author

Mordaunt Hall

Best known as an early New York Times film critic, this sharp-eyed writer helped shape how audiences talked about movies in the silent era and the early days of sound. He also wrote fiction and brought a lively, conversational tone to cultural criticism.

1 Audiobook

Some Naval Yarns

Some Naval Yarns

by Mordaunt Hall

About the author

Born in 1878 and later based in the United States, Mordaunt Hall became the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times. He held that role from 1924 to 1934, reviewing films during a formative period in cinema history.

Hall was remembered for a style that was more lively and accessible than academic, which helped make film criticism feel approachable to general readers. Beyond journalism, he was also a novelist, and his name continues to appear in discussions of early film writing and movie culture.

He died in 1973, leaving behind a body of work tied closely to the rise of modern film criticism.