100 IDEAS

THAT CHANGED

a
DAVID PARKINSON
THE ACA
CT

100 IDEAS THAT CHANGED FILM

David Parkinson
100 IDEAS THAT CHANGED FILM
David Parkinson

Laurence King Publishing

Introduction

100 Ideas that Changed Film

Glossary 208

Further reading 211

Index 212

Picture credits 215

Acknowledgements 216
No.1 MAGIC LANTERNS 8 No.51 STUDIO REALISM 108
No.2 PERSISTENCE OF VISION 10 No.52 B MOVIES 110
No.3 THE KINETOSCOPE 12. No.53 SERIES 112
No.4 THE CINEMATOGRAPHE 14. No.54_ SHORTS 114
No.5 PROJECTION 16 ~=No.55 ANIMATION 116
No.6 — TRICK FILMS 18 No.56 MODELS 118
No.7 CLOSE-UPS 20. No.57 NEOREALISM 120
No.8 OPTICAL TRANSITIONS 22 No.58 FLASHBACKS 122
No.9 POINT-OF-VIEW SHOTS 24 No.59 VOICE-OVER 124
No.10 TRACKING SHOTS 26 No.60 FILM NOIR 126
No.1] CHASE SEQUENCES 28 No.61_ THE BLACKLIST 128
No.12 CONTINUITY EDITING 30 No.62 METHOD ACTING 130
No.13 MATCH SHOTS 32. No.63_ TELEVISION 132
No.14 NICKELODEONS 34. No.64_ THE ACADEMY RATIO 134
No.15 FILM D/ART 36 No65 COLOUR 136
No.16 FEATURE FILMS 38 No.6 3-D 138
No.17 DREAM PALACES 40 No.7 CO-PRODUCTION 140
No.18 SHOOTING SCRIPTS 42 No.68 EPICS 142
No.19_ IN-CAMERA EFFECTS 44 No.69 EXPLOITATION 144
No.20 SERIALS 46 No.70_ TRAILERS 146
No.21 SLAPSTICK 48 No.71_ SAFETY FILM 148
No.22 STUNTS 50 No.72 THE CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE 150
No.23 THE STAR SYSTEM 52. No.73. CANNES 152
No.24 HOLLYWOOD 54 No.4 CRITICISM 154
No.25 MOVIE MOGULS 56 No.75_ MISE EN SCENE 156
No.26 BLOCK BOOKING 58 No.76 OFF-SCREEN SPACE 158
No.27 THE STUDIO SYSTEM 60 No.77_ AUTEUR THEORY 160
No.28 GENRE 62 No.78 HANDHELD CAMERA 162
No.29 PRE-SOLD SOURCES 64 No.79 CINEMA VERITE 164
No.30 CHILD STARS 66 No.80 FREE CINEMA 166
No.31_ FAN MAGAZINES 68 No.81 THIRD CINEMA 168
No.32 THE OSCARS 70 No82 ZOOM 170
No.33 MONOCHROME 72 _No.83 ROAD MOVIES 172
No.34 PROCESS SHOTS 74 No.84_ BLAXPLOITATION 174
No.35 ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING 76 No.85 PORNOGRAPHY 176
No.36 EXPRESSIONISM 78 No.86 FEMINIST FILM THEORY 178
No.37 THE NARRATIVE AVANT-GARDE 80 No.87 BLOCKBUSTERS 180
No.38 FILM SCHOOLS 82 No.88 EFFECTS MAKE-UP 182
No.39 MONTAGE 84. No.89 KIDPICS 184
No.40 TYPAGE 86 No.90 TEENPICS 186
No.41 SURREALISM 88 No.91 SEQUELS 188
No.42 EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA 90 No.92 REMAKES 190
No.43 SOUND 92 No.93 MULTIPLEXES 192
No.44 MUSICAL SCORES 94 No.94 VIDEO 194
No.45 DUBBING 96 _No.95 HOME ENTERTAINMENT 196
No.46 SUBTITLES 98 No.96 US INDEPENDENT CINEMA 198
No.47NEWSREELS 100 No.97_ QUEER CINEMA 200
No.48 CENSORSHIP 102. —_No.98 HERITAGE FILMS 202
No.49 PROPAGANDA 104. No.99 DIGITAL VIDEO 204
No.50 POETIC REALISM 106. _No.100 COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGERY 206
Introduction

As this alternative history of cinema illustrates, ‘film’ majority of the ideas were hatched in Europe and the
is a very loose term. It can be applied with equal United States. While many were devised to solve
validity to the earliest silent short and the latest event technical and commercial problems, others sought
movie, to a cartoon and a documentary, to a serial to extend aesthetic or dramatic parameters.
and a newsreel, to an avant-garde experiment and Consequently, what follows is as much a chronology
a piece of pornographic exploitation. Yet these of business opportunism and technical pragmatism,
variations on the moving image all largely derive as a celebration of artistry, social commitment and
from a core set of ideas that have determined how showmanship. Indeed, without the backing of
films have been produced, distributed, exhibited, financiers, the ingenuity of boffins and the
consumed and appreciated for some 120 years. intervention of administrators, film may never have
Whether you’re new to studying film or a dedicated developed beyond being just another nineteenth-
cineaste, you may be surprised by how many concepts century curio.
and techniques are shared by flickers and blockbusters. It is also interesting to speculate how different
Film is often called the seventh art. Compared the course of film history might have been had the
to sculpture, architecture, painting, music, poetry Great War not caused the closure of national
and dance, it is still in its infancy. But such has industries across Europe and allowed the nascent
been its rate of evolution, few who attended the community in Hollywood to assume control of the
first cinema show at the Grand Café in Paris on international market. During cinema’s first two
27 December 1895 would recognize the affinity of decades, pioneers in America, France, Britain,
the simple scenes projected by the Cinématographe Germany and Italy had made equally crucial
with the Hollywood spectacles whose generic tropes contributions to the evolution of screen storytelling.
and computer-generated effects currently enthral But the remainder of the silent era was dominated by
audiences worldwide. the ascent of the Hollywood studio system, whose
Nobody knows who first had the idea of creating conveyor belt approach to film-making and reliance
moving pictures and no one person can lay claim to on bankable genres and stars gave it a hegemony over
having invented the means of recording or world cinema that it has yet to relinquish, despite
disseminating them. Long before Louis and Auguste the rise of more prolific rivals in India (Bollywood)
Lumiére secured their place in film history, writers, and Nigeria (Nollywood).
scientists and entrepreneurs had been intrigued by Indeed, it was Hollywood’s business model, as
the artistic and commercial potential of images that much as the quality of its now-talking pictures, that
appeared to replicate life for the entertainment and enabled the Big Five studios of MGM, Paramount,
edification of paying customers. However, none of Warner Bros, Twentieth Century-Fox and
RKO to
those responsible for such devices as magic lanterns introduce the block booking and vertical integration
and optical toys or notions like persistence of vision practices that provided guaranteed outlets for their
could have foreseen that the movies would become products and allowed American cinema to survive
the most accessible, popular and arguably the most the Depression and World War II. However, the golden
socially, politically and culturally significant art form age could not last forever and a combination of
of them all. suburbanization, anti-trust laws, Communist witch-
This book seeks to identify the key theories, hunting and television prompted the studios to resort
techniques and strategies that enabled film to to colour, widescreen, 3-D and stereophonic sound
progress from sideshow to institution. Even though in a bid to arrest a nearruinous postwar slump
cinema has always had a global dimension, the in attendances.
 The decline of the studio system coincided with a It is impossible to predict where film will be in a
resurgence in European cinema. While Continental decade’s time. The gaming revolution has sparked
film-makers had challenged the conventions of rumours of interactivity ending movie-going as a
Hollywood classicism throughout the silent era, a communal pastime. Yet, even if cinema does divide
period of stagnation had followed, during which into distinctive experiential and intellectual formats,
authoritarianism limited freedom of expression and many of the ideas discussed here will remain relevant,
industries across Europe struggled with dubbing and as the basics of film content and form have essentially
subtitling practices. Spelling the end of this des- remained consistent over the past century. Styles,
pondency, a new determination to depict life as it was techniques and processes may come and go. But films
lived resulted in the advent of Neorealism in postwar continue to play on universal emotions and it’s to
Italy. Soon afterwards, a French rebellion against be hoped that audiences will long be challenged,
polished pictures with literate scripts and lavish charmed and consoled by them, whether they reflect
production values led to the coining of auteur theory the everyday or provide an escape from it.
and the eruption of the new waves that not only
transformed the European and American scenes, but
also prompted the rise of Third Cinema that finally
enabled film to become a genuinely global medium.
Europe also had much to do with the appearance
of film schools, museums, archives and the festival
circuit. But, from the early 1970s onwards, the big
film ideas came predominantly in the business
and technological spheres. The multinational
conglomerates that began acquiring the Hollywood
studios in the 1960s recognized that young people
were the new target demographic and _ started
producing blockbusters in the sci-fi, fantasy and
adventure genres that were packed with state-of-the-
art effects and backed by massive media advertising
and merchandising campaigns to lure audiences into
the modern multiplexes.
Some critics have identified a consequent infant-
ilization of American mainstream cinema and have
lamented the synergist dependence on pre-sold
sources, sequels and remakes that has sapped its
originality. But the corporatization of Hollywood has
also provoked a backlash by independent directors
inspired by the exploitation mavericks of the 1950s
and ’60s and their willingness to tackle topics the
studios shy away from has afforded opportunities for
female, African-American and queer film-makers
to find their arthouse niche alongside foreign-
language cinema.
Projecting illusions, promoting escapism

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IDEA N° 1

MAGIC LANTERNS

These optical lanterns contained the principal elements

later found in film projectors: a source of illumination; a
mechanism for moving frames through the light-proofed
casing; and lenses for condensing and projecting images
onto a distant screen. As an early form of mass
entertainment, they also anticipated the storytelling A single lens lantern, made in
Liverpool around the late 1880s by
experiments of later film-makers. Archer & Sons.

