SOURCE: "Max Ophuls," in Interviews with Film Directors, edited by Andrew Sarris, Avon Books, 1967, pp. 350-65.

In the following essay, Sarris announces the importance of Ophuls to world cinema as an introduction to an autobiographical essay by Ophuls.

"Je n'ai pas la prétention d'être un réalisateur d'avantgarde. C'est un mot dont j'ai horreur. Il laisse supposer un mépris de la masse des spectateurs. Je suis seulement persuadê que, même dans un film commercial, on peut essayer de faire quelque chose de neuf . .. "

Max Ophuls, 1935

"I think I know the reason why
 Producers tend to make him cry.
 Inevitably they demand
 Some stationary set-ups, and
 A shot that does not call for tracks
 Is agony for poor dear Max,
 Who, separated from his dolly,
  Is wrapped in deepest melancholy.
 Once, when they took away his crane,
 I thought he'd never smile again . . ."

James Mason...