“He’s one of my great heroes, Ray, and one of the most impressive directors,” said film critic Philip French.
After 50 years as the film critic for The Observer, around his 80th birthday, Philip French is about to retire. In a wide-ranging interview to The Guardian, which also covered his favourite films, French spoke in glowing terms about Satyajit Ray’s films. Asked which eight reels he’d take on a deserted island, he replied, “It changes all the time, but I would definitely take Singin’ in the Rain (directed by Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly), Stagecoach by John Ford, either Hitchcock’s North by Northwest or The Lady Vanishes, Ingmar Bergman’s Wild Strawberries, and at least one of Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy—he’s one of my great heroes, Ray, and one of the most impressive directors or men that I’ve ever met.”
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