H.W. Wilson's Cinema Image Gallery contains over 152,000 images, covering the latter part of the nineteenth century to the beginning of the twenty‐first century. The images comprise still photographs, studio portraits, and over 4,000 poster art and lobby cards used to promote the films. All images are rights‐cleared for education use.
Searches can be performed on actors, directors, titles, genres and awards. Available on WilsonWeb, the search interface allows Boolean searching, limiting to a date range, and limiting to the type of image needed including candid, television, on the red carpet, and animation. However, the animations proved a little disappointing; a search for “Bugs Bunny” retrieved only a couple of pictures of Mel Blanc, the voice behind the bunny. Searchable genres include comedy, biography, film noir, adventure, family, horror and many others. Awards include The Academy Awards, The Golden Globes, The Cannes Film Festival and The Screen Actor's Guild awards. However, The Sundance Film Festival and The Tribeca Film Festival are notably absent. With so much interest in popular independent films, search options for Sundance and Tribeca would be welcome additions. Cinema Image Gallery allows for prints, e‐mails and saved searches, permitting the user to customize his display.
It is fun to search for favourite films and actors. Searches performed on recent films such Slumdog Millionaire were successful, as were searches on many obscure films such as the infamous cult film Plan 9 from Outer Space and other lesser‐known cult favourites, including Robinson Crusoe on Mars and Zombie Flesh Eaters. From a sublime film like Casablanca to a ridiculous B movie like The Three Stooges Meet Hercules, still photographs can be captured for a variety of uses. In addition to the well‐known Hollywood stars of the Golden Age, notable character actors like Walter Brennan, Chill Wills, Andy Devine, Jay Silverheels, George “Gabby” Hayes and Percy Kilbride are also included. Possible applications for Cinema Image Gallery might include graphics to enhance presentations, as visuals to accompany discussions of film, as examples of popular culture, or as photographs to illustrate the power of the mass media.
Cinema Image Gallery is easy to use, utilizing standard interface features common to many academic databases. Results can be sorted by relevance, date, artist, or title among other options. A companion to Wilson's Art Museum Image Gallery (www.hwwilson.com/Databases/artmuseum.htm) (RR 2006/161), this film database presents the history of film‐making through the years, including rare behind‐the scenes material. In addition to films, the database also includes stills from television programmes like Bonanza or The Lone Ranger. Links are provided to reviews and other articles about the titles, and links to biographies are included as well.
