SOURCE: "Critic's Notebook," in Sight and Sound, Vol. 30, No. 2, Spring, 1961, pp. 62-6.

In the following excerpt, Houston reviews Tirez sur le pianiste, commenting that although the critics and public disliked the film, it reflects Truffaut's dedication and devotion to the art of filmmaking.

Left-wing critics in this country seem to have been thrown distinctly off-balance by Truffaut's Tirez sur le pianiste. No one has had the nerve to write, though some people have said, that Truffaut may have to be written off as a serious film-maker if this is the way he intends to carry on. Apparently the audience which saw the film at a meeting of the French Federation of Ciné Clubs towards the end of last year shared some of these reservations. At any rate, Cinéma 61 in its January issue published Truffaut's detailed answers to the questions asked him; answers which are revealing of the...