Henri Langlois, First Citizen of Cinema

Résumé du livre

The story of Henri Langlois and his Cinematheque is itself the stuff of movies, a tale vividly recounted in this, the first English translation of a book that won the French Prix du Palais Litteraire. Drawing on interviews with more than 100 film personalities, Langlois's personal papers, and a host of other primary sources, author Glenn Myrent, in collaboration with Langlois's brother, Georges Langlois, brilliantly captures the drama and pathos, the humor and genius of Henri Langlois, a colorful and often controversial figure who in the course of his efforts won the admiration of film luminaries and the enmity of bureaucrats. From its foreword by Akira Kurosawa to its afterword composed solely for this edition, the volume brims with fascinating details heretofore unavailable, among them the cloak-and-dagger intrigue of Langlois's rescue of thousands of films during the German occupation of France, Langlois's personal reflections on his 1939 trip to the United States, and insider accounts of the government-inspired ousting of Langlois from the Cinematheque in 1968 - an event that created such a furor among the international film community that Langlois was soon reinstated.