Books

Francois Truffaut
John Sayles, Filmmaker: A Critical Study of the Independent Writer-Director; With a Filmography and a Bibliography
Destination Hollywood: The Influence of Europeans on American Filmmaking
The Casablanca Man: The Cinema of Michael Curtiz
On Sunset Boulevard : The Life and Times of Billy Wilder
Woyzeck (A Methuen Theatre Classic)
Walter Wanger, Hollywood Independent
Fellini: A Life
Reel Canadians: Interviews from the Canadian Film World (Essay Series (Guernica (Firm)), 47.)
David Lean
How to Sleep on a Camel: Adventures of a Documentary Film Director
Untitled
Rupert Hughes: A Hollywood Legend
Marguerite Duras
Tough Acts
Ridley Scott (Virgin Film)
Frank Capra (Twayne's Theatrical Arts Series)
Coline Serreau (French Film Directors)
The Unruly Life of Woody Allen : A Biography
The Girl from God's Country: Nell Shipman and the Silent Cinema
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Woody Allen: The Ultimate Quiz Book
Film Crazy: Interviews With Hollywood Legends
Frank Capra: Authorship and the Studio System (Culture and the Moving Image)
The Best Butler in the Business: Tom Daly of the National Film Board of Canada
Francis Ford Coppola : A Filmmaker's Life

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A really great conversation about film.
I didn't actually read it
If you like the cinema, this book is a must for you!
A must have for a film buff
Best book about Alfred Hitchcock ever

Hitchcock (Revised Edition)
Helen G. Scott , and Francois Truffaut
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Art of Alfred Hitchcock: Fifty Years of His Motion Pictures
Hitchcock's Films Revisited
Conversations with Wilder
The Films in My Life
A Hitchcock Reader

ASIN: 0671604295

Amazon.com

Any book-length interview with Alfred Hitchcock is valuable, but considering that this volume's interlocutor is François Truffaut, the conversation is remarkable indeed. Here is a rare opportunity to eavesdrop on two cinematic masters from very different backgrounds as they cover each of Hitch's films in succession. Though this book was initially published in 1967 when Hitchcock was still active, Truffaut later prepared a revised edition that covered the final stages of his career. It's difficult to think of a more informative or entertaining introduction to Hitchcock's art, interests, and peculiar sense of humor. The book is a storehouse of insight and witticism, including the master's impressions of a classic like Rear Window ("I was feeling very creative at the time, the batteries were well charged"), his technical insight into Psycho's shower scene ("the knife never touched the body; it was all done in the [editing]"), and his ruminations on flops such as Under Capricorn ("If I were to make another picture in Australia today, I'd have a policeman hop into the pocket of a kangaroo and yell 'Follow that car!'"). This is one of the most delightful film books in print. --Raphael Shargel

Customer Reviews:

A really great conversation about film........2006-05-08

This book is a simple idea - Francois Truffaut interviews Alfred Hitchcock about his career. The simplicity makes for an engaging read. The book offers a unique look into the art of film. While it's technically an interview, it reads more like a casual conversation between two people who are incredibly skilled at what they do. If you love behind-the-scenes history of movies, you must pick up this book. Hitchcock talks about everything from casting to costumes to set design for every movie he ever made.

The book starts with Hitchcock's childhood and his first days making silent films in England in the 20's. The interview traces his career all the way to 1966's Torn Curtain. The concluding chapter includes a short interview on Frenzy, Hitch's 1972 hit, and offers Truffaut's comments on Topaz and Family Plot. It also gives a brief summary of The Short Night, a screenplay Hitch was working on shortly before his death. Truffaut also objectively examines the decline in quality of Hitchcock's films toward the end of his career, and explains his interesting theory of great flawed films.

If you love Hitchcock movies, the history of cinema, or the theory of directing, you'll enjoy this book.

I didn't actually read it.......2005-08-07

I bought this book as a gift for my brother who is going into film school soon, and it looks KICK ASS. It was mentioned in the dvd commentary of "The 400 Blows." I hope to borrow it from my bro at some juncture.

If you like the cinema, this book is a must for you! .......2005-07-19

Fifty hours, five hundred questions. This a provocative book. Two filmmakers talking about cinema: the circumstances that surrounded every film, the script elaboration, the backstage problems, the minutely precise reconstruction of the Hitchcock work enriched by the little anecdotes and the penetrating intelligence of Truffaut make of this text an absolute reference consult to explore the intimate universe of the suspense master.
And please don't forget that Truffaut made the Bride wore black in the middle sixties as perpetual homage to A.H.

