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x i i i Introduction: Andrew Britton and the Future of Film Criticism by Robin Wood “Our superior, gentlemen. Our superior in every way.” –Professor Carrington in Howard Hawks’s The Thing from Another World A ndrew Britton was, and remains, quite simply, the greatest film critic in the English language. But he was not, like Hawks’s monster from outer space, an “intellectual carrot .” His greatness lies as much in his humanity as in his intelligence. His neglect (I am tempted to say “suppression”) within most contemporary film studies programs is easily accounted for by that single word “humanity.” Humanity has not seemed to enter very much, over the past two decades, in the academic world of film studies (an absence that, to my mind, partly discredits it, though it has come up with the occasional usable discovery). In its place we have had “theory.” Theories can be useful (I have drawn on a number in my time), but when they become an end in themselves, they generally lose their utility. Over the last decade of academic film studies, we have witnessed many theories which come and go, the latest replacing the previous rather as in the fashion world.“Oh, Madam, we’ve just got this new theory in. Everyone will be wearing it soon.You really mustn’t be seen without it.”And of course,academics will simply have to keep up. I have never, at any stage in my career, considered myself an “academic” in this sense, and I’m fairly sure Andrew felt the same, although we both taught in universities. I have received hints recently,from various sources,that“theory”is on the way out: a startling pronouncement.Could it mean that film studies teachers will have to start watching movies again? Or watching them as something more than“examples” illustrating the latest theory? If this is indeed the case, this is the ideal moment for the rediscovery (for many, no doubt, the discovery) of Andrew Britton. I want to say at once to any academic or nonacademic with a serious interest in the cinema—and I hope this will not be mistaken for “false modesty”—it is more important to read this book than to read my own collected writings. It is my hope that its publication will initiate no less than a new era in film studies. There are a number of reasons for Andrew’s neglect, which the present edition of his collected writings is intended to remedy. One reason is surely his quite devastating attacks on certain aspects of film theory: attacks which, to my knowledge, were never answered (because they couldn’t be?) but were merely ignored,in the hope that they would go away or be forgotten. 00 Britton FM.indd 13 1/17/12 10:33 AM (See the essays in part four of this book,“Film and Cultural Theory”). Another is that, in his relatively short life,he produced only one book,and his essays (spread over a number of different publications) have never before been collected. The book, ostensibly a study of Katharine Hepburn, has never been recognized for the major work it undoubtedly is. In my opinion, its release was mishandled, especially in its American edition published after Andrew’s death, when, against my protests, its original title, Katharine Hepburn: The 30s and After, was changed to Katharine Hepburn: Star as Feminist, despite the fact that its author states very firmly that Hepburn could not be considered a “feminist” although her career is of interest to Feminism. It is, in fact, a book that should be compulsory reading for anyone seriously interested in the Hollywood cinema. It goes far beyond any narrow star study, with brilliant sections on genre, the “meanings” of stars, the phenomenon of cinematic partnerships (Tracy/Hepburn, Astaire/ Rogers, Bogart/Bacall), along with detailed readings of Hepburn’s major films. Andrew and I When I first met Andrew I had recently begun a new life. I had returned to England from three years at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, with a broken marriage and a new partner, John Anderson, who abandoned an extremely promising position with Universal Pictures in Toronto to live with me. I rapidly discovered that the world of film study had been transformed during my absence. Everything I stood for was passé, and semiotics (a word I had never encountered during my time in Canada) had taken over. I also discovered that I had in the meantime...

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