Yes, but you're omitting the most important postscript to that poll. As I'm sure you all know, Andre Bazin was the "godfather" of those Cahiers critics. He supported them, nurtured them, and advised them. They based much of the auteur theory (especially its evaluative baseline) off of his theoretical writings. But Bazin was never very completely comfortable with the auteur theory. He was gentle in his objections to its ...until les enfants terribles decided to declare what Bazin considered a very problematic film to be Welles' grand masterpiece. That's when Bazin took off the gloves and spanked them hard for being such wrong-assed little brats. And shortly thereafter, it was revealed that the cut of the film the Cahiers critics saw was an abomination of Welles' original intentions. Needless to say, they abruptly ceased their championing of the film.EMalatesta wrote:The next time you watch Mr. Arkadin, keep in mind the following list from a poll conducted of the editorial staff of Cahiers du Cinema some time in the late 1950's. There were some well-known names on that staff in those days (e.g., Bazin, Godard, Rivette, Rohmer, Truffault). The editors picked the top directors of all time, then picked the best film of those directors. Below is their list.
The taste of the Cahiers critics was not wrong very often (regardless of what you think of their theorizing), but Confidential Report was the exception that proved the rule. (This also applies to their ridiculous evaluation of Capricorn as Hitchcock's best film, which is hilariously undermined in Truffaut's feeble attempts to defend the film against Hitchcock himself in their interview book.)
