My Gleanings

Sunday, December 02, 2007

Cahiers and Positif feudin', fightin' and concurrin'

One of the primary documents in the contention Cahiers du Cinema/Positif during was François Truffaut's Positif copie zéro which appeared in the January 1958 issue of Cahiers.
On page 43 of that same issue of Cahiers, at the top of the tableau for the monthly "conseil des dix" (council of ten), the Pakula-Mulligan film Fear Strikes Out was considered. 8 critics abstained on the film, including all the non-Cahiers critics leaving the other 2 critics - Jacques Rivette and Claude de Givray - to award that film 3 stars. A note below that tableau reads: (my translation)

It should be known that Fear Strikes Out , which Robert Aldrich ardently pointed out to us, and, which was only shown for a one week exclusive engagement -- thus explaining the abstentions of the majority of our "counsellors", is keenly recommended, likewise, by Jean Domarchi, Fereydoun Hoveyda, Roger Tailleur and François Truffaut.

And there it was Cahiers and Positif - in the person of Roger Tailleur - making common cause.

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