L’Avant-Scene Du Cinema N°38 Special, 1964

Paris: L’Avant-scène, 1964. 8vo (26,5×18,5cm), staple bound in printed wrappers. 48pp. Text in French. Minor rubbing and creasing to wrapper, else fine.

Founded in 1949, the magazine L’Avant-scène gradually appeared in five versions devoted to theater, cinema, opera, ballet, and television. In 1961 the cinema edition was added to the L’Avant-scène family, presenting complete film dialogues, background information, lists of the cast, film stills, and press reviews, on a monthly basis.

This special issue of L’Avant-scène du Cinéma contains two incredible detailed articles on Alain Resnais’ Guernica, and Chris Marker’s La Jetée. Both films are presented with their entire film dialogue, accompanied by press reviews and images.

It is the first known appearance of La Jetée in a publication with dialogue and images and could be considered as the forerunner of the ciné roman, which was published by Zone Books in 1992.