The names Christiaan Huygens, told tales from across the generic range with form, texture and rhythm.
Athanathius Kircher and Thomas in an elliptical manner that often Furthermore, the combination of fixed
Walgenstein will mean little even to required captions, commentaries or background slides and those with
dedicated cineastes. Yet these accompanying ballads. Some even cut moving elements foreshadowed cel
seventeenth-century scholars figured between parallel storylines set in animation, while Paul Philipstal and
prominently in the development of the different locations. Etienne-Gaspard Robert (or ‘Robertson’)
magic lantern, an early type of image Designed to educate and entertain, pioneered back projection in casting
projector with which anonymous and veering between the realistic and ghoulish images onto gauze screens
Savoyards and Auvergnats astounded the romanticized, the factual and the and smoke clouds in the first gothic
kings and commoners across Europe fantastical, lantern slides could be horror shows.
from the early 1700s to the late 1860s. comical, inspirational, shocking and Eadweard Muybridge, Emile
But while these activities primed occasionally pornographic. Most slides Reynaud and Georges Méliés were
audiences for a communal form of were hand-painted (which prompted among the many film-makers inspired
projected entertainment, it was left to the move to colour the earliest films), by the magic lantern. But its greatest
later innovators such as Henry Langdon while others were fitted with pulleys, legacy lay in the way it provided the
Childe and Abbé Moigno to devise the gears or levers to provide intra-image uneducated masses with a brief respite
storytelling techniques that eventually movement. The use of multiple from their arduous lives, as this
shaped the first moving pictures. lanterns or lenses enabled practitioners escapist populism was harnessed by
The likes of Etienne-Gaspard to create transformations, substitu- the first cinema entrepreneurs, whose
Robert’s Phantasmagoria in Paris tions, disappearances, apparitions and itinerancy lives on in the travelling
(1798-1837) and the Royal Polytechnic dream inserts. They could also dissolve picture shows that continue to enthral
Institution shows in London (1838-81) or fade between views, while lanterns audiences in the remoter parts of
attained considerable sophistication. mounted on wheeled carriages could Africa and Asia. =
Indeed, such was the intricacy and enlarge or diminish subjects in scale in
artistry of the full-colour lantern spec- anticipation of cinema’s later long,
tacles available in 1895 that many con- medium and close-up shots.
sidered the first black-and-white films Wheels of life (pairs of counter-
to be coarsely gimmicky by comparison. rotating discs containing sequential
After all, lanternists had been images) and choreutoscope strips gave
projecting photographic slides (or ‘life the impression of continuous move-
models’) since the 1860s. The first slides ment, while chromatropes, eidotropes
had been simple, single illustrations. and cycloidotropes produced shifting
But, as techniques were refined, they shapes and colours that presaged the
started to come in sets or strips that concerns of experimental film-makers
‘Designed to educate and entertain ... lantern
slides could be comical, inspirational, shocking
and occasionally pornographic.’

Images from aset of24

glass slides based on Sir
John Tenniel’s original
drawings for Alice in
Wonderland.
ABove: Motion studies by Eadweard BeLow: This equine sequence also by
Muybridge published in Animal Muybridge was projected using a
Locomotion (1887). PATO TUAReOy ETA OTTO SENUDCcy
Gardner at a Gallop (1878).
 Now you see it, now you ... still see it

IDEA N22 Above: This 1840s disque magique BELOW: Jules Cheret’s poster

PERSISTENCE OF VISION was a variation on the phenakistoscope

that exploited persistence of vision to
create the illusion of moving imagery.
advertising a scene from Emile
Reynaud’s 1892 Theatre Optique
animation, Pauvre Pierrot.
SE Spr A PE OE GEST]
In the century prior to their first projection - and for decades
afterwards — it was believed that a rapid succession of still
images could be viewed as a single continuous motion
thanks to the perceptual phenomenon known as persistence
of vision. Numerous scientists and psychologists have since
discredited the concept, but it continues to spark debate.

Persistence of vision was first noted by As the mechanics of recording and

the Roman poet Lucretius in De rerum projecting moving images scarcely
natura (65 BC) and demonstrated with changed between the 1890s and the
the whirling firebrand experiment by digital era, the significance of this
the Irish mathematician the Chevalier psycho-perceptual misconception is
Patrick D’Arcy in 1765. It was defined incalculable. Yet psychologists remain
by Peter Mark Roget (of Thesaurus puzzled by the actual neural and
fame) in 1824, and his theory that an cognitive processes involved in the
image fleetingly lingers on the retina perception of intermittent movement.
after it has been removed from the field Persistence of vision in isolation
of view inspired a series of optical toys certainly seems a spurious hypothesis,
that created an illusion of movement as audiences see movies as smooth
from static illustrations, among them action not a superimposition of stills.
John Ayrton Paris’s thaumatrope (‘magical However, it makes more sense taken in
turning’), Joseph Plateau’s phenaki- conjunction with the ‘phi phenom-
stoscope (‘deceitful view’) and William enon’, or stroboscopic effect, which ‘apparent motion’, which suggests that
George Horner’s daedalum, which was was revealed by Gstalt psychologist certain cells in the eye and brain
rebranded as the zoetrope (‘live Max Wertheimer in his Experimental responsible for analysing motion can
turning’) by William F. Lincoln in 1867. Studies on the Seeing of Motion (1912) and be duped into sending the wrong signal
However, from the moment Plateau which explains why the individual by stimuli resembling movement.
fitted his phenakistoscope with posed blades of a rotating fan appear as a Wherever the truth lies, in order to
photographs in 1849, the race was on single circular form. eliminate flicker, the rotating shutter
to capture actual movement. The While the phi phenomenon creates within the projector has to allow each
endeavours of locomotion specialists movement between frames at optimal image to be flashed upon the screen
Eadweard Muybridge and EtienneJules projection speeds of between 12 and 24 twice. Thus, whenever we watch a film,
Marey resulted in the development of frames per second, persistence of vision we spend half the time gazing at an
chronophotography in the 1880s, prevents the viewer from seeing the optical illusion and the other half sitting
which was appropriated and refined by dark spaces between the individual in the dark in front ofa blank screen. =
Thomas Edison and the Lumiere images by causing ‘flicker fusion’ when
brothers for their respective Kine- the projection beam is broken at a
tograph and Cinématographe mach- frequency approaching 50 times per
ines, which both seemed dependent second. However, other experts reject
upon persistence of vision. this theory in favour of the notion of

tal
Edison’s pre-projection brainchild
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IDEA N23

THE KINETOSCOPE

This early device for exhibiting motion pictures — spectators

viewed films individually through a peephole in the
Kinetoscope’s casing - has often been seen as one of cinema’s
dead ends. But, despite being superseded by projection in
December 1895, it played a key role in the medium’s
technical, industrial, aesthetic and commercial evolution.

Thomas Edison had been inspired to Switching to George Eastman’s Sandow, dancer Annabelle Moore and
create ‘an instrument which does for 35mm celluloid strips in 1889, Dickson sharpshooters Annie Oakley and Buffalo
the Eye what the Phonograph has done prototyped the Kinetograph camera, Bill Cody linked the moving image to
for the Ear’ before meeting pioneering and a party from the National other forms of popular entertainment.
sequence photographer Eadweard Muy- Federation of Women’s Clubs became Edison also recorded sporting events,
bridge in February 1888. But, having the first to sample the Kinetoscope in as did his rivals. A boxing bout staged
filed a caveat for the Kinetoscope, he May 1891. But it wasn’t until May 1893 by the Latham family prompted the
entrusted the project to William that Blacksmith Scene was shown to the invention of the Latham Loop, which
Kennedy Laurie Dickson, who shot public at the Brooklyn Institute of Arts permitted longer films. The Lathams
some tests using John Carbutt’s sensi- and Sciences, and April 1894 that the also drew up the first star contract
tized celluloid. Edison himself, however, Holland brothers opened the first when they’ exclusively signed
provided fresh impetus after encount- Kinetoscope parlour at 1155 Broadway heavyweight boxer Gentleman Jim
ering EtienneJules Marey at the 1889 in New York. Corbett in 1894, the same year that
Paris Exposition, although the ideas of Dickson and his assistant William Senator James A. Bradley’s objection to
intermittency to exploit persistence of Heise made their 20- to 40-second a view of dancer Carmencita’s
vision and perforated film strips came kinetoscopics in the first film studio, stockinged ankles resulted in the first
from Ottomar Anschtitz’s Electrical the Black Maria, with Fred Ott’s Sneeze screen censorship.
Tachyscope and Emile Reynaud’s (1894) becoming the first movie The Lumiére brothers and R.W.
Théatre Optique respectively. comedy. Footage of strongman Eugene Paul were among the many Europeans

