But that was how I happened to give away my copy of John Baxter's biography of Luis Buñuel. I finally paid a few bucks and got it again on Kindle.
I'm to the part where he's in Hollywood after fleeing Spain toward the end of the Spanish Civil War.
I never understood why the French New Wave didn't latch onto Buñuel. He was a great auteur who worked in the manner of American B movies. If I remember correctly, Baxter compares the budgets of the movies he made in Mexico with the Dagwood and Blondie movies of the 1940's.
Buñuel was a minor figure in surrealism in the '20's and '30's but remained devoted to it 40 years after the movement ran its course. He hung around with the avant garde in Spain and France but didn't really do anything himself. He wasn't a writer or an artist. Directing was his only gig. I don't know what that tells you about directing.
One thing, Buñuel wealthy mother put up the money for Un Chien Andalou. Today, all the directors are rich kids whose parents put up the money for their first movies. I can't imagine someone like Roman Polanski becoming a director in capitalist country.
That's an interesting question as to why the French New Wave didn't embrace those qualities in Bunuel's work. It reminds me, Bunuel wrote a review of Buster Keaton's "College" in 1927 that praises American silent films for many of the same qualities that the New Wave filmmakers later embraced from them (and American B movies). So it seems they shared a similar outlook in that respect.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Bunuel, I recently read a list Bunuel put together of his top ten favorite films. He included his own "L'Age d'Or" among them.