Our regular weekly In Other Blogs column was on holiday hiatus last week, but a friend of the Screengrab has alerted us to a blogular feature that our loyal readers should be made aware of as soon as possible. (And if you are already aware of it, please just humor us.) A staple of any self-respecting cineaste’s library is the 1967 coffee table book Hitchcock/Truffaut, in which one of the leading lights of the French New Wave conducts a series of in-depth interviews with the Hollywood master covering his entire body of work. (Having no self-respect myself, I’ve always just read copies owned by friends while using their bathroom facilities. Perhaps you didn’t need to know that.)
The blog If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats is running an ongoing series (up to 20 installments as of this writing) called The Hitchcock/Truffaut Tapes. And that’s exactly what it is: the raw tapes of the Alfred Hitchcock interview sessions conducted by Francois Truffaut with the aid of translator Helen Scott. Even if you don’t foresee yourself wading through every one of the entries, it’s well worth dipping your toe in once or twice, if only for the you-are-there factor. The awkward pauses, interrupted translations, odd snorts and grunts and occasional chewing of food – it’s all there, along with the occasional fresh insight. As you’ll see, blogger Tom Sutpen provides commentary for the early entries, but seems to have abandoned that plan in the later going. Truffaut fans may be glad about that, as you’ll see.
Related:
Alfred Hitchcock Unplugged
"The Auteur Wars": Why Godard and Truffaut Couldn't Live Together Happily Ever After