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Last week, our critics shared 30 of their favourite short novels and feature films. Here’s how readers responded online:

I wonder if the loss of brevity in film-making is a result of digital technologies that allow the ability to scrub back and forth and endless fiddling? Physical film was expensive and a cut in the film was a physical cut, which represented a definitive editorial decision. SMCanary

Airplane! is 88 minutes of wall-to-wall jokes. Sagarmatha1953

I’m a detective novel fan and it’s noticeable how much longer modern ones are than the novels of the “golden age” of English crime fiction of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. They’re rarely more than 250 pages and quite a few come in at under 200. Old detective stories have a good deal more pace than modern ones. exlangrandeflaneuse

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is a very short novel – but so very dense. So much about those characters’ lives is crammed in – you feel you’ve lived with them, not just read about them.

And it ends and you can’t believe it’s all over. Carefree

What a great article. I would recommend the remarkable EM Forster story The Machine Stops. It’s mind-boggling how something published in 1909 was so correct in its foresight. Bauhaus66

I would add Brief Encounter – 87 perfectly devastating minutes. High Noon is my selection for our movie night this week, so very excited to see it on this list and hoping it will live up to my expectations.