by Josh Cabat
What was the first example of a successful independent film in America?
Many historians and critics give the nod, at least in films of the sound era, to John Cassavetes’ Shadows from 1960. While there is no doubt about that film’s artistic and historical significance, a closer look reveals that the honor might much more appropriately be bestowed on Morris Engel’s basement-budget masterpiece, 1953’s Little Fugitive. Engel, who was born in Brooklyn, had come up through the ranks of New York’s Photo League and became interested in film under the tutelage of the legendary filmmaker and photographer Paul Strand. Profoundly influenced by the Italian neo-realist movement of the mid-1940’s, Engel, using non-professional actors, a camera rig of his own invention and post-production sound dubbing in the tradition of Rossellini and De Sica, created an unfettered, almost documentary style of visual storytelling. Not only is this the first great American indie film, then; it is also a bridge between Italian neo-realism and the French New Wave that followed. In fact, François Truffaut stated many times that without Engel’s work (which also includes 1956’s Lovers and Lollipops and 1960’s Weddings and Babies), the Nouvelle Vague might never have existed at all.