12
 ABOVE: Inside Edison’s Kinetoscope, BELOW: Erected for $637.67 in the
Phonograph and Graphophone grounds of Thomas Edison’s West
Arcade, managed by Peter Bacigalupi Orange laboratory, the Black Maria
at 946 Market Street, San Francisco. was thefirst purpose-built film studio.

to be inspired by the Kinetoscope. believed that films should be made by

Indeed, Edison’s failure to secure technicians rather than artists. But the
international patents cost him dear, Kinetoscope’s legacy lives on in the
while the strict enforcement of his viewing of films on television, video,
domestic copyrights led to the Patent DVD, computers and mobile phones. =
and Trust wars (see Feature Films) that
proved so crucial to shaping the
structure of the Hollywood film
industry (several of whose major
players had run Kinetoscope parlours).
Edison continued to tinker with
projecting Kinetoscopes until 1914. By
that time US cinema was dominated by
D.W. Griffith, who had helped refine
film grammar at the American
Mutoscope and Biograph Company,
which Dickson had joined after
acrimoniously parting company with
Edison’s Enterprises. Edison mistakenly

13
1896 poster by Henri Brispot
demonstrating the cross-class appeal
of the Cinématographe.
The ‘flickers’ flicker into life

ABOVE: Marcellin Auzolle’s classic BELOW: Mischievous Benoit Duval

poster for LArroseur arrosé (1895). gives gardener Francois Clerc a
soaking in the same scene as the one
IDEA N° 4 also being enjoyed by the audience in

THE CINEMATOGRAPHE the film’s poster (above).

a
eee
SS eS |

This hybrid camera, printer and projector holds a unique

place in screen history since it facilitated the event that has
been designated as marking the birth of cinema: Louis and
Auguste Lumieére’s ten-film presentation to a paying
audience at the Grand Café, Paris on 28 December 1895.

Thirty-five patrons paid one franc each comedy, LArroseur arrosé, in which a boy
to attend the first show. But the soaks a gardener with his own hose.
Lumieres were soon selling 7,000 However, many early Lumiere
tickets a week and the _ so-called efforts like Repas de bébé (1895) were
‘flickers’ became a craze. Their success essentially home movies and it was left
marked the end of the age of inventors, to the employees they dispatched
which had witnessed scientists, across the globe to refine shooting reel towards a lens and an aperture,
showmen and = mavericks like techniques. The first film show in just where it was held in place long enough
Muybridge, Marey, Janssen, Le Prince, about every country was given with a for a shutter to open and admit light
LeRoy, Friese-Greene, Acres and the Cinématographe, as operatives such as focused by the lens from the target
Skladanowsky brothers laying claim to Alexandre Promio enticed the curious object to be fixed by the chemical
recording motion. However, it was by recording local landmarks in footage emulsion on the celluloid’s surface.
Edison’s Kinematograph camera and that was then marketed as travelogues Louis Lumiere ceased production in
Kinetoscope viewer that prompted the back in Europe. 1900 and devoted his _ energies
race to project. Borrowing its mechanism from the thereafter to widescreen, colour and
Filmed with the _ prototype Kinematograph and its name from a stereoscopic processes. However, he
Cinématographe, La Sortie des Usines flawed sequence camera patented by missed a trick in not accepting a
Iumiére was the first footage shot Léon-Guillaume Bouly, the Cinéma- 10,000-franc offer for a Cinématographe
specifically for projection. It debuted tographe, perfected by the Lumiere from a member of his first-night
privately on 22 March 1895. Emulating siblings and engineer Jules Carpentier, audience in 1895, as the spectator in
the compositional style of contemp- established the basics for recording question, magician Georges Méliés,
orary photography, Louis Lumiere set and projecting motion pictures that would become cinema’s first commer-
the trend for records of everyday would remain largely unchanged for cially successful narrative artist. =
happenings that would continue into several decades. It operated at 16 frames
the early 1900s. Indeed, the camera’s per second (fps), which remained the
lightness suited it for outdoor filming norm until sound forced a change to
and its placement for LArrivée d’un train 24 fps. Popular makes like the Pathé
en Gare de La Ciotat not only exploited Professional (1905), the Debrie Parvo
the kinetic power of the approaching (1908), the Bell & Howell Studio (1912),
locomotive, but also made innovative the Arriflex (1937) and the Eclair
use of off-screen space by having figures Cameflex (1948) appropriated its
enter the frame from behind the lens. winding mechanism that intermittently
Lumiére also produced the first film sent a negative film strip from a feed

15
Towards a bigger-than-life,
comn unal experience

IDEA N° 5

PROJECTION

The fascination with cast forms predates Plato’s Cave of

Shadows. Though it was only at the end of the nineteenth
century that moving images finally flickered on a screen, at top: Projecting reality: Louis ABOVE: Robert Donat in the Boulting
every stage of cinema’s prehistory, machines and processes Ge 2 ciotat (1895)
Lumiére’s LArrivée d’un train en brothers biopic, The Magic Box
(1951), which claimed William
Friese-Greene as the inventor of the
were invented with mass audiences in mind. first practical camera-projector.

In 1420, Giovanni da _ Fontana’s dazzle, delight and disconcert, and this activities such as television. But even
Bellicorum Istrumentorum Liber included eagerness for shared sensation explains though the studios eventually sold
an illustration that suggested how a the success of Saturday matinees for their films for domestic broadcast, they
lantern could be used to terrorize children, late-night double bills of invested heavily in widescreen, colour
enemy troops by casting demonic suspense and horror movies, and and stereophonic technology in the
images into the air. In the mid- singalong versions of musicals like The early 1950s to lure people away from
nineteenth century, T.W. Naylor and Sound of Music (1965) and Grease (1978). their living rooms. Hollywood also
Franz von Uchatius attempted to Projection helped make cinema a experimented with 3-D, drive-ins and
project images from optical toys, while socially acceptable pastime. In order to exploitation genres to attract the
Henry Heyl, Thomas Ross, Eadweard meet demand, the production process younger generation, and this emphasis
Muybridge and Ottomar Anschiitz all was industrialized and genres emerged on enticing juveniles into giant-screen
sought to project moving images from to shape audience tastes and reduce multiplexes with effects-laden event
posed or hand-copied photographs. Yet, the risk of box-office misfires. New movies has sustained the blockbuster
having perfected cinematography, technologies and narrative strategies era since the mid-1970s.
Thomas Edison failed to recognize the were also devised to satisfy the public’s Despite the deployment of
commercial or communal benefits of need for novelty and spectacle. But digitization, projection has changed
projection and paid the price as the popular entertainment could also be little since 1895. However, it remains to
Kinetoscope parlours he supplied were used as a form of social control, with be seen what impact the long-
replaced by the nickelodeons in which censorship suppressing certain ideas rumoured advent of interactive cinema
urban audiences of all ages, classes while promoting others more will have on the traditional communal
and ethnicities learned the basics of conducive to those bankrolling the experience.
screen storytelling. studios or providing state subsidies.
The famous anecdote about viewers This proved particularly useful in times
diving for cover during a screening of of national emergency, as_ the
Louis Lumiére’s L[Arrivée d’un train en propaganda messages in features,
Gare de La Ciotat is almost certainly documentaries, newsreels and instruct-
apocryphal. But it’s not as far-fetched ional shorts could be guaranteed to
as one might suppose, as pioneering reach the widest possible viewership.
film-makers such as _ ex-magician However, attendances dropped
Georges Méliés exploited the audience’s sharply in the period following World
collective sense of wonderment to War II, in the face of competing leisure

16
The hills are alive: Julie Andrews
in The Sound of Music (1965),
which has become a cult favourite
with audiences at special
singalong screenings.
AU aul LY amet hyoS
cross-town chaos in Lewin
Drea LOW LeU Cm enero Tot
That Fatal Sneeze (1907).
Cinema makes a spectacle of itself

IDEA N26

TRICK FILMS

The trick film marked the advent of special effects and

captured the public imagination as the initial novelty of
moving images was beginning to wane. Moreover, the
magical transformations it featured allowed film-makers to
develop the show-stopping techniques that would prove top: Ingenious trickery, as a car
heads back to Earth after speeding
ABOVE: Fantasy, trickery and an
exquisite eye for detail combine in
around Saturn’s ring in R.W. Paul’s Georges Méliés’s pioneering sci-fi
essential to commercial narrative cinema. The ‘?’ Motorist (1906). fantasy A Trip to the Moon (1902).

