Hove has played a key role in movie history and now a Hove man is continuing the tradition on the internet.

Early film pioneers achieved major breakthroughs in cinema production from studios in the town.

Last week, the largest film database in the world, produced by Hove-based Alan Goble, was made available free online.

London-based Coppernob Communications negotiated a deal combining Mr Goble's film database with Halliwell's Who's Who in the Movies and Film and Video Guide, known as the moviegoers' bible.

The result is a searchable online archive with detailed information on more than 320,000 films from more than 175 countries available at the film portal, cnmovies.com.

Contributing editor Mr Goble said: "If you think of 30 telephone books, it will give you an idea of how much my data provides to the site.

Last year, my work was recognised as the largest published database in the world. The Guiness Book of Records made the decision based on the CD-ROM version which was then in its second edition.

"The internet version is an ongoing project. Unlike the static book and its CD-ROM predecessor, it is easy to update. I research all the latest releases and send a weekly update for inclusion at the site.

"Not only can I make sure films dating back to the 19th Century are listed, but keep going into the 21st Century."

Mr Goble's database is a comprehensive list of film names, alternative titles and credit information.

Each film reference has been complemented with material from the Halliwell guide reviews, quotes, plot synopsis and a star rating. Visitors can search by film title, person, stills or plot type.

Mr Goble said: "Both Halliwell's and my work have been available for years and have been scrutinised by offline users. I am confident the web version will be considered a major film resource."

Mr Goble has been a movie fan since the age of six and has always been a regular visitor to the cinema. He began the database because he wanted to create a list of alternative film titles for the movies he had seen.

He said: "About 30 years ago, I began making notes of name changes, for example, when a film is released under a different title for the UK and US markets. There was no reference source for this and I began by gathering the data in a card index box."

In 1990, Mr Goble's work was published in a two-volume book, The International Film Index. It was put on CD-ROM in 1995 with a second enlarged release in 1998.

Fran Stovold, assistant curator at Hove Musuem and Art Gallery, said: "Hove played a pivotal part in the birth and development of film. Hove Museum, in partnership with the South-East Film and Video Archive based at Brighton University, will continue to support Hove's passion for film past and present."

Hove Museum is currently closed to the public for redevelopment. The work will include a new interactive gallery looking at the precursors to the film era, the science of film and the growth of cinema in Brighton and Hove.

www.cnmovies.com
www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/bhc/
museums/hove/