Film Culture (February 1958)

FIeM: CULTURE THE MOTION PICTURE AND TV MONTHLY VOLUME IV, NO. 2(17) FEBRUARY 1958 Editor-in-Chief and Publisher Jonas Mekas Editors George N. Fenin Edouard Laurot Adolfas Mekas Gilbert Seldes Television Editor Associate Editors Eugene Archer Louis Brigante Ronald Cowan Arlene Croce Andrew Sarris Layout George Maciunas Guido Aristarco, Italy Francis Bolen, Belgium J. Broz, Czechoslovakia Jose Clemente, Spain Lotte H. Eisner, France Eugenio Hintz, Uruguay E. Patalas, W. Germany Tony Richardson, England Foreign Correspondents Subscription rates (domestic and foreign): One year $5, two years $9. Single current copy 50c, back issues 75c each. All letters, subscriptions and manuscripts should be addressed to FILM CULTURE, 215 West 98th Street, New York 25, N.Y. Copyright, 1958 by FILM CULTURE. Printed in the U. S. A. Publisher’s Printing Representative: Harry Gantt, 360 Cabrini Blvd., New York 40, N. Y. CO 5-7451. The opinions expressed by the contributors do not necessarily represent those of the editors. Distributor for retail sale: Bernhard de Boer, 102 Beverly Road, Bloomfield, N. J. West Coast advertising representative: Robert Pike, 1700 N. Lima St., Burbank, Calif. Second class mail privileges authorized at New. York, "N;. ¥: OUR COVER: A still from Together, directed by Lorenza Mazzetti and Denis Horne. A story of two deaf-mutes in London’s East End filmed in neorealistic style. The film won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival (1956) and is one in a series of films sponsored by the British Film Institute’s Experimental Production Committee. It was introduced to London audiences in a program of Free Cinema — a movement for the rejuvenation of the documentary approaches. Together and other Free Cinema films are distributed in this country by Contemporary Films (13 East 37 Street, New York City). See more about Free Cinema on p. 9. CONTENTS .3 : An Interview with Jules Dassin 5: A Preface to the Problems of the Experimental Film 9 : Free Cinema, | ll: Free Cinema, II 12: Bride of Sputnik 15: Paths of Glory 15: The Bridge on the River Kwai 16: The Bolshoi Ballet : Other Recent Releases 18: Coffee, Brandy & Cigars 19: Arthur Knight Answers 20: An Answer to Federico Fellini 21: A Critical Audience For Film 22: Books George Bluestone some) Parker Tyler Lewis Jacobs Rudolf Arnheim Marjorie Farber Jonathan Baumbach George N. Fenin Arlene Croce Herman G. Weinberg Guido Aristarco Cameron Macauley PROV PDVUUUUUUD 2 By now we can look at the film balance of 1957 from a one month perspective. In the first place, there has been a comparatively good array of imported films: From France came the most impressive list, with Bresson's A MAN ESCAPED, Clement's GERVAISE, Lamorisse's THE RED BALLOON, Cayatte's WE ARE ALL MURDERERS-—each a well-made and impressive cinematic work. Denmark has sent us one of the few unquestionable screen masterpieces, Carl Th. Dreyer's ORDET—a fable of morality from the author of JOAN OF ARC and DAY OF WRATH. From Italy came De Sica's GOLD OF NAPLES and Fellini's CABIRIA (it has also been the year of Fellini's two trips to this country—for the Academy Award in the spring and for the opening of CABIRIA later in autumn). Sweden has closed the year with one of the best comedies we have seen in years—Bergman's SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT. From Mexico we have seen TORERO! and RAICES, a film of great realism. THE FORTY-FIRST was the only important film from Russia, a beautifully filmed love story that broke the rules of Stalinist film plotting. Kautner's THE LAST BRIDGE, a stylized anti-war film, was a joint production of West Germany-Yugoslavia. In the experimental category, undoubtedly, the most important contributions have been Hans Richter's feature film poem, 8 BY 8, and Vesely's NICHT MEHR FLIEHEN. Others: Maya Deren's THE VERY EYE OF NIGHT, Shirley Clarke's A MOMENT IN LOVE, Willard Maas' and Ben Moore's NARCISSUS, McLaren's BLINKITY BLANK. The documentary film, at its lowest level in years now in this country, has given us two features, Rogosin's ON THE BOWERY and Jerome Hill's ALBERT SCHWEITZER—both of which are valuable documents. Another important event in the documentary film has been the screening of Free Cinema films in this country—TOGETHER, NICE TIME, O DREAMLAND, MOMMA DON'T ALLOW, EVERY DAY EXCEPT CHRISTMAS—the exciting documentaries by young British film-makers, the only creative contribution to cinema that reached us from Britain in 1957. Here we should also mention the First International Film Festival that took place in San Francisco in December—the first international film festival in this country—introducing some films as yet unreleased here, such as IL GRIDO, PATHER PANCHALI, KANAL, QIVITOG, THRONE OF BLOOD; and the French and German film retrospectives held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. American feature productions: Although we haven't had films of the quality of ORDET, CABIRIA, or A MAN ESCAPED, nevertheless, films such as A FACE IN THE CROWD, THE YOUNG STRANGER, SWEET SMELL. OF’ SUCCESS, BACHELOR PARTY, A HATFUL OF RAIN, THE GREAT MAN, and 12 ANGRY MEN have all been interesting attempts to record the contemporary Americana. Kubrick's PATHS OF GLORY was an acid denunciation of war. Such important directors as David Lean (THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI), Ford (THE RISING OF THE MOON), Huston (HEAVEN KNOWS, MR. ALLISON), Donen (FUNNY FACE), Wilder (LOVE IN THE AFTERNOON) have each contributed interesting though flawed works. Perhaps more important is the fact that several young directors have registered promising talents with their first attempts: John Frankenheimer (THE YOUNG STRANGER), Martin Ritt (EDGE OF THE CITY), Jack Garfein (THE STRANGE ONE), Sidney Lumet (12 ANGRY MEN), Karl Malden (TIME LIMIT), Thomas Carr (DINO)—bringing some new hopes for American cinema, JONAS MEKAS