Post-War French Film Culture and the Evolution of the Auteur Theory

André Bazin (1918-1958)

Film critic, editor of Cahiers du Cinéma, co-founded with Jacques Doniol-Valcroze and Lo Duca in 1951 (first issue, 1952).

Sources:Dan North, Spectacular Attractions (left); La Bibliothèque du film, "À propos d' 'Ouvrir Bazin'" (right).

First issue of Cahiers (March 1952), featuring Sunset Boulevard.

Cahiers issue #91 (January 1959) featured a tribute to Bazin, who had died two months earlier.
Source (issue #91): La Bibliothèque du film, "À propos d' 'Ouvrir Bazin'".

"Martin Scorsese", on The Simpsons, comments on Bazin and auteurism (and mispronounces his name)

Qu'est-ce que le cinéma? (What is Cinema?)

"Ontologie de l'image photographique" is the first article in volume 1 (Éditions du cerf, 1958).

Claude Chabrol and Jean-Luc Godard in Cahiers du cinéma offices, 1959.
Source: © J.GAROFALO/PARISMATCH/SCOOP

Cahiers du Cinéma, François Truffaut, and la politique des auteurs

• January 1954: François Truffaut, "Une certaine tendance du cinéma français" (the auteur theory's manifesto, but it does not contain the key phrase)
• February 1955: François Truffaut, "Ali Baba et la 'Politique des auteurs'" (phrase first appears, in a review of Jacques Becker's film, Ali Baba et les 40 voleurs [Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves], 1954)
• October 1956: Eric Rohmer, "Les lecteurs des 'Cahiers' et la politique des auteurs" ("The readers of Cahiers and the politique des auteurs")
• April 1957: André Bazin, "De la politique des auteurs" ("On the politique des auteurs")

"Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français"

"Une Certaine Tendance du Cinéma Français," in its original; a French transcription from Les pages de Nezumi (local copy); "A Certain Tendancy in the French Cinema," in English translation.

Source of Cahiers cover: Revista Interludio.

"Ali Baba et la 'Politique des auteurs'"

A review of Jacques Becker's film, Ali Baba et les 40 voleurs (Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, 1954).

Continued: page 46, page 47.

Henri Langlois (1914-1977)

Established Cinémathèque Française in 1936.

Source: Henri Langlois: Phantom of the Cinémathèque.

His firing from the Cinémathèque Française in 1968 provoked riots.

Langlois (center), with Darryl Zanuck, Otto Preminger, Gloria Swanson

Dennis Hopper and Langlois (July 13 1976)

Alexandre Astruc (1923-)

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Source: http://www.toutlecine.com/images/star/0006/00060076-alexandre-astruc.html

Source: A Certain Cinema

"The Birth of a New Avant-Garde: La caméra-stylo" (L'Ecran Français, 1948)

1954 Louis Delluc Award Dinner

Seated: Jean Renoir, Henri-Georges Clouzot (winner for Les Diaboliques) and André Malraux. Standing: Jacques Tati, Jacques Becker, Robert Bresson, G. Masso, Alexandre Astruc and Noël-Noël. Source: A Certain Cinema.

Andrew Sarris

1928-2012

Source: Senses of Cinema

"Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962," Film Culture 27, no. 27 (Winter 1962/63), 1-8.

Source: Robert Polito, "Farber on Film: Introduction, Part 2 (Farber and Negative Space)"

Auteurism's defining moment

Pauline Kael's response

Source: Alex Belth, "Million Dollar Movie," Bronx Banter.

"Circles and Squares," on JSTOR or local copy (password protected).

Peter Wollen

1938-2020

Source: "U of M Students Respond to Riddles of the Sphinx"

Bibliography

1. John Lynch, "André Bazin: An Unofficial Tribute to The World-Renowned Film Critic and Film Theorist," www.unofficialbaziniantrib.com.
2. "Langlois Monumental," user.tninet.se/~vze870k/crtmlanglois.html .