Auteurs and Authorship: A Film Reader 9781405153331, 1405153334, 9781405153348, 1405153342

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1995.9 .A837 A98 2008

Auteurs and Authorship

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

To Norty, a special uncle for who1n this should have come sooner

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Auteurs and Authorship A Film Reader Edited by Barry Keith Grant

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

© 2008 by Blackwell Publishing Editorial content and org:inization 10 2008 by Barry Keith Grant BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ. UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Barry Keith Grant to be identified as the author of the editorial niaterial in this ,vork has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval systen1, or transn1itted, in any fonn or by any rneans, electronic. n1echanical, photocopying, recording or othel'\vise, except as pennitted by the UK Copyright, D~igns. and Patents Act 1988, without the prior pennission of the publisher. Designations used by con1panies to distinguish their products are often clainied as trademarks. All brand nam~ and product nam~ used in this book are trade na,nes. service n1arks, traden1arks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor n1entioncd in this book. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative infonnation in regard to the subject n1atter covered. It is sold on the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering prof~sional services. If prof~sional advice or other expert assistance is required. the services of a con1petent professional should be sought. First published 2008 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd I

2008

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Caral~i11,j[-i11-P11blicario11 Data is avo1ilo1bit' .ft,, 1/,is book.

ISBN: 978-1 -4051 -5333-I (hardback) ISDN: 978-1-4051- 5334-8 (paperback) A catalogue record for this title is available.- fron1 thrt is a film of only secondary in1portance.

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UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Andre Bazin

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Figu re 2.2 Oc,·p focu, cmc111.1tof.""phy by Cr.·i;iz Toland •11d co-wn1tc11 by (_)r;on \Vdk·•

But let's pause a n1on1ent o n this assrrtion - it ,nay. I feel, allo\v us to get to the hl·art of the 111actc: r. I think that noc only ,vould thr supportl'r.. of che polirique des a111e11rs refuse to agree that Cot!/ide111i,1/ Reporr is an inferior fi.1111 to Ciri: r11 Ka11e:5 they ,vould be ,,.,ore eager to clai n, the contrary, and I can ,veU see ho" ' they wo uld go abo ut it. As C,,1ifidc111ial Reporr is Welles·s sixth fi ln1. one can assun1e that a certain anrouut of progress has already been u1ade. Not o nly d id the Welles of 1953 have n1ore experience of hi1nself and of his arc than in 1941 , but ho"vevcr great ,vas the freedon1 he ,vas able to obtain in HollY"vood Citi.zc11 Ka11r can not help re111aining LO a certain t'Xtcn t an It.KO product. T he filn, ,vould never have seen the light of day ,vitho ut the co-operation of son1e superb technici,111s and tht·ir just as adn,irable technical apparatus. Gregg Toland, to 111entio n o nly o ne. ,vas n1ore than a little tl'Spo nsiblc: for the fina l rrsu lt. O n the other hand. C111!fidr111inl Rl'p countll'ss. Uv. .!-,ri,·in~ ,uch ' •

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in1portance to 'B' fihns, the politiq11e des a11te11rs recognizes and confirms this dependence a contrario. Another point is that as the criteria of the politique des a11te11rs are very difficult to fonnulate the whole thing becon1es highly hazardous. It is significant that our finest writers on Ca/riers have been practising it for three or four years no,v and have yet to produce: the n1ain corpus of its theory. Nor is one particular!\' likely to forget how Rivette suggested we should ad111ire Hawks: 'The evidence on the screen is proof of H awks's genius: you only have to watch Alo11krr B11si11ess to know that it is a brilliant film . So111e people refuse to ad1nit this, however; they refuse to be satisfied by proof. There can't be any other reason why they don't recognize it ... ·~ You can see the danger: an aesthetic personality cult. Dut that is not the n1ain point. at least to the extl'nt that the J1litiq11c d1·s a11tc11rs is practised by people of tastt.> who know how to watch their step. It is it, neg-Jtive side that seen1s the most serious to n1e. It is unfom1nate to praise a filn1 that in no way dt'scn·t~ it, but the dangers are less tar-reaching than when a worth,vhile filn1 is rejected because its director has rnade nothing good up to that point. I an1 not denying that the chan1pions of the J'"litiq11c des aute11rs discovt'r or encourage a budding talt.>nt when they g,·t tht' chance. But they do systen1atically look do,vn on anything in a filn1 that conies fron1 a conm1on fund and which can sometin1es be entirely admirable. just as it can be uttt·rly dett'stable. Thus. a certain kind ot popular An1erican culture lies at the basis of Minnelli's Lust _ r;,, Ll_fi·. but another n1ore spontaneous kind of culturt' is also the principlt' of An1erican comedy, thticial, for it is this that gives these cinematic ' genres thc:ir vigour and richnt·ss. resulting as they do fro111 au artistic evolution thJt has always been in \\·011derfully dost' hJnno ny \\·ith its public. And so one can rl'ad a revie,v in C,1/ricrs of a Westen1 by Anthony Mann (a nd (;od kno,,·s I like Anthonv M.1nn\ Wt·stt·n1s!) - as ifit \\·ert· not above all a Western. i.e. a ,vholt' collection of convt·ntions in the script. the at·ting. and the: direction. I know very well that in .1 lihn 111agazinl' ont· 111:1y bl' pennittcd to skip such nn1nd,111e det.1il