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Cinema Yesterday and Today
The English translation by Stanley Appelbaum, edited and with an introduction by R C Dale, of the book by French film director Rene Clair.
This is the first English translation of Rene Clair’s Cinema d’hier, cinema d’aujourd’hui, which, when it appeared in France in 1970, easily won the prize for best film book of the year. In it the master of French film comedy plays with time in much the same way that a film editor might – he combines reviews written during the twenties and thirties with comments made in 1950 and again in 1970, and includes brief notes from other years as well as an imaginary dialogue with himself across time. The result is surprisingly unified. It is Clair’s coherent vision of the cinema as he surveys his entire career and the whole of film history. In the best sense of the term, it is an essay, and one of the very few such works written by a giant in the world of film.
Mixing personal memories with critical perception and aesthetics, he discusses the making of Entr’acte and comments specifically on a large number of European and American films. He recounts his struggle through the birth of the sound film, hailing it for its potential but regretting the loss of a world of dreams.
Clair does not consider cinema in a vacuum but alludes frequently to the works of Rimbaud, Jarry, Shakespeare, Moliere, Racine, De Quincey and a host of others. His own writing is full of intelligence, freedom and elegance. His defense of comedy is striking, and he gives ample play to his own comic sense in the many anecdotes that everywhere enliven the text. Perhaps his love of cinema is best illustrated by his use of three words in describing it–”miracle,” “faith” and “grace.”
This is the first English translation of Rene Clair’s Cinema d’hier, cinema d’aujourd’hui, which, when it appeared in France in 1970, easily won the prize for best film book of the year. In it the master of French film comedy plays with time in much the same way that a film editor might – he combines reviews written during the twenties and thirties with comments made in 1950 and again in 1970, and includes brief notes from other years as well as an imaginary dialogue with himself across time. The result is surprisingly unified. It is Clair’s coherent vision of the cinema as he surveys his entire career and the whole of film history. In the best sense of the term, it is an essay, and one of the very few such works written by a giant in the world of film.
Mixing personal memories with critical perception and aesthetics, he discusses the making of Entr’acte and comments specifically on a large number of European and American films. He recounts his struggle through the birth of the sound film, hailing it for its potential but regretting the loss of a world of dreams.
Clair does not consider cinema in a vacuum but alludes frequently to the works of Rimbaud, Jarry, Shakespeare, Moliere, Racine, De Quincey and a host of others. His own writing is full of intelligence, freedom and elegance. His defense of comedy is striking, and he gives ample play to his own comic sense in the many anecdotes that everywhere enliven the text. Perhaps his love of cinema is best illustrated by his use of three words in describing it–”miracle,” “faith” and “grace.”
- GenresFilm
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1970
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About the author
René Clair
44 books2 followersRené Clair (11 November 1898 – 15 March 1981), born René-Lucien Chomette, was a French filmmaker and writer. He first established his reputation in the 1920s as a director of silent films in which comedy was often mingled with fantasy. He went on to make some of the most innovative early sound films in France, before going abroad to work in the UK and USA for more than a decade. Returning to France after World War II, he continued to make films that were characterised by their elegance and wit, often presenting a nostalgic view of French life in earlier years. He was elected to the Académie française in 1960. Clair's best known films include Un chapeau de paille d'Italie (The Italian Straw Hat, 1928), Sous les toits de Paris (Under the Roofs of Paris, 1930), Le Million (1931), À nous la liberté (1931), I Married a Witch (1942), and And Then There Were None (1945).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 16, 2008
Rene Clair is one of my favorite French directors. He worked with everyone from mainstream Hollywood to Marcel Duchamp/Man Ray/ and even Erik Satie! Saying all that this book (now out of print, of course) deals with what makes Clair tick in the world of cinema. A film fan, he writes about other directors and their works. Fascinating document from an underrated Film Director.
April 29, 2009
Great ruminations on the history and future of our greatest communication tool. Watch his films. Highly influential filmmaker. Charlie Chaplin stole entire sequences from him. LE MILLION is one of the best.
February 13, 2008
Many art history students know of Clair's early dadaist film "Entr'acte" but I wonder how many have seen his later more mainstream 'light' feature comedies, etc? I've seen as many as I've haphazardly found, & liked them, but most of them aren't even close to as powerful for me as "Entr'acte". As such, I like Clair's work alot but he's not exactly one of my favorite directors. Nonetheless, I'm sure I read this bk w/ some rapt attn to his opinions. In fact, it wd be interesting to write such a bk myself! In this bk, Clair mainly discusses other people's work rather than his own. I forgive him for liking Griffith.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews