Flausography: Articles, Essays and Poems on Film by John Flaus

Complied by Adrian Danks and Bruce Hodsdon

This bibliography is an incomplete listing of John’s publications on film in print (mostly) over the last 60 years. It does not include those pieces for which we could not locate copies or complete references, or the numerous short pieces on individual films he published in The Age (mostly in collaboration with Paul Harris) during the 1980s. An example, published on 19 May 1989 and including short pieces on Lola, Faces, The Fly, Yojimbo, Mildred Pierce, Kwaidan and Round Midnight, can be found here. This site, although piecemeal, includes a significant number of John and Paul’s columns (as well as thousands of newspapers from around the world and around 33000 issues of The Age from 1854 to 1989). If you are looking for John’s contribution to Sight and Sound’s 2012 “Greatest Films Poll”, you can find it here. For an extensive but far from complete filmography of Flaus’ work as an actor see imdb.

We offer this Flausography as a work in progress and welcome information about corrections and additions. It cannot, of course, give a full sense of John’s massive contribution to screen culture that is sustantively “contained” in the thousands of hours of radio and conversation that are his true métier. All articles listed here are written by John Flaus as sole author except where noted. Those asterisked are republished in this tribute.

*“Night People”, Voice: The Australian Independent Monthly vol. 3, no. 11, August 1954, p. 29.

*“The Wild One”, Voice: The Australian Independent Monthly vol. 3, no. 12, September 1954, p. 28.

“Are We All Murderers?”, Voice: The Australian Independent Monthly vol. 4, no. 2, December 1954, pp. 32-33.

“Of Mice and Men”, Voice: The Australian Independent Monthly vol. 4, no. 4, February 1955, p. 29.

“Films of the Quarter: La Dolce Vita”, Film Journal no. 19, April 1962, pp. 44-49.

“Films of the Quarter: Rocco and His Brothers”, Film Journal no. 20, August 1962, pp. 68-75.

“Films of the Quarter: Jules and Jim”, Film Journal no. 22, October 1963, pp. 19-26.

“La Notte”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 8, Lent Term 1964, pp. 193-94.

“Accattone”, Sydney Cinema Society Program Notes 2, Second Half 1964. Reprinted in Sydney University Film Group Bulletin, Third Term, 1967, p. 162.

“Letter to the Editors: Rocco and His Brothers”, Film Journal no. 23, July 1964, p. 56.

[author unaccredited], “Eleventh Sydney Film Festival”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 9, Trinity Term 1964, pp. 201-2. This overview by Flaus includes short reviews of Dr. Strangelove, The Exterminating Angel, Eroica, Hands Over the City, The Rose and the Gold, An Autumn Afternoon, The Exiles and I, the Aboriginal, amongst others.

“Along Came Jones”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 9, Trinity Term 1964, p. 207.

“The Forerunner”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 9, Trinity Term 1964, p. 213.

“Lenin in October”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 9, Trinity Term 1964, p. 220. Very short entry at the bottom of an “annotation” on the film.

“Rocco and His Brothers”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 10, Michaelmas Term 1964, pp. 228-30. A condensed version of the 1962 Film Journal article on the film.

“The Limit”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 10, Michaelmas Term 1964, pp. 230-31.

“The Damned”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 10, Michaelmas Term 1964, p. 236.

“Day After Day”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 10, Michaelmas Term 1964, pp. 239-40.

“Lonely Boy”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 11, Lent Term 1965, p. 255.

“David”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 11, Lent Term 1965, p. 256.

“The Hunters”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 11, Lent Term 1965, p. 263.

“War Comes to America”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 11, Lent Term 1965, p. 264.

“A Prize of Arms”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 11, Lent Term 1965, p. 274.

Introductory note [unaccredited] to program: Scaramouche on costume melodrama, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no.11, Lent Term 1965, p. 283.

“A Walk in the Sun”, Sydney Cinema Society Program Notes 3, First Half 1965, pp. 21-22.

“Blind Date”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 12, Second Term 1965, pp. 291-92. See also a more complete review of this Losey film under the alternative title of Chance Meeting in Sydney University Film Group Bulletin, no. 50, First Term 1970, pp. 20-22.

“The Exiles”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 12, Second Term 1965, pp. 295-96. Condensed version of an article that first appeared in Image no. 3, pp. 7-16 [no further details found].

