Jean-Louis Leutrat's book on Alain Resnais' unrealized Harry Dickson film

Edited by Jean-Louis Leutrat, 'Les aventures de Harry Dickson' (Éditions Capricci) compiles a comprehensive dossier on the mythical unrealized film project by Alain Resnais. The book includes the full screenplay by Frédéric de Towarnicki, an interview with the screenwriter, and extensive documentation of the film's genealogy. Richly illustrated with photographs from Resnais' location scouting between 1948 and 1960, as well as covers of the Harry Dickson pulp magazines, the volume traces the 'subtle wandering' of this impossible film. The screenplay, written around 1964-1965, was inspired by Lovecraft and German Expressionism, and would have featured some thirty poems or 'songs' ranging from Brechtian placards to laments, culminating in an 'oneiric paroxysm'. Henri Langlois stated that the film 'would have inflected the destiny of French cinema'. Suzanne Liandrat-Guigues contributes a study of Resnais' film 'Cœurs' and the presence of a 'Dickson-style shot' in 'Hiroshima mon amour'.