The first flickers were Lumiére-style Conjuring a Woman at the Robert-Houdin examples such as Albert Capellani’s
shots of daily life, travelogues, records (1896) and The One-Man Band (1900), in Aladdin (1906) prioritized ostentation
of sporting and showbiz celebrities, which figures disappeared or were over plot logic and character, they still
and reconstructions of historical and duplicated with a true illusionist’s sought to marry drama and display,
topical events. However, given the flourish. Indeed, he often bowed and and directors gradually discovered how
number of magicians among the movie gestured to viewers to ensure they to integrate such special effects into
pioneers, trick films were almost an missed none of his ingenuity. their story-lines, with D.W. Griffith
inevitability. The French siblings Emile Méliés similarly recycled old stage learning his trade as an actor in trick
and Vincent Isola, Britons David Devant business in The Astronomer’s Dream films like The Sculptor’s Nightmare (1908).
and John Nevill Maskelyne, and (1898), which set the trend for féeries Despite the popularity of the likes
Americans Billy Bitzer and James Stuart (fairy plays) such as Cinderella (1899) of Edwin S. Porter’s Dream of a Rarebit
Blackton variously experimented with and fantasies like A Trip to the Moon Fiend (1906), America could not compete
stop-motion, cranking speeds and in- (1902), which broke the nascent with European tricksters such as
camera effects like masking and medium’s reliance on what critic Segundo de Chomon and Cecil Hepworth,
multiple exposure. But the doyen of André Gaudreault has called ‘mon- who initiated a cinema of sensation
trick films was the former stage stration’ and transformed it into an with How it Feels to Be Run Over (1900),
magician Georges Méliés. exhibitionist ‘cinema of attractions’, the eccentric humour of which
Despite Méliés’s claim to have which film scholar Tom Gunning has presaged slapstick and Surrealism. By
stumbled across cinema’s trick po- suggested followed the example of the the time Méliés released The Conquest of
tential when his camera jammed while fairground, the circus and vaudeville the Pole (1912), trick films had become
filming on the Place de l’Opéra in 1896, in seeking to entice, thrill, shock and passé but their emphasis on magical
the technique of substitution splicing delight audiences with its unique use moments sparked cinema’s continuing
- in which the camera stopped while of spectacle and surprise. dependence on eye-catching sequences in
the objects involved in the trick were Fairy plays were an established comedies, musicals, swashbucklers,
exchanged - was actually devised for French theatrical tradition and filmic science fiction and horror. =
Edison’s The Execution of Mary, Queen of féeries were invariably photographed
Scots in the previous year. Whatever the frontally against painted backdrops.
technique’s origins, it suited Mélies’s However, many were enhanced by
prestidigitatious style in scénes a trucs - stencilled colour and concluded with
transformation scenes - such as an extravagant grand finale. Yet while

19
‘Directors began conveying the ABovE: In her sole screen role, Renée
Falconetti endures the agony of
interrogation in Carl Theodor

psychological state of their characters with Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of

Arc (1928).

head shots and atmospheric inserts.’ BELOW: Iflooks could kill: Charles
Bronson as Harmonica in Sergio
Leone's spaghetti epic Once Upon a
Time in the West (1968).
 Getting inside a character’s head

A circular mask is used to suggest

a boy’s eye view in G.A. Smith’s
IDEA N27 pioneering short, Grandma’s
Reading Glass (1900).

CLOSE-UPS
[aaSe
a ae
Close-range shots tightly framing an actor’s face only
emerged as a familiar part of screen technique after they
became a status symbol among Hollywood stars of the
1920s. But film-makers have subsequently used close-ups to
suggest a character’s interiority and to draw attention to a
particular expression, gesture or prop.
There were plenty of precedents for the atmospheric inserts that the close-up emphasize vulnerability. Canted or
close-up in painting and photography, became a cinematic staple. Dutch angles imply a world out of
as well as in magic-lantern slides. Meanwhile, despite D.W. Griffith’s kilter, as in Carol Reed’s The Third Man
Indeed, one of the most famous increased use of close-ups after The (1949), although Alfred Hitchcock used
Kinetoscope shorts, Fred Ott’s Sneeze Lonedale Operator (1911), Hollywood overhead shots to similarly discon-
(1894), focused predominantly on the primarily opted for objectivity and only certing effect in The Birds (1963).
subject’s face. G.A. Smith also made fully embraced cutting in to tighter In the early 1950s, directors
innovative use of close-ups in divid- shots in the late silent era, as the star struggled to accommodate close-ups in
ing scenes into multiple shots. In system exploited soft-focus poses to widescreen compositions and often
Grandma’s Reading Glass (1900), for convince fans of the dash, glamour and used scenery and shadows to occupy
example, he used a black circular mask stature of their idols. However, close- unwanted space. However, close-ups
on his lens to simulate the extreme ups also had a storytelling value, as suited the smaller television screen
close-up perspective of a boy with a they drew the audience into the and TV directors graduating into
magnifying glass. narrative by highlighting key elements features made extensive use of them.
Although some film-makers within the mise en scéne, such as a Furthermore, the growing need to
resisted such increased intimacy, few prop a slapstick clown was about to compress key action into the so-called
continued to insist on full-figure trip over, a weapon a gangster was ‘safe area’ for home-entertainment for-
shooting by the end of the decade. The about to fire or a secret that was about mats enabled the new generation of
French actor-director Max Linder used to be revealed. Point-of-view shots blockbuster superstars to demand size-
‘bust shots’ (presenting characters were often additionally effective, as an able close-up quotas in their contracts. =
from the waist up) to implicate viewers image filling a 50-foot screen could
in his comic antics, while in 1918 Lev have a significant emotional impact
Kuleshov juxtaposed an image of Ivan upon an audience empathizing with a
Mozhukin with various emotive objects protagonist’s plight.
to reveal the close-up’s centrality to Film-makers use camera distance to
associational montage. This became a create patterns and rhythms and
key technique in the silent era and establish motifs and themes. Height
beyond but it wasn’t until Scandinavian and angle are equally important.
and German directors began conveying Context is everything, but low-angle
the psychological state of their shots often suggest a character’s power,
characters with head shots and while those looking down tend to

Zi
From fades to freeze-frames

Jean-Pierre Léaud faces an uncertain

future as Antoine Doinel while the
final frame freezes in Francois
Truffaut's The 400 Blows (1959).

IDEA N2 8

OPTICAL TRANSITIONS

The switch to digital editing has seen the cut become the
dominant editorial mode. However, the first moving images
required a more varied syntax, and many of the optical
techniques devised to guide the first viewers through silent
storylines remain valid to this day.
The fade and the dissolve were relics of David Hemmings from the scene after nostalgic charm, which persuaded
magic-lantern shows. Indeed, audiences he fails to solve the mystery in Blow-Up George Lucas to utilize it in Star Wars
were so used to such smooth transitions (1966). The change to colour photo- (1977) in homage to Akira Kurosawa’s
that many pioneering film-makers graphy and the greater immediacy of Hidden Fortress (1958).
avoided the straight cut, as it was Nouvelle Vague and television editing Finally, there’s the freeze-frame.
deemed too abrupt and distracting. might have made the lap dissolve seem Joseph L. Mankiewicz flashes back from
However, it could also be thrillingly staid, yet it still retained a valuable one at the start of All About Eve (1950),
effective, as Alfred Hitchcock proved in temporal remit. but these static shots usually act as
The 39 Steps (1935). The dissolve became Another signifier of passing time, dramatic full stops, as in George Roy
an essential part of Georges Méliés’s the fade, can also be used to draw the Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
technique after Cinderella (1899). But viewer into a film’s world, as in the Kid (1969) and Peter Weir’s Gallipoli
such transitioning quickly became opening shot of Frank Tuttle’s This Gun (1981). However, they can also convey
clichéd and dissolves were reduced to for Hire (1942). It can also emphasize ambiguity, as in the frozen zoom of
being alternative edit points or significant plot developments, as with Jean-Pierre Léaud on the beach at the
harbingers of flashbacks until the the fades to red in Ingmar Bergman’s climax of Francois Truffaut’s The 400
1920s, when Marcel L'Herbier’s Eldorado Cries and Whispers (1973), which allow Blows (1959). m
(1921) spurned intertitles to use the audience to contemplate what has
dissolves to suggest elapsed time and just occurred before the story resumes.
E.A. Dupont’s Variety (1925) ushered in The iris offers a similar facility.
the Hollywood montage with its Favoured as a bookending gambit by
exhilarating overlapping sequences. D.W. Griffith, this has become
The dissolve was also used for something of an archaism since Orson
transformations such as Brigitte Helm’s Welles used it to conclude the motoring
metamorphosis into the robot in Fritz episode in The Magnificent Ambersons
Lang’s Metropolis (1926). However, the (1942). The wipe has also fallen from
opening of Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane favour, with the dramatic power it
(1941) demonstrated that it could also possessed in Victor Sjéstrom’s He Who
serve as a lyrical variation on the cut, Gets Slapped (1924) being lampooned by
while Michelangelo Antonioni gave it a Laurel and Hardy in Thicker Than Water
metaphysical purpose in dissolving (1935). However, it too now has a

22
Above: Ingmar Bergman uses red
fades to reinforce the colour’s
SMI e anETL YL ere ESCO
and the soul in Cries and
Whispers (1973).

peLow: An audacious audiovisual

match cul from a screaming
landlady to a shrieking locomotive
in Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39
Steps (1935).

