports Short Subjects
Critical review
The review by Library Journal stated, “Taken in its 43-year entirety, Harrison's Reports is a very useful reflection of the industry's major trends and provides something of a social history of the United States as well.”[1]
Other reprints of film reviews
Harrison’s Reports is one of the three English-language periodicals with 10,000 or more film reviews reprinted in book form. The other two are
- Variety as Variety Film Reviews (1907–1996) in 24 volumes.
- New York Times as New York Times Film Reviews (1913–2000) in 22 volumes.
References
- ↑ Library Journal review; August 1992, page 90