“Bicycle Thieves (Ladri di Biciclette)”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 12, Second Term 1965, pp. 297-98.

“Across the Wide Missouri”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 12, Second Term 1965, pp. 303-304.

Introductory note to program: Baby Face Nelson and Shoot the Pianist, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 3, no. 12, Second Term 1965, p. 307.

“Irresponsible Film Critics”, Film Digest no. 2, August 1965, pp. 10-13.

“Baby the Rain Must Fall”, Film Digest no. 3, September 1965, pp. 8-12.

“Day After Day”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 1, Third Term 1965, pp. 6-7. Reprint of 1964 article.

“Jules and Jim”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 1, Third Term 1965, pp. 7-9. Shortened and significantly revised from the 1963 Film Journal article.

“Murder by Contract”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 1, Third Term 1965, pp. 9-10.

“The Exiles”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 1, Third Term 1965, p. 14. Further condensed version of an article that first appeared in Image no. 3, pp. 7-16 [no further details found].

“The Line-Up [Lineup]”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 1, Third Term 1965, pp. 18-19.

“Les Amants”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 2, First Term 1966, pp. 39-40.

“Miracle in Milan”, Sydney Cinema Society Program Notes 5, First Half 1966, pp. 19-20.

*“The Western Myth” [on The Searchers and Buchanan Rides Alone], Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 3, Second Term 1966, pp. 61-63.

“Dilemmas of a Filmnik”, Red and Black no. 2, Winter 1966, pp. 33-39. Also available at: http://www.takver.com/history/sydney/flaus_j.htm#writings.

“What Rough Beast? A Discussion of Joseph Losey’s The Damned”, The Sydney Cinema Journal no. 2, Winter 1966, pp. 39-44.

Introductory note [unaccredited] to the program: Underworld U.S.A. and The Virgin Spring, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 3, First Term 1967, p. 97.

“Baby the Rain Must Fall”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, pp. 100-101. Condensed version of the 1965 Film Digest article.

“War Hunt”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, pp. 104-105.

“The Wonderful Country”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, pp. 107-109.

“Crime in the Streets”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, pp. 112-13.

“David”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, p. 123. Reprint of 1965 article.

“Rough Company”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, pp. 125-27.

“The Last of the Fast Guns”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, pp. 130-31.

Introductory note to the program: Lenin in October with The Private Life of Henry VIII, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin vol. 4, no. 5, First Term 1967, p. 132.

“Accattone”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin, Third Term, 1967, p. 162.

*“More Than Skin Deep: La Peau Douce”, Film Digest no. 28, December 1967, pp. 11-22.

*”The World of Satyajit Ray”, Masque vol. 1, no. 5, May-June 1968, pp. 14-17.

“Viva Zapata!”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 47, First Term 1969, pp. 10-11.

“The Far Country”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 47, First Term 1969, pp. 44-7.

“The Myth of the Urban Savage”, National Film Theatre of Australia, 1969. A detailed introduction to a season of films starring Humphrey Bogart.

*“The Killers [Siegel]”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 50, February 1970, pp. 6-8.

“Chance Meeting”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 50, February 1970, pp. 20-22.

*“The Western Myth: Ride Lonesome and Guns in the Afternoon”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 50, February 1970, pp. 44-47.

“The Damned [Losey]”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 51, May 1970, pp. 21-25. Condensed reprint of 1967 Sydney Cinema Journal article.

“The Tall T”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 51, May 1970, pp. 27-30.

“The Image and the Tale”, Nation no. 306, 28 November 1970, p. 17. A long letter defending Sylvia Lawson’s critical review of the work of Arthur and Corinne Cantrill. This was a response to Phillip Noyce’s letter defending the Cantrills.

Jean Hauconseil [John Flaus], “The Searchers”, Sydney University Film Group Bulletin no. 55, August 1971, pp. 12-15.

“Ludwig”, Lumiere no. 26, August 1973, pp. 28-29.

“Melbourne Festival Postscript”, Lumiere no. 26, August 1973, pp. 35-36, 41.

*“Melville: Le Samourai”, Cinema Papers no. 1, January 1974, pp. 56-57.

“Crystal Voyager”, Cinema Papers no. 3, July 1974, p. 277.

