School Film Reviews is a collection of nine unfiltered, intellectually ambitious film essays written for a college Film History class—complete with the original instructor feedback, grades, and all.

What's Inside

An Introduction

An introduction explaining the genesis of both the reviews and the project.

Nine reviews:

• Gold Rush
• Birth of a Nation
• City Lights
• It Happened One Night
• Citizen Kane
• Rear Window
• 8 1/2
• High Society
• Casablanca

But these aren't your typical film reviews.

While other students turned in safe, one-page analyses, ProfessorTom consistently exceeded word limits to explore censorship, typography, American values, and film history—often earning notes like "Way over the word limit, but argued with admiral passion" (along with an A-).

Colophon

A colophon explaining exactly how the book was made in Scrivener on macOS–a $29 dollar value included for FREE!

Why This Book Is Different

• Authentic academic work - Real college assignments with actual instructor comments and grades preserved
• Unconventional perspectives - One review analyzes Birth of a Nation based on watching only the first few minutes (yes, really)
• Time capsule quality - Written over a decade ago, offering a unique snapshot of engaging with classic cinema
• Beyond film criticism - Essays that venture into freedom of speech, historical context, and cultural analysis
• Raw and unpolished - These are student papers, not professionally edited reviews—and that's exactly what makes them fascinating

Perfect For

• Film students looking for inspiration (or justification for breaking word limits)
• Classic cinema enthusiasts who want fresh takes on familiar films
• Anyone curious about how passionate writing can transcend academic assignments
• Readers who appreciate intellectual curiosity and unconventional thinking
• Writers who want to create their own ebooks but don't know how

This isn't a polished collection of professional criticism. It's a genuine artifact of film education—passionate, flawed, over-ambitious, and completely authentic.