One of the UK's most respected film reviewers, Alexander Walker, has died aged 73. A prolific writer, who had written for the London Evening Standard for the past 40 years, Walker was one of the most influential cinema writers of his age. He fell ill earlier this summer, and died at the London Clinic while having tests for cancer, the newspaper said. Walker was famous for his outspoken opinions on film - and once had a famous row with director Ken Russell, who hit him in front of TV cameras.

Most of Walker's books appear to be sadly out of print. I recommend the Kubrick book, though, and also track down his Shattered Silents, an excellent book and one of a very few dealing with that most obscure era of Hollywood history, the transition from silent to talking films between 1927 and 1930.