“Between Wars”, Cinema Papers vol. 4, no. 4, December 1974, pp. 366-68.

Flaus and Jack Clancy, “Recent Films: Schlesinger Over-rated?”, Metro no. 35, Autumn 1976, pp. 26-27, 29.

“The Low Budget Narrative Film”, Filmnews vol. 7 no. 10, November 1977, p. 8. Transcript of speech by Flaus.

*“Josef von Sternberg: Morocco and Blonde Venus”, Film Buffs’ Forecast: A Guide to One-off Screenings in Melbourne, Buff Publications, Melbourne, 9-22 May 1981. This is one of numerous editions of this fanzine-style newsletter compiled and published by Flaus in the early 1980s.

“The Top Ten Films”, Cinema Papers no. 44-5, April 1984, p. 63. A list of Flaus’ “best” Australian films (with a brief note) on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of Cinema Papers.

“An Egocentric Actor Prepares”, Cantrills Filmnotes no. 51-52, December 1986, pp. 27-28.

“How Art Battled Commerce and Won”, The Age EG 22 January 1988, p. 12. Article on the US independent film Summerspell (1983).

Flaus and Paul Harris, “Frank Interview”, Filmnews vol. 18 no. 2, March 1988, p. 13.

“The Pursuit of Happiness”, Filmviews vol. 33, no. 135, Autumn 1988, p. 19.

Sean Maynard [John Flaus], “Black (and White) Images: Aborigines and Film”, The Australian Screen, ed. Albert Moran and Tom O’Regan, Penguin, Ringwood, Vic., 1989, pp. 216-35.

*“There’s Always Tomorrow”, Annotations on Film, ed. Michael Koller, Melbourne, Melbourne Cinémathèque, 1990, p. 53. Republished in the 1995 edition.

Flaus and Paul Harris, “Michael Powell”, Filmnews vol. 20, no. 2, March 1990, p. 14.

“In the Eye’s Mind”, Experimenta, ed. Adrian Martin, Modern Image Maker’s Association, Melbourne, 1990, pp. 44-45.

*“Miller’s Crossing – A Film Neither Structured nor Constrained by Fashion”, Filmnews vol. 21, no. 3, April 1991, pp. 8-9.

“Fly Away David, Come Back Don”, Filmnews vol. 21, no. 4, May 1991, pp. 8-9.

“Thanks for your heart, Bart”, Continuum vol. 5, no. 2, 1992, pp. 179-224.

“Heaven Tonight”, Filmnews vol. 23, no. 1, February 1993, p. 16.

*“In the Eye’s Mind” and another short untitled piece, Paul Winkler: Films 1964-94, Museum of Contemporary Art and Paul Winkler, Sydney, 1995, pp. 9-11, 24. Revised version of an earlier piece published in the Experimenta catalogue, 1990.

*“The Big Heat”, CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 2, 1996, pp. 7-9.

“Hell’s Highway/Blood Money”, CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 3, 1996, pp. 20-22.

*“Occasional Work of a Female Slave”, CTEQ Annotationsno. 4, 1996, pp. 6-7.

*“Two-Lane Blacktop”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 109, 1997, p. 47.

“Yojimbo”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 109, 1997, pp. 51-52.

*“Diary of a Country Priest”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 110, 1997, pp. 75-76.

“Planet of the Vampires”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 110, 1997, p. 84.

“Under Capricorn”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 112, 1997, pp. 91-92.

“Back Street”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 116, 1998, pp. 48, 50.

“Peter Ibbetson”, Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 117, 1998, pp. 70-71.

“Pete Kelly’s Blues”, Senses of Cinema no. 6, May 2000: http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/cteq/pete/.

“A Tale of Sound and Fury: Manpower”, Senses of Cinema no. 7, June 2000: http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/cteq/manpower/.

“Parenthood by Arrangement: The Lady is Willing”, Senses of Cinema no. 7, June 2000: http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/cteq/lady/.

“Stromboli”, Senses of Cinema no. 8, July 2000: http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/cteq/stromboli/.

*“À nous la liberté”, Senses of Cinema no. 10, November 2000: http://sensesofcinema.com/2000/cteq/nous/.

“Innocence: Haunted by the Past”, Metro no. 126, Summer 2001, pp. 74-77.

