Theory of filmmaking in which the director is viewed as the major creative force in a Film. Arising in France in the late 1940s, the auteur theory (as it was dubbed by the American film criticAndrew Sarris) was an outgrowth of the cinematic theories of Andre Bazin  and Alexandra Astuc. A foundation stone of the French cinematic movement known as the New Wave, the theory of director-as-author was principally advanced in Bazin’s periodical Cashiers du Cinema (founded in 1951). Two of its theoreticians (François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard) later became major directors of the New Wave.

 

François Truffaut wrote an essay called A Certain Tendency in French Cinema. In this work he claimed that film is a great medium for expressing the personal ideas of the director. He suggested that this meant that the director should therefore be regarded as an auteur.

 

Alfred Hitchcock

His most famous films are Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds and Rear Window. Hitchcock’s techniques were best known for their intelligent plots, witty dialogue, and the smattering of mystery and murder. He has been branded with revolutionizing the thriller genre. The reason for his success, was not the genre that he was working in, but rather the skill which he exhibited in the film-making. (His treatment of the subject in terms of the shots he uses and how he combines them are more important than the genre)