Quote Origin: There’s No Point in Having Sharp Images If You’ve Got Fuzzy Ideas

Jean-Luc Godard? Ansel Adams? Richard Roud? Apocryphal? Question for Quote Investigator: When you create a photograph or film your intentions should be well defined. Here are three pertinent statements which may be grouped together: (1) There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept. (2) There’s no point in having a sharp …

All You Need To Make a Movie Is a Girl and a Gun

Jean-Luc Godard? D. W. Griffith? Evelyn D. Miller? Frederick James Smith? George W. Sears? John Philip Sousa? Abel Gance? Fredric Wertham? Charlie Chaplin? John Boorman? Apocryphal? Dear Quote Investigator: A powerful and jaded film director once listed the two crucial ingredients to achieve success: All you need for a movie is a girl and a …

Instead of Writing Criticism, I Make a Film

Jean-Luc Godard? Roger Ebert? Gene Siskel? Nancy O’Higgins? Apocryphal Dear Quote Investigator: An influential film critic decided to become a filmmaker. Here are four versions of the explanation provided by the critic for this notable transformation: (1) Instead of writing criticism, I make a film. (2) The only way to criticize a movie is to …

“Films Should Have a Beginning, a Middle, and an End” “Yes, But Not Necessarily in That Order”

Jean-Luc Godard? Aristotle? Peter Dickinson? George W. Feinstein? Eugenia Thornton? Chris Haws? David Mamet? Dear Quote Investigator: An iconoclastic French film director once commented on the narrative structure of a story. The auteur believed that it was not necessary for a tale to be recounted using the conventional ordering for the beginning, the middle, and …