Highlighted Resource: American Film Institute Catalog
- American Film Institute Catalog This link opens in a new window
This excellent online resource for American feature films gives production information, date of release and date of copyright, length in reels and minutes, director and production staff, source (if based on short story, novel, play), a full cast list (including many uncredited roles)and a plot summary. Contains more detailed and accurate information than commercial websites such as imdb.com and allmovie.com.
Entries often include notes and review sources from cinema and trade journals not indexed anywhere else, making this a useful starting point for more advanced research. Also in print as: Reference PN1998 .A57
Catalogs and Indexes
There are too many filmographies, film dictionaries and encyclopedias to count, and many are of variable quality. The list below is necessarily selective and focuses particular empahsis on national cinemas. For additional titles, try searching discoverE under subject keywords/headings such as:
- Motion Pictures--Catalogs
- Motion Pictures--Dictionaries
- Motion Pictures--Indexes
- Motion Pictures--Reviews
Commercial websites such as the Internet Movie Database are not always fully accurate in their descriptions of individual films, but they have the advantages of convenience and sheer quantity of individual entries.