I don't mean to be crude, but. . . .

[Grimm]

I wouldn't be able to tell you when continental European movie-making really recommenced post-WWII. Clearly by the 1960s there was plenty of movie-making going on in France but I don't know how long it had been going by that point.

I dropped the date from that, he wrote it in 1947, so I think it's a pretty fair bet that the industry was still in the doldrums.

[Confidence Interval]

I dropped the date from that, he wrote it in 1947, so I think it's a pretty fair bet that the industry was still in the doldrums.

1946 Cocteau's La Belle et la Bête
1949 Cocteau's Orpheus
- both of which I really like - plus movies by Jean-Pierre Melville, Tati, and Clouzot all released in the late 1940s. When you look there were actually some great movies being made around that time, at least in France. In Italy, Bicycle Thieves and Germany Year Zero were also released in the late '40s and both are still highly regarded. Without commenting on the industry in general I think we can safely say there were some great movies being made.

[Grimm]

Yes but Wittgenstein wouldn't have learnt anything from them.

[Confidence Interval]

If only he'd been around to see Caddyshack...

[Grimm]

I know right. He would instantly have attained prajñāpāramitā upon viewing.

[Confidence Interval]

I'm currently reading The Wooden World: An Anatomy of the Georgian Navy by N A M Rodger. It's really remarkably good.