Almost all these 178 films are full-length features that showcase stars like Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Clara Bow, Lon Chaney, Louise Brooks, Charles Chaplin, Joan Crawford, Colleen Moore, Harold Lloyd, Gary Cooper, William Powell, Greta Garbo, Rudolph Valentino, Norma Shearer, Buster Keaton, Shirley Temple, Barbara Stanwyck, Ronald Colman, Lillian Gish, Marion Davies, and Wallace Beery, who are still top favorites with all motion picture fans.

In addition, however, it's very pleasing to note that players like Laura La Plante, Charles Ray, Alice Terry, Pola Negri, Mary Miles Minter, Rod La Rocque, and Mabel Poulton are also featured on a large number of discs. These stars were extraordinarily popular in their day and are just waiting to be re-discovered by today's movie lovers.

Full credits and current release information are provided for each film. And the DVD itself is rated for quality on a scale  of one to ten. Purchasers will save the price of this book by following just one of my recommendations. It's disappointing to buy a DVD and then find the picture and/or sound quality is so poor that the movie cannot be enjoyed.

A further bonus is that the book is illustrated with 105 beautiful black-and-white photos from the Pattison Gallery of vintage movie stills, one of the best and largest private collections in the world.

P.S. This book's trade edition was published on June 26, 2008. Due to a demand much larger than anticipated, the bookstore trade edition completely sold out by the end of August. I was given to understand that this edition would be reprinted ASAP, but it took until December 2008 for the book to re-appear at Amazon and a couple of other American stores. However, better limited availability in the U.S.A. than none! Oddly, the book is now easier to obtain in British bookstores than in the country for which it has most relevance! Of course, the publisher's direct-sale deluxe edition has always been available. This edition can be purchased from the publisher for exactly the same price as the trade edition ($17.50), yet it is much more elegantly printed and produced. The photos look great!

P.P.S. Some of Clive's points are well taken in his review below, but I do think his complaining about my inclusion of "Bad Girl" rather odd. A DVD release of this most important film had been announced shortly before the book went to press. I therefore included it. And as a matter of interest, the DVD is NOW available!