Derek Malcolm 1932-2023

Derek Malcolm’s death last week at the grand age of 91, marks not only the end of an eventful life and a character admired and respected by many who knew him, but also the end of an era of a certain kind of film reviewer/critic and what he stood for. There are still one or two other film writers of a similar vintage but none so well known around the film festival circuit worldwide – as some of the tributes over the last few days have made clear.

Malcolm was appointed as the Guardian‘s film critic in 1971 and continued in post until 1997. He was one of my guides in the 1970s as to what was worth watching and I continued to read his witty reviews throughout the whole period. Later he moved on to the Evening Standard, by then the only London evening paper where he could still be found up until 2015. He took on the role of London Film Festival Director for a few years in the 1980s and he became a familiar figure at all kinds of film festivals, often interviewing film directors in Q+As. By all accounts he was friendly, accessible and charming but also told wonderfully scurrilous stories. He introduced films on BBC2 television in the 1980s, acting as an informal film educator for many new recruits to cinephilia and could still be seen on Sky Arts film programmes more recently.

Derek Malcolm is probably barely known in the US, apart from the festival-going critics who must be aware of his legacy. His importance was in promoting what was then known as ‘World Cinema’ in the 1970s and 1980s. He is one of the few mainstream critics who actually knew about the different film industries of India and indeed often knew the directors involved in them. He travelled to India frequently and his interest and expertise were recognised. After he stopped reviewing in the Guardian he continued to offer material, including his own 100 films list which he introduced on a weekly basis from 1999. It’s sobering to read now. He didn’t think much of what was then ‘contemporary Hollywood’. He included Coppola and Scorsese, Altman and a few others in his list and he recognised the masters of the Golden Age, but nothing after 1985. Two thirds of his list was devoted to films from outside Hollywood on a ‘one film each basis’ for the great auteurs. He didn’t recognise that his list lacked women, but that was a problem of his time. If he did the same list now I hope he would have changed it. But as it stands he was a spokesperson for what this blog stands for and its love of films from everywhere. I know all the 100 films on his list, although there are a few I haven’t seen and I might choose different films by the same director. But that’s by the bye. We are going to miss having Derek Malcolm around. Apart from anything else he told great stories and you can get a flavour of what it was like to meet him from the excellent obituary by Ian Christie in the Guardian of 17th July.

He loved Indian Cinema but wasn’t afraid to criticise what he thought were its failings – see this 2019 interview in the Deccan Herald. He will be missed and we aren’t likely to see film reviewers with his extraordinary background of experiences ever again. After Oxford he had been an actor in rep, an amateur jockey and was first the Guardian‘s racing correspondent.