The Early Film Criticism of Francois Truffaut [Hardcover]

Francois Truffaut (Author), Wheeler Winston Dixon (Author), Ruth Cassel Hoffman (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1993 | ISBN-10: 0253318076 | ISBN-13: 978-0253318077

Before turning to filmmaking, Franiois Truffaut was a film critic writing for Cahiers du Cin ma during the 1950s. "The Early Film Criticism of Franiois Truffaut" makes available, for the first time in English, articles that originally appeared in French journals such as "Cahiers du Cin ma" and "Arts". Wheeler Winston Dixon puts Truffaut's commentary in context, and the articles translated for this study give the reader an overview of these formative years of the great French film director's career. Truffaut discusses films by such acknowledged masters as Hitchcock, Huston, Dymytryk, and Lang, but also examines the work of lesser-known directors such as Robert Wise, Don Weis, and Roger Vadim. In reviews of American and European films, he ignores the artificial boundaries between Hollywood and 'foreign' films and 'A' and 'B' productions. As these articles make clear, what Truffaut prized most was the cinematic 'truth' in those films he admired; he despised the then-current 'literariness' of French cinema. He calls here for a New Wave in both production and criticism. Truffaut's writing style has been carefully preserved in these translations, allowing the reader access to writings that shaped his later film career and changed the face of modern film criticism.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The 60 film reviews in this volume, now published in English for the first time, mark a delightful and significant addition to the great French filmmaker's canon. The astute commentary of Dixon, director of film studies at the University of Nebraska, places the Truffaut writings in both historical and biographical contexts. The collection is built around several themes, most prominently Truffaut's concern with the American B-movie and with favorite filmmakers like Renoir, Lang, Cukor and Hitchcock (whom he praises particularly effusively). Likewise, he is warm in his praise of Cukor's collaboration with Garson Kanin: "They reward American cinema every year with a masterpiece." Although his films bespeak a warm and fuzzy liberal humanism, as a film critic Truffaut had a reputation as a devastating hatchet man. This volume includes a savage and funny pan of Giant and more guardedly negative assessments of John Huston, of whom Truffaut asks, "Will he always be no more than an amateur?" Dixon argues that what makes these early writings important is Truffaut's dual role as a great filmmaker and as one of the first critics to take American genre films seriously. But what makes the book enjoyable is Truffaut's often witty and provocative writing.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"The 60 film reviews in this volume ... mark a delightful and significant addition to the great French filmmaker's canon... But what makes the book enjoyable is Truffaut's often witty and provocative writing." - Publishers Weekly " ... an excellent read ... enjoyable and insightful ... " - Sight and Sound --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 202 pages
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr (February 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253318076
• ISBN-13: 978-0253318077
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,179,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)