The Cinema of Cruelty: From Bunuel to Hitchcock by André Bazin (First Softcover Edition)

Published by Seaver Books, 1982
Perfect bound softcover
First Edition
176 pages
8x5.5 inches

Near Fine condition.

Edited and with an Introduction by François Truffaut.

Perhaps the single most important voice of cinema in the twentieth century, André Bazin profoundly influenced the development of the scholarship that we know now as film criticism. Bazin has acutely analyzed the cinematic values of our time, extending to his international audiences “the impact of art for the understanding and discrimination of his readers.” The depth and logic of his commentary has elevated film criticism to new heights. The reputation of André Bazin continues to grow as his writings are published and studied by filmmakers and filmgoers alike. Often referred to as the Edmund Wilson of film, Bazin was more than a critic. “He made me see certain aspects of my work that I was unaware of,” said Luis Buñuel. “He was our conscience,” wrote Jean Renoir. “He was a logician in action,” echoed François Truffaut. In The Cinema of Cruelty, François Truffaut has collected Bazin’s writings on six film “greats”: Erich von Stroheim, Carl Dreyer, Preston Sturges, Luis Buñuel, Alfred Hitchcock, and Akira Kurosawa. The result is a major collection of film criticism.