“One of the giants of modern American stage and film. . . . Kazan brought a moody and electrifying realism to theater and film that helped define a quintessentially American approach to drama.” – Patrick Goldstein, LA Times

“Kazan’s reputation as one of the finest directors in the US has never wavered.” – Ronald Bergen

“A fascinating 20th century American. Few native directors made films that so persistently dealt with American problems and subjects or were so absorbed in the American regard for sincere intensity of performance.” – David Thomson

The name Elia Kazan is now so tangled up with assorted legends, achievements, confessions, disgraces and regrets that it seems almost impossible to undo one from the other. And in the end, is it really necessary? “What does it matter what you say about people?” asks Marlene Dietrich’s saloon owner at the end of Welles’ Touch of Evil. She and her creator had it right. Kazan’s enemies have spent years insisting that we make an exception of him, that we train ourselves to listen past the work for the voice of the whispering scoundrel, attempting to cloak the sin he committed on April 1, 1952 in the finery of artistic splendor. And yet, the exception will not be made, because the work just won’t stop speaking for itself.

That Kazan offered friendly testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee is doubtlessly important to remember as a piece of cultural history (and it will be remembered, thanks to a “self-explanatory” letter he published in the New York Times a few days after the testimony, while the memory of countless other friendly appearances has faded with time). It is perhaps just as important to note as a life-changing incident that put the theme of betrayal at the epicentre of his art. But does it really further our understanding of