ST
aaa
ca
Lc
Sa
Friend or foe? Artist Xavier Lafitte’s
viewpoint while pursuing Pilar Lopez
de Ayala in José Luis Guerin’s In the
City of Sylvia (2007).
Seeing the world through
someone else’s eyes

IDEA N°9

POINT-OF-VIEW SHOTS

Whether depicting aristocratic prying in Ernst Lubitsch’s Mirror image: a rare glimpse of
Philip Marlowe attempting to crack a
Lady Windermere’s Fan (1926) or Ted Levine’s night-vision murder case in actor-director Robert
Montgomery’s Lady in the
Lake (1947).
stalking in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), point-of-view (POV)
shots — where viewers see the action through a character’s
eyes — intensify the immediacy of scene and draw the
audience into the film’s world.

The earliest subjective images were the However, creating entire films in the Yet POV shots aren’t solely
so-called ‘phantom rides’ filmed from subjective mode proved difficult, with employed to enhance spectacle. Vittorio
the front of moving vehicles in the Orson Welles abandoning a POV De Sica and Agnés Varda included
1890s. Following G.A. Smith’s Grandma’s adaptation of Heart of Darkness to make subjective tracks in Shoeshine (1946) and
Reading Glass (1900), POV shots were Citizen Kane (1941) and _ Robert Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962), while Alain
invariably vignetted with blurring or Montgomery being forced to rely on Resnais used POVs to explore the
darkness at the edges to replicate the visual gimmicks to present Lady in the interaction of time, memory and
view through a telescope, binoculars or Lake (1947) entirely from the standpoint imagination in Last Year at Marienbad
a keyhole. Non-masked shots soon of shamus Philip Marlowe. (1961). But subjective images primarily
became common, however, and were Alfred Hitchcock made frequent allow viewers to enter a character’s
first used to convey physical sensation use of POV shots, often shifting temporal and spatial reality. However,
in Vincenzo Denizot’s Tigris (1913). character perspective within a scene. as José Luis Guerin demonstrates in
The French Impressionists also Yet while these provided psychological following an artist who is pursuing a
recognized the potential of subjective insight (and perhaps _ reflected young woman in In the City of Sylvia
shots for expressing psychological Hitchcock’s voyeuristic personality), (2007), it’s not always possible to gauge
states, with Germaine Dulac and their primary purpose was usually the precise nature of their thoughts. =
Jacques Feyder using anamorphic visceral. Brian De Palma _ similarly
lenses to suggest the heroine’s anguish utilized subjective tracking shots to
in The Smiling Madame Beudet (1922) and generate suspense in Dressed to Kill
the old man’s ennui in Crainquebille (1980), while Ruggero Deodato’s
(1923) (see The Narrative Avant-garde). Cannibal Holocaust of the same year
But F.W. Murnau employed a freely instigated what has since become the
roving camera, fades, dissolves, super- horror cliché of revealing the fate of
imposition, montages and distorting missing persons through their
mirrors in The Last Laugh (1924) to show recovered POV film footage.
both the physical perspective of Emil As the influence of video games
Jannings’s demoted, demoralized and grew, POV shots became increasingly
occasionally inebriated doorman and familiar in action blockbusters, 3-D
what he saw with his mind’s eye. features and _ digital animations.
That film was hugely influential Computer-generated imagery also
and POV. shots soon acquired made it possible to approximate non-
prospective and retrospective uses. human perspectives, as in James
Exploiting cross-cutting and eyeline Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day
matches, film-makers also devised (1991), as well as those of flying
continuing, discovered, delayed, projectiles such as bullets in Hong
multiple, open and forged perspectives. Kong’s heroic bloodshed genre.

25
The camera gets wheels

Details from the bravura continuous

tracking shot occupying the first
three minutes and 20 seconds of
IDEA N2 10 Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (1958).

TRACKING SHOTS

Mounting the film camera on a wheeled platform that ran The coming of the talkies briefly
curtailed movement, as cameras were
along tracks gave it the ability to move not just from side suddenly confined to soundproofed ice-
to side, but also physically towards, away from or around its boxes. But Mamoulian’s Applause (1929)
restored parallel tracks and devices
subject — and in the process endowed cinema with a whole muffling the motor noise called
new dynamism. ‘blimps’ soon enabled cameras to
reframe and follow the action once
Ever since Alexandre Promio had the and the 360-degree pan in Gene Kelly more. Elevated shots - which had been
idea of placing a Cinématographe in a and Stanley Donen’s On the Town (1949). improvised in Griffith’s Intolerance
Venetian gondola in 1896, the film But it was the travelling shot that (1916) and Harold Lloyd’s The Kid Brother
camera has rarely been still. Camera gave movies genuine visual dynamism. (1927) - became more common after
movements provide narrative infor- As many early film-makers disliked the wheeled crane was invented for Pal
mation, reveal and conceal space, calling attention to technique, they Fejos’s Broadway (1929), although its
direct attention and create expressive were initially limited to the parallel use was largely restricted to musicals
effects that alter the viewer’s per- tracks employed by D.W. Griffith for his and swashbucklers.
ception of the world of the narrative last-minute rescue scenes. However, the The handheld methods pioneered
and the psychology of its characters. diagonal tracking shots in Giovanni for Cinéma Vérité and the Nouvelle
They can also enhance spectacle. Pastrone’s Cabiria (1914) proved so Vague brought a new authenticity and
Devised by RW. Paul for his influential in taking the viewer into immediacy to camera movement, which
coverage of Queen Victoria’s Diamond the heart of the scene that so-called became smoother with the introduction
Jubilee in 1897, panning and tilting - ‘Cabiria movements’ came to feature in of Steadicam in 1976. A range of
the horizontal and vertical movements such diverse pictures as Yevgeni Bauer’s mounts and remote control rigs have
of an otherwise fixed camera - were The Child of the Big City (1914), Charlie since been introduced to facilitate
employed to retain focus on the prin- Chaplin’s The Vagabond (1916) and tracking, crane and aerial shots, while
cipal action within the frame. As the William J. Bowman’s all-but-forgotten digital technology has significantly
first cameras came without viewfinders The Second-in-Command (1915), whose extended the potential length of takes.
and had to be hand-cranked, most extensive use of tracks anticipated Thus, even in an age of fast-cut
movements in cinema’s first decades masterpieces like Marcel LHerbier’s shakicam, there’s still a place for the
were basic pans and tilts, although Money (or LArgent) (1928), Lupu Pick’s well choreographed travelling shot. m
they eventually became more advent- Sylvester (1924) and F.W. Murnau’s The
urous with the whip pan in Rouben Last Laugh (1924), which perfected the
Mamoulian’s The Song of Songs (1933) unchained point-of-view shot.

26
 3
i
Above: Ewan McGregor being filmed fa
ACM ro vere wana een meen ago
on the set of Roman Polanski’s The ip
la
Hn

Ghost (2010). im

ricut: Busby Berkeley’s signature was

the top shot looking down on
kaleidoscopic patterns ofchorines.
But he settles for an elevated track in
this scene from 42nd Street (1933).
Motion and emotion

IDEA NP 11

CHASE SEQUENCES
ee pee |
Mack Sennett typically treats his
The chase sequence may now seem a clichéd facet of the stars as human props, as the Keystone
Kops race to bungle another case.
action genres. But, along with the last-minute rescue, it was
crucial to teaching the first film-makers how to structure a
story and present screen incident in a cogent and involving
manner, and it continues to provide some of the biggest
thrills in twenty-first-century blockbusters.
In A Practical Joke (1898), G.A. Smith’s 1904) also introduced such key pursuits like the Viennese sewer climax
one-shot remake of Louis Lumiére’s concepts as a sense of depth, rhythmic in The Third Man (1949) could be
LArroseur arrosé (1895), an irate gardener cutting, matched action (in which the thrillingly tense. But the car chase
pursues the boy who has soaked him action depicted at the end of one shot perfected in Bullitt (1968), The Italian Job
around a tree. The advent of one continues in the next from a different (1969) and The French Connection (1971)
reelers, however, afforded directors the perspective), consistent screen dir confirmed the younger generation’s
opportunity to depict more intricate ection and off-screen space. need for speed and spectacle, which
and expansive action. Yet while the Such was the clarity of the chase has continued to impinge upon the
tableaux they employed unified action, sequence that audiences could readily blockbuster, with everything from the
time and space, they mostly stood as grasp meaning without recourse to an James Bond and Indiana Jones series to
individual units that presented scenes accompanying lecturer or narrative Star Wars (1977) and Avatar (2009)
in their entirety before moving on. This song, which in turn encouraged dir counting a chase sequence among
emphasis on the discrete shot even ectors to attempt more complex scenarios. their highlights. m=
affected early chase films, as all Drawing on the sensationalist strain
participants had to evacuate the frame current in dime novels and stage plays,
before the shot was _ considered D.W. Griffith exploited the spatial and
complete. However, the need to inject temporal relationships defined by
pace into the pursuit prompted film- parallel editing to generate suspense in
makers on both sides of the Atlantic to the last-minute rescues that became a
fashion a new way of linking shots that leitmotifin his work after The Fatal Hour
would retain narrative logic while also (1908). Moreover, his use of a moving
eliciting an emotional response from camera added momentum to sequences
the audience. that were further propelled by live
Initially, films such as Edwin S. musical accompaniment.
Porter’s The Life of an American Fireman The chase also became a crucial
(1902) attempted a greater linearity by component of slapstick, with Mack
repeating whole passages from Sennett’s frantic location careens
different perspectives. But Porter’s The inspiring knockabout clowns and Sur-
Great Train Robbery and British pictures realists, as well as the race and caper
like Frank Mottershaw’s A Daring comedies of the 1960s and beyond. But
Daylight Burglary (both 1903) cross-cut chases and rescues. eventually became
between simultaneous events to more associated with excitement than
produce elliptical continuity. As shot hilarity, whether they occurred in
lengths shortened, directors imported serials, B-movie Westerns, crime
the comic chase from vaudeville. But dramas or adventures.
romps from Biograph Studios such as The horseback charge was part-
The Escaped Lunatic and Personal (both icularly exhilarating and even foot

28
 Above: Two ofthe three Minis making
their getaway across Turin following
the gold bullion robbery in The
Italian Job (1969).

