André Bazin, the Critic as Thinker

"André Bazin (191858) is credited with almost single-handedly establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit, as well as with being the spiritual father of the French New Wave. Among those who came under his tutelage were four who would go on to become the most renowned directors of the postwar French cinema: François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, and Claude Chabrol. Bazin can also be considered the principal instigator of the equally influential auteur theory: the idea that, since film is an art form, the director of a movie must be perceived as the chief creator of its unique cinematic style.André Bazin, the Critic as Thinker: American Cinema from Early Chaplin to the Late 1950s contains, for the first time in English in one volume, much if not all of Bazins writings on American cinema: on directors such as Orson Welles, Charles Chaplin, Preston Sturges, Alfred Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, John Huston, Nicholas Ray, Erich von Stroheim,and Elia Kazan; and on films such as High Noon, Citizen Kane, Rear Window, Limelight, Scarface, Niagara, The Red Badge of Courage, Greed, and Sullivans Travels.André Bazin, the Critic as Thinker: American Cinema from Early Chaplin to the Late 1950s also features a sizable scholarly apparatus, including a contextual introduction to Bazins life and work, a complete bibliography of Bazins writings on American cinema, and credits of the films discussed. This volume thus represents a major contribution to the still growing academic discipline of cinema studies, as well as a testament to the continuing influence of one of the worlds pre-eminent critical thinkers."

Acknowledgements.- List of Film Images.- Introduction.- I: Themes and Genres.- Westerns and Americans.- Howard Hughess The Outlaw.- A Meta-Western: Fred Zinnemanns High Noon.- The Western, or the American Film Par Excellence.- The Evolution of the Western.- Brilliant Variations on Some Well-Known Notes: Nicholas Rays Johnny Guitar.- The Exemplary Beauty of Westerns: Anthony Manns The Man from Laramie and Budd Boettichers Seven Men from Now.- War and Peace.- Howard Hawkss Air Force.- On Frank Capras Why We Fight: History, Documentation, and the Newsreel.- On Ambiguity: John Hustons The Red Badge of Courage.- War Films: Richard Fleischers Between Heaven and Hell and Anthony Manns Men in War.- Stanley Kramers The Pride and the Passion.- High Infidelity: David Leans The Bridge on the River Kwai.- Stars and Goddesses.- Entomology of the Pin-Up Girl.- Henry Hathaways Niagara.- Doll in the Flesh, Cotton on Fire: Elia Kazans Baby Doll.- The Death of Humphrey Bogart.- The Question of James Dean.- Off the Beaten Path: John Cromwells The Goddess.- Fugitives and Criminals.- Howard Hawkss Scarface and the Gangster Film.- Joseph Loseys M: Remade in the U.S.A..- Women in Cages: John Cromwells Caged.- Film through a Telephoto Lens: Ray Ashley, Morris Engel,& Ruth Orkins The Little Fugitive.- Sociological Routines: Philip Dunnes Ten North Frederick.- Jean Renoirs The Woman on the Beach, The Southerner, and The Diary of a Chambermaid.- II: Artists and Directors.- Charles Chaplin [18891977].- Charlie Chaplin.- The Myth of Monsieur Verdoux.- Limelight, or the Death of Molière.- The Grandeur of Limelight.- Alfred Hitchcock [18991980].- On Shadow of a Doubt, Lifeboat, and Rear Window.- Pan Shot of Hitchcock.- Must We Believe in Hitchcock?.- Hitchcock vs. Hitchcock.- Erich von Stroheim [18851957].- Erich von Stroheim: Form, Uniform, and Cruelty.- Preston Sturges [18981959].- On Sullivans Travels.- On The Miracle of Morgans Creek.- On Hail the Conquering Hero.- On Mad Wednesday.- Orson Welles [191585].- The Technique of Citizen Kane.- On Welless Othello.- Interview with Orson Welles.- Orson Welles Cannibalized.- William Wyler [190281].- William Wyler, or the Jansenist of Directing.- Film Credits (in order of discussion).- A Bazin Bibliography.- Index.