A movie must begin with words: a book, a script, an acknowledgment from a producer that a concept is not a bankable text. David Thomson, a London-born critic based in San Francisco, reverses the procedure with a work of fiction drawn entirely from old films. His sources are such moody classics as Citizen Kane, Double Indemnity, Laura, Casablanca and dozens of other favorites from the Late Show of the American psyche.
While most fans are content to watch Captain Louis Renault and Rick Blaine (Claude Rains and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca) walk off into the fog together, Thomson asks more. Where...
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