Barry Forshaw

Subtitled ‘Hollywood’s Story in a Century of Flops’, Tim Robey’s assiduosly researched book is as entertaining as it is informative. The author, long one of the most authoritative commentators on film for (among other things) the Daily Telegraph’s arts pages and Radio 4’s Front Row, has compiled a fascinating history of key films that have been responsible for stonking deficits in film company ledgers. Having said that, Robey is well aware that commercial and artistic success do not go hand-in-hand, and is prepared to acknowledge the virtues of the films he discusses while anatomising the reasons for their failure – but while he can make a case for Freaks from 1932, he is more challenged by, say, Catwoman in 2004. If you have the slightest interest in cinema, this is a volume that you will devour at speed for its insightful writing on films which have often been neglected – justly or unjustly – because of their total lack of box office clout.

Box Office Poison by Tim Robey is published by Faber