Question Marks on the New Czechoslovak Cinema

Abstract

In any attempt to trace the thematic or stylistic consistency of the work of an American director there is always the problem of knowing just how much real freedom the director was given within the confines of the studio system. Fortunately Lumet has been in an extremely enviable position from the very beginning of his career: from Twelve Angry Men onwards, he has made only those films which he has wanted to make, and he has made them in conditions of almost complete independence. He has never worked in Hollywood and has made most of his films in New York or Eng land, working for sympathetic and cooperative producers. He has struck up a close and fruit ful partnership with Boris Kaufman, who has been his director of photography on Twelve Angry Men, That Kind of Woman, A View from the Bridge, Long Days Journey into Night, The Pawnbroker, and The Group. Al though he does not write his own scripts, it is clear from statements he has made in inter