André Bazin (1918-58) was renowned for almost single-handedly establishing the study of film as an accepted intellectual pursuit, as well as for being the spiritual father of the French New Wave. In 1951, Bazin co-founded and became editor-in-chief of Cahiers du Cinéma, the most influential critical periodical in the history of cinema. Five of the film critics whom he mentored at that magazine later became the most acclaimed directors of the postwar French cinema: François Truffaut, Jean-Luc Godard, Éric Rohmer, Jacques Rivette, and Claude Chabrol. Bazin is also considered to be the...