author
Mordaunt Hall
1878–1973
Best remembered as one of the earliest major newspaper film critics, he helped shape how movie reviewing sounded in print during the silent era and early talkies. His lively newspaper voice made cinema feel like a serious cultural event without losing its entertainment value.
1 Audiobook
Some Naval Yarns
by Mordaunt Hall
About the author
Born in 1878 and active as a journalist on both sides of the Atlantic, Mordaunt Hall is chiefly remembered as the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times. From 1924 to 1934, he reviewed films at a moment when the medium was rapidly growing in ambition, popularity, and prestige.
Hall’s reviews were known for being accessible and conversational rather than academic. That style suited a period when audiences were discovering what film criticism could be, and it helped make movie coverage a recognizable part of mainstream newspaper culture.
Although many later critics became better known for theory or sharp analysis, Hall remains an important early figure in American film journalism. His work captures a formative moment in movie history, when newspapers were beginning to treat the cinema as an art form worth following closely.