Brian McFarlane

Brian Campbell McFarlane (born 1934) is an Australian writer, film historian, and educator. He has had three overlapping careers: as a secondary school teacher, a full-time academic, and a writer. Known for co-editing and/or authoring such works as the Oxford Companion to Australian Film, The Encyclopedia of British Film, and The British 'B' film, he is also a film critic and an internationally known expert on British cinema. He spent his final ten years of full-time work at Monash University in Melbourne.

Early life and education Brian Campbell McFarlane and grew up in the Wimmera district of Victoria, Australia, before World War II. He saw his first film when he was five years old, and wrote his first film review at the age of ten. His family moved from the village of Lillimur to Nhill, a bigger regional town. Despite the facts that the films were only released there years after their original release in the UK or US, and that his parents were suspicious of movies as corrupting influence, his love of film grew.

In 2012 McFarlane was appointed adjunct professor at the Swinburne Institute of Social Research, Swinburne University of Technology.

Writing McFarlane has authored or edited more than 30 books He has also contributed entries in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

He co-authored The British 'B' film with Steve Chibnall, which at its time of publication (by Palgrave Macmillan in association with the British Film Institute) in 2009, was described by its publishers as "the first book to provide a thorough examination of the British 'B' movie, from the war years to the 1960s".

He regularly reviews films and books in The Age, Australian Book Review, Metro, Inside Story, and the online journal Senses of Cinema.

Other activities McFarlane has served on the editorial boards of various cinema-related journals in Australia, the UK, and the US. He has also been an examiner of PhD theses and book proposals from those countries.

Recognition and honours 1997: Elected a fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities 2001: Centenary Medal, "For service to Australian society and the humanities in the study of literature and the arts" 2016: Medal of the Order of Australia, "For service to the arts as a teacher, film critic, reviewer and author"

Personal life McFarlane married Geraldine, and they had three children. He lives in Melbourne.

He was a longtime friend of actress Googie Withers, and upon her death in July 2011, wrote an obituary for her in The Sydney Morning Herald.

Selected works Cross-Country : A Book of Australian Verse edited by John Barnes and Brian MacFarlane, Heinemann, 1988 Oxford Companion to Australian Film (co-editor) New Australian Film (co-author, with Geoff Mayer) Novel to Film: an Introduction to the Theory of Adaptation (1996)