SOURCE: Rosenstone, Robert A. “Does a Filmic Writing of History Exist?” History and Theory 41, no. 4 (December 2002): 134-44.

In the following essay, Rosenstone suggests that Davis's analysis of the accuracy of the film genre in representing historical events fails to judge film on its own terms rather than on the standards of written history.

First, the confession. The back cover of Natalie Davis's Slaves on Screen carries the following blurb by yours truly: “A major historian convincingly shows how cinema has an important contribution to make to our understanding of the past.” Like many such blurbs, this one was written to honor the contribution of a scholar, a work, and—second confession—a friend. Like many blurbs, this one contains a great deal of truth, even as it says less than it appears to say. The essay that follows here will be, in a sense, an elaboration of that...