A must have for a film buff.......2003-12-10

A fantastic concept for a film book that I cannot believe has not been used more often. Francois Truffaut asks all of the right questions and gets Hitch to open up on all of his films. Hitch opens up not only about the great ones, but also the misses (e.g., Under Capricorn, etc.). This is an especially great read when put together with Chabrol & Rohmer's book.

Best book about Alfred Hitchcock ever.......2003-08-20

First off, I have four bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling covered with books about Alfred Hitchcock so I know it when I say it... this is the best book you'll ever read about Alfred Hitchcock and his movies. Notice I say his movies because the Grams and Wikstrom book is the book you need to read if you want to explore Hitchcock's television work. For the most part, this publication is one long lengthy interview and is approached from a director's stand-point. Truffaut explores every aspect and Hitchcok took the time to explore and explain why he did what he did in his films, from his cameo appearances to the trick shots. You'll learn what movies Hitchcock admitted he wanted to do and couldn't resolve the problems (like Phone Booth). This book comes highly recommended.

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Excellent
A movie buff's dream bedside-table, dip-into-it-for-fun book
Wonderful for film buffs
A marvelous realization of how Francois Truffaut views film.

The Films in My Life
Francois Truffaut
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Godard on Godard: Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard (Da Capo Paperback)
Truffaut: A Biography
Hitchcock (Revised Edition)
Cahiers du Cinéma; The 1950s: Neo-Realism, Hollywood, New Wave (Harvard Film Studies)
Fellini on Fellini

ASIN: 0306805995

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2007-03-13

Truffaut's always been a favourite director of mine so it's especially interesting to read his take on other peoples' films.

A movie buff's dream bedside-table, dip-into-it-for-fun book.......2004-03-30

Originally published 1975. 358 pages including index, contents and short list of Truffaut's films.

I refuse to write this review after i've finished the entire book, because i refuse to admit that one day there could be no more of it to read. This is a film buff's dream book. Truffaut was a great filmmaker - his 400 Blows is one of the most beautifully told simple stories of adolescence ever. A sensitive, personal film. His film criticism, if possible, is better than his films. Truffaut had such a love for cinema, and this passion comes across in his writing more so than in his films.

This book is great to just dip into. It is a collection of essays, published and unpublished, expressing his opinion in a playful, fun, yet always intelligent way, of various individual films and entire careers. Included are pieces on the body of work of Chaplin, Welles, Jean Vigo, Jean Renoir, Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, John Ford, Fritz Lang, Frank Capra, Bunuel, Bergman, Fellini, Rossellini, plus many short subjects on individual films by many French new wave filmmakers (Resnais's Night and Fog and Muriel, Vadim's And God Created Woman, Godard's My Life to Live and All Boys... Patrick, as well as some Bresson, Guitry, Tati, Melville, Dassin, Becker, Clouzot and a few others) and American directors of talkies mainly from the 40's and 50's (including Billy Wilder, Elia Kazan, Kubrick's Paths of Glory, Laughton's Night of the Hunter, Lumet's 12 Angry Men, Barefoot Contessa, Bounjour Tristesse and more).

Truffaut died in 1984, and this book was published in 1975 in english, but it doesn't talk about any movie after 1960 (i think), so bear that in mind - this is a chronicle of that period of cinema, which i wasn't that interested in when i bought the book, but it very quickly cultivated an interest in me. So even if you don't know much about movies before 1960, you'll find this book fascinating, and perhaps even inspiring.

Wonderful for film buffs.......2000-11-26

I read this entire book on a flight from London back to the U.S. When I got home, I rented/watched several of the movies mentioned by Truffaut (Rear Window, etc.) watching for the points he made. Many people don't know Truffaut was a journalist as well as a filmmaker. He was able to write as desriptively as his films were imaginative. My only complaint is that this is a book for serious film fans who have already seen the movies he reviews. If you haven't seen the films, his comments aren't referential enough to include you. But, that said, it will help you see many titles in a new way.