BELow: Archaeologist Indiana Jones

(Harrison Ford) flees a rolling
boulder in a Peruvian temple in
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).

‘The car chase ... confirmed the younger

generation’s need for speed and spectacle.’
For a seamless viewing experience

Continuity through cross-cutting, as

a heroic canine tracks down a
kidnapped child in Rescued by
IDEA N2 12 Rover (1905).

CONTINUITY EDITING

The basic principles of continuity editing - which sets out

to make cinematic storytelling as smooth and natural-
seeming as possible — have changed little in the century
since they were established. However, some of cinema’s most
exciting and significant developments have involved revolts
against the narrative linearity of classical screen syntax.
Continuity editing is so efficient that the drama and explore the psychology economic sense, as it allowed directors
most audience members barely notice of his characters. He also varied shot to shoot out of sequence, and afforded
it. The first film-makers quickly lengths to achieve rhythm and mood, them and their editors the opportunity
outgrew the single-shot format, with and gave optical transitions like fades, to salvage misfiring scenes and
Georges Méliés notably linking self dissolves, irises and wipes both diegetic mediocre performances by construct-
contained tableaux to tell stories such and expressive meaning. ing prints from the best takes. Indeed,
as A Trip to the Moon (1902). However, the Griffith also cut on movement to editors often employ ‘cheats’ to solve
chase sequences in Edwin S. Porter’s disguise reframing with meticulous blocking, matching or continuity prob-
The Great Train Robbery (1903) and Cecil matching. But seamless editing was lems and ensure that pictures adhere
Hepworth’s Rescued by Rover (1905) perfected in Germany by F.W. Murnau to such conventions as the 180-degree
introduced the notion of parallel and G.W. Pabst, and its unique ability rule fixing the axis of action and the
action - the cross-cut depiction of to convey causal, temporal and spatial 30-degree variation between images,
simultaneously occurring incidents - information ensured that it became a even in shot-reverse-shot sequences.
that was refined by D.W. Griffith during key component of the standard Holly- Moreover, editors can also expand and
his prolific spell at Biograph (1908-13). wood grammar that would extend across contract shots by exploiting techniques
By breaking scenes down into shots the genres and the globe from the 1920s. such as slow motion and jump cutting.
taken from different distances and Yet while cross-cutting was an Clarity has always been the primary
angles, Griffith was able to accentuate aesthetic impulse, it also made goal of invisible cutting, particularly

30
 Christopher Nolan’s innovative
organization of Memento (2000)
challenged the narrative conventions
Uap Gu RWOm mee TOTaR te
syuzhet (story structure).

where commercial entertainment is editing remained the norm until a ones has made mainstream movies
concerned. However, such narrative combination of televisual technique more abstract. But audiences worldwide
sequencing hasn’t always suited makers and digital editing packages fostered a still prefer stories with a beginning, a
of documentaries and experimental mesh of handheld shots, close-ups and middle and an end. =
films. Moreover, it was viewed with quick cuts that critic David Bordwell
open hostility by the Soviet film-maker calls ‘intensified continuity’. By the late
Sergei Eisenstein, who devised an 2000s, the shot length of the average
ageressive form of dialectical montage Hollywood feature had decreased by 10
to counter its ‘capitalist tyranny’. The per cent, from 5.15 to 4.74 seconds. As
French Impressionists and German most viewers take up to 3 seconds to
Expressionists also challenged its adjust to each new image, they are
hegemony, as did the auteurs of the being coerced into responding
Nouvelle Vague, although they were as emotionally rather than intellectually
likely to employ long mise en scene to rapid montages that scarcely allow
takes as ellipsis and non-linearity. an appreciation of the artistry of the
American cinema eventually assimi- cast and crew. Ironically, — this
lated subversive discontinuity in the prioritizing of graphic and rhythmic
late 1960s, although point-of-view relations over spatial and temporal

31
 The secret of continuity

IDEA N2 13

MATCH SHOTS

Imagine a dialogue in which a close-up ofawoman

declaring her love cuts to a shot of a listening man’s knees.
If the next cut focused on the woman’s shoulder before
switching to the man’s chin, the viewer would quickly
become disorientated, as the cross-cuts would defy the
visual logic of eye contact conversation. Match shots ensure
spatio-temporal consistency by suggesting a character’s
eyeline view. They should barely be noticed, but they are
ABove: Alfred Hitchcock boldly uses
eyeline matches in Rear Window
(1954) to allow the viewer to share
key to the conceit of invisible editing.
James Stewart’s perspective and,
thus, increases the tension.
The technique of matching shots took Yasujiro Ozu frequently breached
BELOW: In Carrie (1976), Brian De time to evolve. Reverse angles only this 180-degree axis to comment on
Palma employs graphic matches to became commonplace in the 1910s and characters or emphasize an incident’s
link Sissy Spacek’s trauma to
telekinetic power, domestic abuse and directors started using eyeline matches dislocatory impact within the film’s
religious fervour.
that suggested a character’s perspective world. Yet audiences didn’t seem
to link shots taken from different unduly disconcerted by either this
positions and angles. As most sets were technique or the jump cuts popularized
constructed in an ‘L’ shape to save by the Nouvelle Vague. Moreover, film-
money, reverse shots were usually makers everywhere found shot-reverse-
limited to exteriors and, even after shot such a convenient way of con-
Arthur Mackley introduced the over- structing scenes that they rarely felt
the-shoulder shot in The Loafer (1912), it the need to contravene it. Thus, it
remained rare until Ralph Ince made it continues to be widely used to establish
a staple in pictures like His Phantom group dynamics, build suspense, stage
Sweetheart (1915). fight sequences, capture reactions and
D.W. Griffith disliked the shot record conversations in a semi-
reverse-shot method and his resistance subjective and more visually arresting
retarded its usage in both Hollywood manner than a standard two-shot.
and Europe into the 1920s. However, its In order to disguise edits, it became
ultimate acceptance prompted a shift customary to cut on action, with re
from cuts along the lens axis to those establishing shots being employed to
on a 180-degree line of action, which reorientate the viewer before the reverse-
ensured that each shot within a angle strategy resumed. However, cheat
sequence preserved the spatial shots are sometimes needed to
relationship between the camera and imperceptibly mismatch the position of
the action and that relative positions figures and objects within the mise en
within the frame remained consistent. scene. Another tactic was point-of-view
Directional continuity also adhered cutting, a variation on eyeline match-
to the 180-degree rule, while a ing that Alfred Hitchcock used to
30-degree convention arose to create a ingenious effect in Rear Window (1954).
suitable angle of difference between Hitchcock also excelled at match
sequential shots. cuts and disciple Brian De Palma

32
similarly demonstrated how they could (1958) and Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio An iconic match cut across millions
of years of human evolution, as a
juxtapose images to shock effect in the Rising (1964), as well as poetic Godfrey prehistoric bone becomes an
psionic chiller, Carrie (1976). Graphic Reggio travelogues such as Koyaanisqatsi orbiting satellite in 2001: A Space
Odyssey (1968).
cuts, or raccords, also serve a (1982) and found-footage compilations
metaphorical purpose, such as the like Gustav Deutsch’s Film Ist. A Girl & a
bone used as a weapon by the ape in Gun (2009). @
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey
(1968) transforming into a spacecraft
with a nuclear payload as it flies
through the air.
Conversely, Alain Resnais utilized
graphically discontinuous editing in
the Holocaust documentary Night and
Fog (1955). This method of conceptual
connection has since recurred in avant-
garde films like Bruce Conner’s A Movie

33
 =e!
Tac
T
‘von:
7
A
A
ne
a]

A thriving nickelodeon in Waco,

Texas, the home of Thomas Tally who
opened Los Ans first movie
venue, the Electric Theatre, in 1902.

