Penelope Houston (film critic)
Penelope Houston | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 September 1927 Kensington, London, England |
| Died | 26 October 2015 (aged 88) |
| Occupation(s) | Film critic, editor, journalist |
| Years active | 1947–1990 (approximate) |
| Known for | Editor of Sight & Sound (1956–1990) |
Penelope Houston (9 September 1927 – 26 October 2015) was a distinguished English film critic and editor who directed Sight & Sound for close to 35 years.
Biography
Houston was born in Kensington, London, to Duncan McNeill Houston, a rubber broker, and Eilean (née Marlowe), the granddaughter of Thomas Marlowe, former editor of the Daily Mail. She attended Wimbledon High School before earning a scholarship to Roedean School, which was relocated during wartime. Houston pursued modern history at Somerville College, Oxford, graduating with a double first in 1949. She briefly engaged in research on World War II history at Whitehall.
In 1947, Houston took on the role of inaugural editor for the film journal Sequence, established by Lindsay Anderson, Karel Reisz, and Gavin Lambert at Oxford. She joined Sight & Sound in 1950 as an assistant to Lambert and played a key role in advancing the critics' decade poll initiated around 1952. Although she described the poll as an "impossible but intriguing game," her efforts were crucial to its success.
Houston replaced Lambert as editor of Sight & Sound in 1956 and maintained this position until 1990. She also contributed frequently to the Monthly Film Bulletin until it merged with Sight & Sound in the mid-1970s. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, she managed the British Film Institute’s notable "Cinema One" book series. Her writings appeared in various outlets including The Spectator, The Observer, and occasionally The Guardian. Additionally, she served as a stand-in critic for both The Times and The Observer.
Her authored publications include The Contemporary Cinema (1963), Keepers of the Frame: Film Archives (1994), and an analysis of Alberto Cavalcanti’s 1942 film Went the Day Well?.
An avid amateur golfer and horse racing fan, Houston expressed in 2001 her view that modern film criticism had become "so boring," criticizing Hollywood’s emphasis on special effects targeting youth audiences.
Her younger brother Tom outlived her.