A Question of Auteurism: Cinematic Productions and Critical Responses.
This paper will examine the critical responses to three films, which derive from both immediate and reflective criticism. The films to be discussed are Kenneth Branagh's "Henry V", Federico Fellini's "La Strada" and Fritz Lang's "Metropolis". It will be argued that central to the criticism of the three directors and their films are the sense in which each is regarded as an "auteur". All three cinematic texts produce meaning through the tension between the director's personality and the material with which he is working. It is this pervasive domination by the director of the cinematic text through manipulation of the 'mise en scene' that defines these works as that of "auteurs". 4.5 pgs. 12 f/c. 12b.