INSET: Silent star Mabel Normand

started out as a model for the illustrated
song slides that accompanied the
Maser Normand
singalongs that were popular with
nickelodeon audiences,

EneretB.C.4& AH 233
Perfecting the supply of
entertainment for the masses

IDEA N2 14

NICKELODEONS

Moving theatres were largely an itinerant novelty before Anticipating the modern theme
park ride, Hale’s Tours presented
Harry Davis opened The Nickelodeon in Pittsburgh in June travelogues from 1906 in
theatres designed to resemble
railway carriages.
1905. Such was its success it soon had 42 city rivals; by the
end of 1906, 2,500 nickelodeons had opened nationwide,
leading to a revolution in the way films were viewed,
distributed and produced in America
Within four years, 26 million Amer that didn’t tax their language skills, but Kalem, Essanay, Nestor and Champion.
icans were going to the movies each the bulk of the audience was made up of The French companies Pathé and Eclair
week and, by 1914, there were 14,000 children and women over 30. Proprietors also founded US studios, as did the first
‘nickelodeons’ - from the slang for a sought to entice middle-class families by female director, Alice Guy Blaché, and
five-cent coin — in competition with the leavening their programmes with the first named film star, Florence
emerging dream palaces. Some were illustrated songs and vaudeville acts. Lawrence, well in advance of the
dirty and disreputable, but the The films themselves were silent, formation of United Artists in 1919 (see
majority were well maintained and but most were accompanied by live US Independent Cinema).
varied in size from 99-seaters to renditions or recordings of popular The nickelodeon boom ended with
converted music halls capable of songs that interpreted the complexities the coming of features. But by then it
accommodating several hundred of their nascent storytelling style. Larger had already laid the foundations that
people at a time. venues offered narrators or actors play- would enable Hollywood to dominate
Despite Louis Lumieére’s conviction ing out scenarios in the wings. Some the global market after European
that moving images would be a passing even invested in machines to provide production collapsed during the
fad, they remained a_ profitable sound effects, but most relied on their Great War. m
attraction well into the 1900s in pianists to produce atmospheric accom-
vaudeville theatres, fairground booths, paniment and film-makers responded
church halls and anywhere else by incorporating musical action into
opportunistic showmen could secure a their pictures.
booking. From around 1902, however, On Thanksgiving Day 1908, William
travelogues, news items and trick films Fox’s Dewey Theatre in New York sold
were used as ‘chasers’ in American 12,000 tickets. The need for regular
vaudeville theatres to disperse ma- programme changes in order to main-
lingerers and cinema only regained its tain such numbers had led to the
popularity through a combination of formation of film exchanges that rented
narratives and nickelodeons. out the latest releases. But while output
Future moguls like Adolph Zukor, trebled in the early part of 1908, the
Carl Laemmle, Louis B. Mayer and the trust controlling American cinema —
Warner brothers were among the first the Edison Trust comprising Edison,
nickelodeon owners, and they turned Biograph, Vitagraph, Lubin and Selig
film-going into a national habit by Polyscope - couldn’t cope with demand
opening 16 hours a day, so that shoppers and two-thirds of the films shown in
and workers as well as those seeking the States had to be imported, mostly
some evening escapism could pop in to from France and Britain.
catch the 20- to 30-minute programmes. Indigenous newcomers rose to the
Immigrants relished entertainments production challenge, among them

oD
 & 3o 4 h 5 v
v = S a = bo m4 Ss Qa Ss gS
Belshazzar’s Feast sequence in D.W.
Griffith’s Intolerance (1916).
A better class of entertainment

IDEA N2 15

FILM D’ART
A poster for Queen Elizabeth
(1912), the film d'art that helped
change American attitudes to cinema.

AN
a eTSIT So) TLE
Many critics have blamed films d’art for retarding the
development of cinema as an autonymous art form by
forcing it to accommodate existing literary and theatrical
orthodoxies. But the historical adaptations and reconstructions
of classics earned cinema a new social and moral
respectability with middle-class patrons and launched
the superspectacle.
Moving pictures were still primarily the cornerstone of Paramount Pictures,
the preserve of fairgrounds and one of the founders of the Hollywood
nickelodeons when a company called studio system.
Le Film d’Art sought to increase their Yet it was in Italy that the film d’art
aesthetic and intellectual appeal by reached its peak. With its breathtaking
presenting France’s leading thespians chariot race and Roman conflagration,
in a series of prestigious literary and not to mention its 5,000 extras and
theatrical adaptations. Featuring Colosseum sequence with real lions,
members of the Comédie Francaise, Enrico Guazzoni’s Quo Vadis? (1913)
André Calmettes and Charles Le Bargy’s could lay claim to being the first
The Assassination of the Duc de Guise (1908) blockbuster. However, it was quickly
was scripted by Academician Henri surpassed by Giovanni Pastrone’s
Lavedan and boasted a _ specially landmark feature Cabiria (1914), which
commissioned score by Camille Saint- cost over one million lire and took over
Saéns. As it was photographed with a six months to shoot on lavish, three-
static camera in medium shots against dimensional sets in Turin, as well as on
painted backdrops, the film has usually location in Sicily, the Alps and Tunisia. to appear before the camera did much
been dismissed as stagily grandiloquent. The scope and scale were imposing. to raise the status of screen acting,
However, the restrained acting and deft But, most importantly, Pastrone and while the bourgeois acceptance of
use of period props, off-screen space Spanish cameraman Segundo de flickers prompted the construction of
and cutting on action impressed Chomon shattered the film d’art’s the first dream palaces. But film d’art’s
producers across Europe and America, enclosed theatricality by experimenting most significant contribution was the
who imitated the Film d’Art style to with lighting designs, special effects, inspiration it afforded directors
adapt works by Shakespeare, Hugo, crane shots and slow tracking shots. determined to escape the proscenium
Dickens and Tolstoy, as well as Moreover, they took the viewer into the and produce pictures that were wholly
numerous operas and ballets. heart of the action (in anticipation of cinematic.m
The new audience was not only the mise en scéne technique refined by
willing to sit through longer films, but Jean Renoir, Orson Welles and Max
was also prepared to pay extra for the Ophiils) and goaded D.W. Griffith into
privilege. This fact was not lost on attempting to top these Italian
Adolph Zukor, who acquired the superspectacles with his Civil War epic
American rights to Louis Mercanton’s The Birth ofa Nation (1915) and Intolerance
50-minute fourreeler Queen Elizabeth (1916), whose episodes in ancient
(1912) and charged $1 for a ticket to see Babylon, biblical Judea and sixteenth-
the divine Sarah Bernhardt in action. century France render it the most
Indeed, Zukor made such a handsome ambitious film d’art of them all.
profit that he launched the Famous The readiness of lauded stage divas
Players Film Company, which became such as Bernhardt and Gabrielle Réjane

37
 Size matters

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Gun-toting

desperadoes: Dan Kelly (Sam Crewes)
and Steve Hart (Mr McKenzie) in the
IDEA N2 16 first feature film, The Story of the

FEATURE FILMS
Kelly Gang (1906), and McTeague
(Gibson Gowland) and Marcus (Jean
Hersholt) in Erich von Stroheim’s

St
oA at I eine
butchered masterpiece, Greed (1924).

It’s hard to imagine the impact that Australian Charles

Tait’s hour-long The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) had on
audiences accustomed to ten-minute one-reelers. If the first
movie-goers were content to marvel at actualities and trick
films, film-makers reared on novels and stage plays had
grander artistic ambitions.

The transformation of the flickering that not only inspired D.W. Griffith to universal silent language that could
novelty into a sophisticated narrative move into features with Judith of Bethulia tell stories across the generic range in
medium would not have been possible (1913), but also prompted entrepreneur the most visually innovative and
without the Latham Loop, which Adolph Zukor to form a distribution accessible manner.
prevented intermittent camera and company and persuade exhibitors to Yet few Hollywood film-makers had
projector mechanisms from tearing rent pictures instead of purchasing complete artistic freedom, as features
celluloid strips exceeding 100 feet in them outright and abandon their formed part of cinema programmes
length. However, Thomas Edison nickelodeons for the more opulent that screened a certain number of
disputed the Latham family’s dream palaces that attracted a better times each day to ensure optimum
ownership of the patent and sparked a educated clientele. ticket sales. Consequently, Erich von
war between his Motion Picture Patents The switch to features just as Stroheim had his nine-hour, 42-reel
Company and a loose cabal of Europe was being engulfed by the masterpiece Greed (1924) slashed to ten
independent producers, who eventually Great War enabled Hollywood to forge reels by MGM. In the sound era, A
established a base in Hollywood. its enduring hegemony over world features averaged out at 90 minutes
The impetus to switch to longer cinema. Film-making became a and B movies at around an hour. But
films, however, came from Europe. business, with shooting schedules Victor Fleming’s 226-minute Gone with
Presenting 30 tableaux in some 14 being drawn up around the screenplays the Wind (1939) demonstrated the
minutes, Georges Méliés’s A Trip to the that replaced the more improvisatory commercial potential of roadshow
Moon (1902) was almost three times approach to making shorts. Built with specials, which allowed the studios to
longer than its competition. But it was the profits features generated, studios charge inflated prices for screenings in
a combination of films d’art such as gave directors greater control over prestigious venues. Extents grew even
Queen Elizabeth (1912) and Italian décor, lighting and technique as they more epic as the studios came to rely
superspectacles like Quo Vadis? (1913) refined screen grammar to form a on scale to arrest declining attendances,

38
 re eames a
Running times continued to increase into
the blockbuster era.’
eeto ce
#4 F 3
’ . "
a) 1 —— a te
Co

ABOVE: Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh) BELOW: While Phil Jutzi’s 1931
among the wounded Confederate adaptation of Alfred Doblin’s Berlin
soldiers at the Atlanta railroad depot Alexanderplatz ran for 85 minutes,
: ( , in Gone with the Wind (1939). Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1980
Running times continued to version (shown here) lasted 931
increase into the blockbuster era. But minutes.
there have been arthouse and avant-
garde behemoths, too, with even
Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 931-minute
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980) and Jacques
Rivette’s 773-minute Out 1: Noli me
tangere (1971) finding themselves
dwarfed by Gérard Courant’s Cinématon
(1978-2009), a silent aggregation of
2,269 vignettes that sprawled over the
years to 151 hours. a

TPAD eMI MUTALiLtt

a
 A little middle-class luxury

IDEA N2 17

DREAM PALACES Still Europe’s biggest cinema chain,

the British Odeon company was
founded in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch,
En SE PETE SPOR | who claimed the name stood for
‘Oscar Deutsch Entertains Our Nation’,

By the mid-1910s, going to the flickers had become a

national pastime in America. Exhibitors were so eager to
provide patrons with unrivalled escapism that architects
were designing movie theatres in imitation of ‘the most
palatial homes of princes and crowned kings for and on
behalf of His Excellency - the American Citizen’.

