Poor Old Max

A shot that does not call for tracks
Is agony for poor old Max,
Who, separated from his dolly
Is wrapped in deepest melancholy.
Once, when they took away his crane,
I thought he'd never smile again.
~ Written about Max Ophuls by James Mason,
   who starred in two Ophuls films

The Criterion Collection released three Max Ophuls films this week: La Ronde, Le Plaisir, and The Earrings of Madame De. All of the films were made in the early 50s after Ophuls' emigration to France.

All three are literary adaptations: La Ronde from an Austrian stage play and Le Plaisir and The Earrings from French fiction. All three feature Danielle Darrieux, Ophuls' muse.

All of his works feature distinctive smooth camera movements, complex crane and dolly sweeps, and tracking shots, which influenced the young Stanley Kubrick at the beginning of his filmmaking career.

The three DVDs are packaged separately with introductions from directors such as Haynes and Paul Thomas Anderson, insert booklets full of scholarly essays, and an interview with the director's son, documentary filmmaker Marcel Ophuls. (And, if you're a fan or just a student of filmmaking, don't miss the Cinemascope restoration of his first color film, Lola Montes, touring the country in October.)