A marvelous realization of how Francois Truffaut views film........1998-07-17

A film critic and director, Francois Truffaut, brings the reader into an almost literary expositon on films and how they affect us. He takes film beyond its bounds by noting the joys and sorrows directors have put into their creations. Truffaut, as a great director himself, discusses directors and actors like Hitchcock, Renoir, Bergman, Kazin, Welles, Wilder, and many others. What impressed me about the book was the compassion Truffaut has for film making. He brings out the nuances that I failed to notice in great films. For instance, in his discussion of Citizen Kane, he brings out the parallelism between Charles Foster Kane's mother and his love for Susan Alexander by saying Alexander was areplacemnent for his separated mother. And of course rosebud and the snow dome create the crux for such parallels to show uo. In his review for Kane, he brings out such nuances that only a well-carved critic and director could do. Those out there who enjoy film and all its! ! complexities will enjoy this book. A Frenchman discovers what made such films great in so many people's eyes: Rear Window, 8 1/2, The Seven Year Itch, and many other great films. I love Truffaut, so reading what he likes and dislikes was a sheer pleasure - sumptuous at times!

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Fine, but not a biography

François Truffaut
Annette Insdorf
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0521478081

Book Description

Long considered the definitive volume on Truffaut's genius, Annette Insdorf's study returns to print in a revised and updated edition. With fresh insights and an extensive section on the director's last five films, Insdorf captures the essence and totality of his work. She discusses his contributions to the French New Wave, his relationship with his mentors Hitchcock and Renoir, and the dominant themes of his cinema--women, love, children, and language--while exploring his own life in relation to his films. As warmly and piercingly human as its subject, François Truffaut immortalizes one of the cinema's most popular, prolific, and profound artists.

Customer Reviews:

Fine, but not a biography.......2001-05-18

The title is misleading, since this book is NOT a biography of the French New Wave director, but instead a thorough analysis of his films. It should have been called "The Films of Francois Truffaut." Professor Insdorf makes clear the connections among Truffaut's films. Many of those connections are quite surprising, and will deepen your appreciation of the films. Also, this book is the last word on Truffaut's influences. Professor Insdorf's description of the director's marriage of the Hitchcock sensibility with the lyricism of Jean Renoir is magnificent. This is a fine companion to the director's films, but the biographical data -- about Truffaut's youth and film criticism -- is perfunctory. And there is precious little on Truffaut's interaction with other French and world filmmakers.

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Not definitive, but the best biography we have so far...
THE DIRECTOR WHO LOVED WOMEN
A book that delves deeply into the life of Truffaut
Comprehensive and frequently touching biography

Truffaut: A Biography
Antoine de Baecque , and Serge Toubiana
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Films in My Life
François Truffaut
Godard on Godard: Critical Writings by Jean-Luc Godard (Da Capo Paperback)
Hitchcock (Revised Edition)
The Bride Wore Black

ASIN: 0520225244

Amazon.com

The mass movie audience knows him best as the sweet French scientist in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but François Truffaut (1932-1984) made his first thunderous impact on world cinema as "that young thug of journalism." In the 1950s, as this culturally savvy biography by two French film journalists reminds us, Truffaut and a group of like-minded friends at the legendary Cahiers du Cinéma blasted traditional French film as too literary and polished. They proclaimed the birth of rougher, more personal moviemaking by "auteurs" (directors who wrote their own scripts) who were as intoxicated by the medium's possibilities as by the classic Hollywood movies these Young Turks adored. Truffaut practiced what he preached in early films like The Four Hundred Blows and Jules and Jim, which electrified a new generation of American directors who came of age in the 1960s. His private life was just as unconventional: though divorced from his first wife in 1965, they remained business associates through his many affairs with actresses (to whom he was also chronically unfaithful), and he even moved back in with her for a while when the brain tumor that ultimately killed him made it impossible to function alone. His biographers convey all this turbulent material with Gallic lucidity and toughness, seeing no need to make their subject conventionally lovable by softening his sharp edges. --Wendy Smith

Book Description

Here is the definitive story of one of the most celebrated filmmakers of our time, an intensely private individual who cultivated the public image of a man consumed by his craft. But as this absorbing biography shows, Truffaut's personal story--from which he drew extensively to create the characters and plots of his films--is itself an extraordinary human drama.

