The Elusive Auteur: The Question of Film Authorship Throughout the Age of Cinema - Paperback

by Barrett Hodsdon (Author)

The director's authorial role in filmmaking--the extent to which a film reflects his or her individual style and creative vision--has been much debated among film critics and scholars for decades. Drawing on generations of criticism, this study describes how the designation "auteur" has gone from stylistic criterion to product label--in what has always been an essentially collaborative industry. Examining the controversy in regard to Hollywood directors, the author compares directors and would-be auteurs of the classic studio system with those of contemporary Hollywood and its new climate of cultural entrepreneurship.

Author Biography

Barrett Hodsdon has spent many years teaching, writing about and researching the film industry. In the 1970s he pioneered a film studies collection for the National Library of Australia. He has written a number of film journal articles covering aesthetics, genres, and documentary and domestic film culture issues. He lives in North Sydney, Australia.