*“An Impressionist Work: Mullet”, Senses of Cinema no. 14, June 2001: http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/14/mullet/.

“Be Nice or Be Gone”, Metro no. 129-30, Spring 2001, pp. 78-85. A separate article on David Caesar’s Mullet.

*“Budd Boetticher”, Senses of Cinema no. 16, September 2001: http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/festival-reports/boetticher-2/. Revised version of an article, “The Western Myth”, from the Sydney University Film Group Bulletin February 1970.

*“From Stage to Screen: Silent Partner”, Senses of Cinema no. 16, September 2001: http://sensesofcinema.com/2001/16/silent/.

*“Back Street (John M.Stahl, 1932)”, Senses of Cinema no. 20, May 2002: http://sensesofcinema.com/2002/feature-articles/back_street/. Republication of an article that first appeared in Metro/CTEQ Annotations on Film no. 116, 1998, pp. 48, 50.

Flaus and Adrian Martin, There’s Always Tomorrow, DVD, Audio-commentary, Madman Entertainment, Melbourne, 2009.

Flaus and Adrian Martin, Ohayo, DVD, Audio-commentary, Madman Entertainment, Melbourne, 2009.

*“Notes for a Critique of Going Down”, Senses of Cinema no. 51, July 2009: http://sensesofcinema.com/2009/51/going-down/.

*Parallacts: Motley Saws and Modest Conceits, Mark Time Books, Castlemaine, 2012.

*“Memoir of Albie”, Senses of Cinema no. 66, March 2013: http://sensesofcinema.com/2013/66/memoir-of-albie/.

Articles and Interviews with and about John Flaus:

Frank Moorhouse, “An Anarchist Comes to Power”, Days of Wine and Rage, Vintage, North Sydney, 1980 [revised 2007], pp. 425-29. Originally published in the Bulletin 21 July 1973.

Terri Woods, “Box Office Reflection of the Woman’s Role”, The West Australian 1 December 1976. Interview with Flaus.

Albie Thoms. “Seminar: Australian Reality”, Filmnews March 1977, p. 3. Account of a seminar led by Flaus at the Sydney Filmmakers Co-op.

Hannah Dunne, “Flaus Flays Flash Flicks & ‘Critics’”, Filmnews vol. 9 no. 9, September 1979, pp. 5, 13-14.

Stephanie Bunbury and Matthew Ricketson, “Film Gourmets Bite Off as Much as They Can Chew”, The Age 28 July 1983.

Ian Munro, “Meanwhile Back at the Movies”, The Sun 15 September 1984, p. 29.

Glen Hannah, “Flaus on Guerilla Radio and the Decadent Age of Cinema”, Metro no. 68, November 1985, pp. 19-21.

Clive Dorman, “A Bit of Satdee Arvo Buffoonery”, The Melbourne Times 4 December 1985, pp. 15, 17.

Adrian Martin, “Say it With Flaus”, XPress vol. 1, no. 5, August-October 1986, pp. 14-15. Full details for source unconfirmed and original unsighted.

Tom Ryan, “The Buffs are Back”, The Herald Monday Magazine 18 July 1988.

Alison Groggon, “Tortured Buff Ends Apprenticeship”, The Herald 8 March 1989.

Neil McDonald. “Men Without Borders”, Quadrant May 2005, pp. 64-67. A tribute to Associate Professor of English Bill Maidment and his lasting influence on Flaus, McDonald and Noel Purden.

Adrian Martin, “Incursions”, The Language and Style of Film Criticism, ed. Alex Clayton and Andrew Klevan, Routledge, New York, 2011, pp. 58-61. Includes a critical discussion and appreciation of Flaus’ seminal article on Melville’s Le Samouraï.

Tribute essays by Phillip Adams, John Baxter, Richard Brennan, Bryan Brown, Nigel Buesst, Adrian Danks, David Donaldson, Patricia Edgar, Chris Fitchett, Lisa French, Bruce Hodsdon, Barry Jones, Dave Jones, Tina Kaufman, Sylvia Lawson, Neil McDonald, Lorraine Mortimer, John Ruane, Tom Ryan, David Stratton, Michael Thornhill, Jake Wilson and Paul Winkler in Senses of Cinema no. 72, October 2014.