Customer Reviews:

Not definitive, but the best biography we have so far..........2004-01-09

While I share the other reviewer's enthusiasm for this excellent biography, there were some problems with the book that suggest to me that there is more to be said about Mr. Truffaut. The jumps in time throughout the book were ominous, as if the authors either didn't have enough information or didn't want to write about a particular moment in Truffaut's life. The organization of the book into short chapters with titles like "Friends First" and "The Diminished Life" some only 3 or 4 paragraphs long interrupted the flow of the narrative for me and made it hard to keep names and events clearly in my mind's eye. The biography was strongest on the early and late periods in the director's life. The long middle section felt repetitive and I found myself wandering a bit. As other reviewers have pointed out: you wont' find any exhaustive information on the making of various films in this book. I am looking forward to reading the Insdorf book for film coverage. There is an exhaustive listing of Truffaut's written works at the end of the book, but a curiously short list of books an articles on Truffaut (24 listings primarily in French). I suspect that the publishers trimmed this list considerably, so you will have to look elsewhere for a comprehensive bibliography. Despite my criticisms I enjoyed this book a great deal and it has led me back to the films which are now enhanced from reading this biography.

THE DIRECTOR WHO LOVED WOMEN.......2000-11-01

When you saw all of TRUFFAUT's films ,this book has the edge over all other books about him.It is a complete biography about a man who had a passion for making movies.It is also about a man who loved actresses and had love affairs with many of them.FRANCOIS is all over the book with his strenghts and his weaknesses.Many of his movies have autobiographical contents;STOLEN KISSES for instance show his obsession with women;The character of AZNAVOUR in SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER is almost a portrait of himself;JULES AND JIM was a love triangle ,and in his private life FRANCOIS had several mistresses at the same time.His sensitive approach has also ruined a few movies like THE SOFT SKIN and THE MISSISSIPI MERMAID.As a critic he could be very rude at times ,but he was a convincing debator.Finally ,i would say that movies were really his escape from the monotomy of life ;it was his own ticket for adventure.A worthy biography ,because i learn things about him beyond gossip.

A book that delves deeply into the life of Truffaut.......2000-02-08

The book starts from before day one, describing Truffaut's conception into the world as accidental and unwanted. We see parents who were much harsher and less loving in the bio than we do in The 400 Blows. We are presented with a boy genius turned truant, turned self-hating autodidact who by the grace of some magical force is redeemed. That magical force, of course, is the beauty and wonder of film. Amid this telling, we are given a lesson in French film history. Great names like Max Ophuls, Jean Renoir, Alain Resnais, Goddard, and Cocteau. We see this young boy rise from a state of debilitating poverty to the ranks of polemical, ingenious film criticism. We are excited when this precocious film journalist rails against a heavily commercialized, stagnant film establishment, and we hold our breaths when this same critic turns director, and releases his first full length feature, The 400 Blows and wins the Cannes' Grand Jury Prize.

In this biography, the wonderful and important films that made Truffaut famous take a back seat. Instead, we see how his formative years inform his adult years in his search for love from actress, to actress, to actress. We see Truffaut's friendships and fall outs with brilliant filmmakers, and we see what goes on behind the scenes on the sets of his films. We realize, quite easily, that Truffaut the man is very special.

At the end of the book, we come away with at least a glimpse of the true essence of Truffaut--a singular genius, searching for love in life and through films; a humble creator who makes films to please no one but himself; a charming friend who prefers humor over sentimentality; and most of all, an intensely private individual who used film to articulate his deepest yearnings. Yes, Truffaut was a great film maker, but as this biography so convincingly shows, he was an even greater person.

Comprehensive and frequently touching biography.......1999-08-14

There was considerable autobiographical content to the movies of Truffaut, but they expose only a public side, frequently with a focus on male/female relations. Truffaut's childhood is exposed as sadder, but possibly less harsh than his image (and The 400 Blows) suggest. The rest of his life was lived to its fullest with many life-long friends, close working relationships and a touching continuity to his relations with the women in his life, even after the time of passion had passed. There are many references to French intellectuals and film-makers that will not be familiar to American readers and occassionally slow the book down. The description of the genesis of many of the famous movies and the time and troubles to be overcome to bring a movie to the viewer is as the best I have read. All-in-all, this is an entertaining and extremely well-written biography. The translation is seamless.

