Celluloid Guides Keep Gaining Heft : Movies: Halliwell started it. Now there are a host of film books offering wide-ranging information.

It all began in 1965 with Leslie Halliwell’s “The Filmgoer’s Companion,” which boasted a foreword by none other than Alfred Hitchcock.

The first “Companion” packed plenty into the 469 pages of the first American edition, a maroon hardcover with discreet gold lettering on the spine. Biography/filmographies of stars, directors and notable producers along with minireviews of classics made this creation by a British film encyclopedist a handy, compact reference.

Nearly 30 years later, Halliwell, who died in 1989, has created an industry. The boom in cable movies and video stores has sparked an interest in old movies, film history and movie trivia. Halliwell’s first slender encyclopedia and its successors now have many rivals, all fighting for the space on movie-library shelves.

Halliwell’s credits total 13 books. His work and name continue, with John Walker as the editor, in two frequently updated editions.

“Halliwell’s Film Guide,” whose thick 1994 edition (HarperPerennial, $21) ran to 1,347 pages, is an annual compendium of movie descriptions, brief quotes from contemporary reviews, quotes from dialogue and obscure facts. Though hard to handle, it is fun to read.

“Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s and Video Viewer’s Companion” (HarperPerennial, $25) is a biographical encyclopedia containing complete filmographies for major figures, with pertinent quotes from films. It also includes useful and sometimes amusing category lists. The one on “horses,” for example, begins: “Horses have in several cases risen to the rank of star.” Mini-histories of studios and of Hollywood itself are also included in the 819 pages (addenda bring the total of the 10th edition to 834 pages).

Film references fall primarily into two categories, defined by the two Halliwell opuses: those offering brief reviews of every movie that ever achieved wide visibility, either in theaters or on television, and the biographical encyclopedia. Some references offer both movie descriptions and filmographies.

Ephraim Katz’s monumental “The Film Encyclopedia” (HarperPerennial, $25) is the major biographical source. Now in an “All-New Edition,” the 1994 encyclopedia supersedes the original, first published in 1979. (Katz died in August, 1992, before publication of the new edition. Melinda Corey and George Ochoa completed his work.)

Weighing in at 1,496 pages, the new encyclopedia brings the world of movies up-to-date. It even carries a brief entry for Halliwell himself, describing his books as “two of the most wide-ranging and idiosyncratic reference works on film.”

Without question, the Katz book ranks as the most authoritative American film encyclopedia. It includes technical definitions (“Diffuser--translucent material attached to a lighting unit for the purpose of softening the light falling on a subject”). However, there are no short entries on individual films, not even “Birth of a Nation” or “Gone With the Wind.” Though never as droll or crisp as Halliwell and his successors, the Katz book stands as probably the most definitive for film scholars, with terse, informative biographies with complete film listings if warranted.

Any of the film historians and critics who have followed in their footsteps must acknowledge their debt to Halliwell, the Englishman who started it all, and to Katz, the Israeli-born American who brought the film encyclopedia home to this country. But respect for the founding fathers has not prevented film experts from launching their own reference series.

One of the most useful has been overseen by longtime film writer James Monaco. His “The Movie Guide” (Perigee Books, $24.95) offers a well-thought-out selection of knowledgeable movie reviews, with pertinent bits of history and lore. Its biggest advantage over other collections of minireviews is its inclusion of credits--directors of photography, writers, etc., and names of characters as well as stars. But the 1,099-page guide makes no attempt to describe every movie out there in videoland.

“The Encyclopedia of Film” (Perigee Books, $18.95) boasts lively and analytical descriptions, but this 596-page volume, published in 1991, suffers from some omissions. Goldie Hawn, for example, a major star by any measure, is among the missing.

The latest American film authority to enter the encyclopedia sweepstakes is television personality and critic Leonard Maltin.

Maltin’s annual “Movie and Video Guide” (Signet Reference, $7.99) is celebrating its 25th anniversary with the 1995 edition. Not content with publishing the “No. 1 bestseller” as the jacket proclaims, Maltin has launched a new reference volume: “Leonard Maltin’s Movie Encyclopedia” (Dutton, $34.95), a 976-page tome, is brand-new. Only time will determine its usefulness compared to Katz, Halliwell and Monaco. Separating Maltin’s encyclopedia from the others is its failure to list separate filmographies--though some are contained in his annuals.

Among the best-known critics to produce an annual is Roger Ebert, whose 1995 edition is waiting in the wings.

“Roger Ebert’s Video Companion/1994 Edition” (Andrews and McNell, $14.95), 893 pages, proclaims on the cover: “Full-Length Reviews of Movies” and “All-New Essays and Interviews.” Ebert’s reviews are tightly written, complete and match up stars with the names of their characters. Though his star ratings are somewhat unreliable (he tends to go overboard), this is the place to search out a key fact about a recent movie. The index is also a bonus. Ebert must be counted as the successor to Pauline Kael, whose 945-page “5001 Nights at the Movies” (Henry Holt, $22.50) represented the hugely influential New Yorker critic’s swan song in the world of movie references.