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THE RULES OF THE GAME: NOUVELLE EDITION FRANCAISE/THE KOBAL COLLECTION

DEEP FOCUS

CANON FODDER
As the sun finally sets on the century of cinema, by what criteria do we determine its masterworks?
BY PAU L SC H RA D E R
Top guns (and dogs): the #1 The Rules of the Game

September-October 2006

FILM COMMENT

33

Sunrise

PREFACE
THE BOOK I DIDN’T WRITE

I

n march 2003 i was having dinner in london with
Faber and Faber’s editor of film books, Walter Donohue, and several others when the conversation turned to the current state of film criticism and lack of knowledge of film history in general. I remarked on a former assistant who, when told to look up Montgomery Clift, returned some minutes later asking, “Where is that?” I replied that I thought it was in the
Hollywood Hills, and he returned to his search engine.
Yes, we agreed, there are too many films, too much history, for today’s student to master. “Someone should write a film version of Harold Bloom’s The Western Canon,” a writer from
The Independent suggested, and “the person who should write it,” he said, looking at me, “is you.” I looked to Walter, who replied, “If you write it, I’ll publish it.” And the die was cast.
Faber offered a contract, and I set to work. Following the
Bloom model I decided it should be an elitist canon, not populist, raising the bar so high that only a handful of films would pass over. I proceeded to compile a list of essential films, attempting, as best I could, to separate personal favorites from those movies that artistically defined film history. Compiling was the easy part—then came the first dilemma: why was I selecting these films? What were my criteria?
What is a canon? It is, by definition, based on criteria that transcend taste, personal and popular. The more I pondered this, the more I realized how ignorant I was. How could I formulate a film

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