January 19
THUMBS UP DAY
The first film reviews appeared in Variety magazine on this day in 1907. The magazine had only been in print two years before it expanded its section covering new vaudeville acts in order to include reviews of films.
Critics were kind in the days before talkies. Maybe they didn’t bother reading the subtitles and just reviewed the action. The first film to receive the critic’s praise was a comedy titled, An Exciting Honeymoon. It was just seven minutes long. The other ‘first’ Variety film review was of the thirteen-minute movie, The Life of a Cowboy. The critics gave it two thumbs up, saying it was “so melodramatic in treatment that it acted on the audience like a vivid play.”
And, a century later, Variety is still in the movie-review business. See their latest opinions.
Those Were the Days, the Today in History service from 440 International
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