What is Cinema?: Volume 1

"Andre Bazin's What Is Cinema? (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. He was co-founder of the influential Cahiers du Cinema, which under his leadership became one of the world's most distinguished publications. Championing the films of Jean Renoir (who contributed a short foreword to Volume I), Orson Welles, and Roberto Rossellini, he became the protege of Francois Truffaut, who honors him touchingly in his forword to Volume II. This new edition includes graceful forewords to each volume by Bazin scholar and biographer Dudley Andrew, who reconsiders Bazin and his place in contemporary film study. The essays themselves are erudite but always accessible, intellectual, and stimulating. As Renoir puts it, the essays of Bazin 'will survive even if the cinema does not.'"--PUBLISHER DESCRIPTION André Bazin's What Is Cinema? (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. He was co-founder of the influential Cahiers du Cinéma, which under his leadership became one of the world's most distinguished publications. Championing the films of Jean Renoir (who contributed a short foreword to Volume I), Orson Welles, and Roberto Rossellini, he became the protégé of François Truffaut, who honors him touchingly in his forword to Volume II. This new edition includes graceful forewords to each volume by Bazin scholar and biographer Dudley Andrew, who reconsiders Bazin and his place in contemporary film study. The essays themselves are erudite but always accessible, intellectual, and stimulating. As Renoir puts it, the essays of Bazin "will survive even if the cinema does not." Frontmatter Foreword to the 2004 Edition (page ix) Introduction (page 1) The Ontology of the Photographic Image (page 9) The Myth of Total Cinema (page 17) The Evolution of the Language of Cinema (page 23) The Virtues and Limitations of Montage (page 41) In Defense of Mixed Cinema (page 53) Theatre and Cinema (page 76) Le Journal d'un Curé de campagne and the Stylistics of Robert Bresson (page 125) Charlie Chaplin (page 144) Cinema and Exploration (page 154) Painting and Cinema (page 164) Notes (page 173) Index (page 179)