Francois Truffaut and Friends: Modernism, Sexuality, and Film Adaptation

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Francois Truffaut and Friends: Modernism, Sexuality, and Film Adaptation
Robert Stam
Manufacturer: Rutgers University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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El Cine Segun Hitchcock/ The Cinema According to Hitchcock (Libro Practico Y Aficiones / Practical Books and Fans)

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El Cine Segun Hitchcock/ The Cinema According to Hitchcock (Libro Practico Y Aficiones / Practical Books and Fans)
Francois Truffaut
Manufacturer: Alianza
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Amazing Book
An illustrious insight to a master at work.

Francois Truffaut at Work
Carole Le Berre
Manufacturer: Phaidon Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Mississippi Mermaid

ASIN: 071484568X

Book Description

Influential film critic, leading Nouvelle Vague director and heir to the humanistic cinematic tradition of Jean Renoir, François Truffaut made films that reflected his three professed passions: a love of cinema, an interest in male-female relationships and a fascination with children. A comprehensive, behind-the-scenes examination of his entire career, this fascinating book provides an illuminating and comprehensively illustrated guide to his entire career, and an in-depth look at his methods.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing Book.......2007-01-18

I bought this for my husband (a filmmaker) and he devoured this book. He has other books about Truffaut, and this one still provides new information. The photos are beautiful and the text informative.

An illustrious insight to a master at work........2006-03-18

I think they should have opted for a color photo on the slipcover, as the black and white scene they used gives no indication of the stunning use of color photography found inside this book. It is loaded with stills taken from the production of all of Truffaut's films, and is packed with pics I've never seen before.

There have been lots of books on Truffaut over the years, and most of them covering his personal life, and in depth anlaysis of all his films, but this is the first I've seen to focus strictly on what it took for Truffaut to get each of his film's made. It certainly isn't a photo book, as there's tons of text accounting the many facets of a man who loved his craft. Everything from how certain actors came to get parts in his film, to how Truffaut would invent scenes in his films, right in the middle of production.

I certainly haven't read it all yet, but what I have I found very intriguing, and between the in depth stories behind the films, and the great pictorial history, this book is certainly a keeper.

The Story of Adele H.: The Complete Script of the Film (An Evergreen Black Cat Book ; B395)

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The Story of Adele H.: The Complete Script of the Film (An Evergreen Black Cat Book ; B395)
Francois Truffaut
Manufacturer: Grove Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0394179080

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Orson Welles: A Critical View
Andre Bazin
Manufacturer: Acrobat Books
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A Passion for Films : Henri Langlois & the Cinematheque Francaise

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A Passion for Films : Henri Langlois & the Cinematheque Francaise
Richard Roud
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
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Book Description

"Richard Roud has brought to life a man as picturesque and as contradictory as a Dickens character... Thanks to Roud... a thick and well-kept-up curtain of mystery rises to reveal to us the founder of the Cinémathèque Française, a man who was both unassuming and extravagant, a fabulous man, an obsessed man, and man animated by an idée fixe, a haunted man." -- François Truffaut, from the Foreword

When Henri Langlois began collecting prints of films in the 1920s, most people -- even many in the film industry -- thought of movies as a cheap and disposable form of entertainment. Langlois recognized them as a priceless form of art and worthy of preservation. In 1935, he founded the Cinémathèque Française, the legendary film library and screening room in Paris which Jean Renoir described as "the church for movies" and Bernardo Bertolucci called "the best school of cinema in the world." Indeed, some of the world's most influential filmmakers -- including Godard, Resnais, Truffaut, Rivette, and Wenders -- learned their craft by watching the classic films Langlois devoted his life to saving from destruction and obscurity.

As Richard Roud reveals in this "affectionate, intriguing biography" (Times Literary Supplement), Langlois was a brilliant and temperamental man who could be, by turns, charming and maddening. Marvelously creative, Langlois was also so incredibly disorganized that, once the Cinémathèque became a government institution, he was dismissed as its director in 1968 by then Minister of Culture André Malraux, an action which caused Europe's eminent film personalities to protest in the street of Paris until he was reinstated. By the time of his death in 1977, Langlois's genius for rediscovering the cinema of the past (he championed the works of Abel Gance, Carl Dreyer, and Louis Feuillade when they were considered passé by his contemporaries and defended Howard Hawks against the disdain of American intellectuals) and his desire to share his discoveries with the world (at a time when other film archives refused to screen any of the films in their collection) had inspired a great and abiding love of cinema in a generation of filmgoers, leaving behind a legacy director Nicholas Ray considered "perhaps the most important individual effort ever accomplished in the history of the cinema."

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