Directed by François Truffaut • 1959 • France
François Truffaut's first feature is also his most personal. Told through the eyes of Truffaut's cinematic counterpart, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud), The 400 Blows sensitively re-creates the trials of Truffaut's own childhood, unsentimentally portraying aloof parents, oppressive teachers, and petty crime. The film marked Truffaut's passage from leading critic to trailblazing auteur of the French New Wave.
Directed by Vittorio De Sica • 1944 • Italy
A very early Vittorio de Sica effort, The Children are Watching Us was originally released in Italy as I bambini ci guardano. Director De Sica collaborated with another neorealist pioneer Cesar Zavattini on the screenplay. The film, a morbid melodram...
Directed by Volker Schlöndorff • 1966 • France, West Germany
At an Austrian boys' boarding school in the early 1900s, shy, intelligent Törless observes the sadistic behavior of his fellow students, doing nothing to help a victimized classmate, until the torture goes too far. Adapted from Rober...
Directed by Allan King • 1967 • Canada
For his enthralling first feature, Allan King took his cameras to a home for emotionally disturbed young people. Situated inside the facility like a fly on the wall, we witness the full spectrum of emotions displayed by twelve fascinating children and the...
