Early Film Criticism of Francois Truffaut

by Wheeler Winston Dixon, Sonja Kropp, Ruth C. Hoffman

In his early reviews of American and European films, François Truffaut ignored 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. Truffaut calls here for a New Wave in both production and criticism. His unique, idiosyncratic 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.

Genres: Film

177 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Wheeler Winston Dixon is an American filmmaker, scholar and author, and an expert on film history, theory and criticism.

His scholarship has particular emphasis on François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, American experimental cinema and horror films. He has written extensively on numerous aspects of film, including his books A Short History of Film and A History of Horror. From 1999 through the end of 2014, he was co-editor of the Quarterly Review of Film and Video. He is regarded as a top reviewer of films. In addition, he is notable as an experimental American filmmaker with films made over several decades, and the Museum of Modern Art exhibited his works in 2003. He has taught at a number of schools of higher learning.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews and less analysis of the reviews would have been better.

[Matt Micucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

Francois Truffaut isn't only one of the most interesting filmmakers ever, but according to this book, one of the most exciting film critics, who wasn't afraid of making personal and brutal remarks and opinions in his reviews. The explanations of the reviews slow the pace down a tad bit, but it's worth the discovery of a side of Truffaut everyone knows about, but no one got a chance to see written down in english.