Manna from heaven for French Film Fanciers. The final project of writer/director/raconteur Bertrand Tavernier (quickly followed by a nine episode tv expansion), both a highly personal and surprisingly uneccentric survey of a century in French cinema. All the usual suspects: Renoir, Truffaut, Godard, Carné, Varda, Chabrol, actors like Jean Gabin & Eddie Constantine, composer Joseph Kosma, with directors Jacques Becker, Claude Sautet & Jean-Pierre Melville landing as particular favorites. A treat to be able to count on beautiful prints! (Though a FRENCH CANCAN clip looks ‘blasted,’ its recent restoration unavailable?) Perhaps easy accessibility explains why these walk-thru film histories are popular just now. Martin Scorsese has done two (both poor); Mark Cousins’ 15-part STORY OF FILM loaded with cherry picked factoids and inaccuracies to make pre-digested points. By comparison, Tavernier is an exemplary guide, unafraid to buck tradition, generous by default, always on the prowl for good films regardless of politics, Party Line or auteurist theory hegemony. (Rather male-centric though; perhaps this is addressed, at least with actresses, in the tv followup.) Tavernier knows everything, has met everyone and earned his opinions having worked all sides of the industry. Plus, he’s fun . . . even when you disagree. With his often hilarious anecdotes, love & knowledge of American cinema, what a Hollywood survey Tavernier had in him if only he’d lived long enough.
DOUBLE-BILL: Kevin Brownlow & David Gill’s all-enveloping Silent Cinema history, HOLLYWOOD, a giant documentary leap that set the modern standard for these things. Made in 1980, its eleven hours now hard to find. Perhaps it's getting a much needed restoration.
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