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Re: The Best Books About Film
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2026 3:48 am
by Never Cursed
domino harvey wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2026 3:33 am
In 1969, Grove Press started a line of film scripts (different from the earlier Evergreen series) that did double duty as readers of contemporary press and critical reaction along with source material, if applicable, and ephemera related to the film, plus a ton of frame blow ups. Truly a Criterion Collection (ahem, or how it once was) approach to publishing scripts (one that the Rutgers series two decades later carried on, in part)
But I cannot find any source of how many films received this treatment. These are the only four I know of:
L’Avventura
Les quatre cents coups
Masculin Feminin
Rashomon
Is that it? I sure hope not, these things are incredible! The Godard one alone is a masterclass on what a book version of a deluxe boutique film release could be
One library to which I have access claims that, at the very least, an imprint named Grove Press published scripts for
Tom Jones,
La Nuit Americaine, and
The Story of Adele H around that time. A similar edition of
I Shot Andy Warhol (which reprinted, among other things, the SCUM Manifesto!) appeared much later. Do those four have an editor or author listed besides that of the screenwriters?
Re: The Best Books About Film
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2026 3:57 am
by domino harvey
I can see inside the Tom Jones book on eBay, it’s just the script. Same for Adele H and Nuit (L’argent de poche likewise)
Grove Press was one of the original “outsider” presses. They also distributed movies, including I Am Curious (Yellow) and the original US run of Godard’s Week End!
Re: The Best Books About Film
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2026 4:03 am
by domino harvey
Never Cursed wrote: Wed Aug 19, 2026 3:48 amDo those four have an editor or author listed besides that of the screenwriters?
I only have Masculin Feminin but ordered L’avventura and 400. The intro to MF mentions I Am Curious Yellow, which was published one year prior but it appears its only supplemental material is court transcripts about its obscenity trial (can’t be sure though, because it is unreasonably hard for sellers to photograph the table of contents for a book they’re selling). It also doesn’t match the cover style of the other four books
Consulting Editor: Pierre Billard
General Editor, Film Book Series: Robert Hughes
Their edition was also compiled with Godard’s input in addition to Billard’s choices
Re: The Best Books About Film
Posted: Wed Aug 19, 2026 4:24 am
by Walter Kurtz
"The Passenger" GP