• Mr. Benson in reply

Mr. Robb is obviously an adherent of the Professor Munzian "literary merit" school of criticism. Apart from a few overt references and the fact that we arc "in the know," it would be a difficult task to determine whether he is discussing a film, a play, or a novel. Such is the curse of most film criticism from The Listener to Sight and Sound. The film is treated as some kind of adjunct of the literary arts and those qualities which render it an independent and individual (albeit eclectic) form of expression are ignored.

No matter how much "literary merit" Mr. Robb finds in Bande a Part, and no matter how many subtle meanings he divines from its script and action (or nonaction), the fact remains that as a film (dare I use the word?) it is pretty hopeless. Even if one is generous and credits Godard with good intentions, his lazy and unimaginative direction in Bande a Part cannot be excused.