The earliest audiences had done their in Los Angeles. But cities across the However, it wasn’t just the small
viewing in the far less salubrious States - and, indeed, the world — had exhibitor saddled with block booking
surroundings of fairground booths, their own dream palaces, complete and the cost of converting to sound
circus tents and vaudeville houses. with marble foyers, chandeliers, gilded who perished. The chains belonging to
Even the nickelodeons that had plasterwork, carpets, tapestries, the Big Five studios - MGM, Paramount,
proliferated after 1905 offered little murals, sweeping staircases, fountains Warners, Fox and RKO - were also
more than a hard bench and an and air-conditioning. Many had liveried decimated before they were finally sold
accompanying pianist. But while these staff and their own orchestras, which after the imposition of the 1948
storefront venues were deemed would accompany the live acts that Paramount Decrees which prevented
adequate for immigrants and_pro- enhanced the evening’s entertainment. the studios from owning their own
letarians, they failed to entice the But most Americans saw their films cinemas. As the viewing habits of a
middle classes who had been impressed in smaller venues and, reflecting the newly suburbanized populace changed,
by theatre screenings of spectacles like burgeoning consumer culture, they dozens of gaudily grand edifices were
Queen Elizabeth (1912) and The Birth of a demanded value for money. Con- demolished or refurbished. But the
Nation (1915). Realizing that this new, sequently, Hollywood began producing manner in which they had promoted
respectable clientele was willing to pay live-action and animated shorts, and presented pictures made them
inflated prices for features, exhibitors serials and newsreels to offer balanced pivotal to Hollywood’s Golden Age, as
rushed to emulate the first supercinema programmes before the main feature. their grosses kept the studios active
that had opened in New York in 1913, As Art Deco became the dominant and dictated generic output. Moreover,
Thomas W. Lamb’s 1,845-seat Regent. building style and the Depression they instigated the moviegoing habit
Four thousand movie theatres were began to bite, the B movie appeared, that has sustained American cinema
built over the next decade, as Lamb, along with intermissions to boost through subsequent downturns and
John Eberson, George Rapp and Charles concession takings. In other bids to enabled it to retain its global supremacy
S. Lee plundered architectural styles arrest slumping receipts, studio-owned by generating commercial successes
from Europe and Asia to give ordinary chains and independents alike intro- for export. m
folks a taste of luxury. Samuel L. duced Saturday matinees for kids,
Rothapfel took Broadway by storm ‘midnight rambles’ for African-
with the Strand, Rialto, Rivoli and Americans, and bingo and raffles for
Roxy, which were surpassed in the impecunious. Weekly admissions
exoticism by Sid Grauman’s Million still dropped by a third in 1932 and
Dollar, Egyptian and Chinese theatres
8,000 venues closed nationwide.

40
Opened in 1928, John Eberson’s
French Renaissance-style Paradise
Theatre in Chicago closed in 1956, as
its domed ceiling made the acoustics
unsuitable for talkies.

a
corsa rt
TIE
ey?
dfaa y
5
;

l r e r e a tig "

rer T U Wai né
Pe ysea an tei

ws
UND els pia Tae
Al
gh a er
es FOLLIES” AR MOUNLe SO
NG ORGANIST
a3 HOUSE ie:seNGI
‘The majority of scripts are organic
documents that can be amended
throughout the shoot.
9

John Turturro as the intellectual

struggling to script a Wallace Beery
wrestling picture in Joel and Ethan
Coen’s Hollywood satire, Barton
Fink (1991).
The undervalued writer’s craft

IDEA N2 18

SHOOTING SCRIPTS
ia ea ES
Cinema started out without scripts and it’s still possible to genres in which they had a proven
make a film without one today. As a result, the writer’s track record or specialisms such as
story progression, dialogue and gags.
status has been much contested over the last century. But as As directors contributed more
running times grew longer and budgets larger, the script frequently to their screenplays in
Europe, the writer’s art was better
became the keystone of the Hollywood factory system. appreciated there. Nevertheless,
Francois Truffaut still denounced the
In 1909, the Motion Picture Patents while shooting scripts are as essential ‘Tradition of Quality’ that emerged in
Company decided that all movies on most sets as storyboards, Hollywood postwar French screenwriting and his
should run for a single reel of 1,000 writers haven’t always been treated positing of auteur theory encouraged
feet. This standardization transformed with much respect. more film-makers to imbue scripts with
the American film industry by Scenarios weren’t copyrighted their own personality. Yet while some
simplifying existing systems of until 1912 and silent credits rarely directors prefer improvising or working
distribution and exhibition. However, reflected a writer’s input. Even after the from treatments, most still rely on the
it also had a major impact on the way studios invited pre-eminent novelists, annotated shooting script, despite the
that pictures were made, as producers journalists and playwrights to California old Hollywood maxim that nobody ever
like Thomas Ince began insisting on on the coming of sound, they were bought a ticket to see a screenplay. =
the use of shooting or scenario scripts, often poorly paid and had to endure
which not only provided a narrative their work - much of which was
outline for the director to follow, but adapted from pre-sold sources - being
also a logistical breakdown that revised by in-house hacks and script
allowed schedules to become doctors. The Writers Guild was founded Boris Karloff studies the shooting
rationalized so that costumes, props, in 1933, but it was powerless to prevent script for Karl Freund’s The
Mummy (1932), in which he
equipment and performers were writers (many of whom were women) plays both Ardath Bey and the
always on the optimum location or set from repeatedly being consigned to reanimated Imhotep.
in order to save time and money.
Despite Jean-Luc Godard once
saying that a film should have a
beginning, a middle and an end, but
not necessarily in that order, the
classical American screenplay has
usually adhered to Aristotelian
principles and operated within generic
guidelines to pitch the main prota-
gonist(s) into a dramatic or comic
situation that compels them to become
better people in resolving a conflict.
Equating one page with a minute of
screen time, the majority of scripts are
organic documents that can _ be
amended throughout the shoot by the
omission of scenes or the addition of
new material on numbered and colour-
coded pages. A script or continuity
clerk maintains a record of changes
made during production to ensure that
information within the frame remains
consistent between edit points. Yet

43
 Making magic live on set

ABOVE, LEFT: Stumbling in the dark: ABOVE: Peter Jackson combined effects
Robert Krasker’s masterly use of light techniques from the silent and
and shade plunges Holly Martins digital eras in the Lord of the
IDEA N2 19 (Joseph Cotton) into confusion in The Rings trilogy (2001-03).
Third Man (1949).
IN-CAMERA EFFECTS
(Eee Soe a
Imagery composited in post-production may seem more and chases after the advent of sound
made outdoor shooting more prob-
authentic to modern eyes, but considerable artistry and
lematic. The introduction ofa triple-
ingenuity went into the in-camera effects — from shutter projector format allowed colour
backdrops, but front projection became
shifts to the use of matte paintings to conjure bygone or
the standard after Douglas Trumbull
imaginary worlds - that were produced on set during achieved bigger, brighter and more de-
tailed images for 2001: A Space Odyssey
cinema’s first few decades.
(1968). Yet despite the subsequent
efficacy of front projection systems,
Visual effects have been entrancing Equally effective at reducing set compositing has almost exclusively
audiences since the days of the construction costs or overcoming the become a digital domain.
Kinetoscope. Georges Méliés was quick difficulties of runaway shooting Spectacle and speed are the hall-
to recognize the potential of trick outside the studio was the Schtifftan marks of the blockbuster, but film-
techniques and his use of stop-motion process, which used a semi-transparent makers have long been tinkering with
and multiple exposures in Cinderella mirror at an angle of 45 degrees to the velocity. Undercranking gave silent
(1899) and The One-Man Band (1900) camera to reflect images of landscapes slapstick its distinctive faster-than-life
demonstrated that moving images or miniature buildings to create the pace when the footage was projected,
could do more than record realism. illusion of actors in apparently vast while the likes of Jean Cocteau, Akira
However, Edwin S. Porter gave effects a settings. Perfected by German Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese and John
dramatic function in The Great Train cinematographer Eugen Schtifftan on Woo have employed the opposite effect,
Robbery (1903) and D.W. Griffith and the Metropolis (1926), it was much used by slow motion, either to heighten drama
French Impressionists were prime Alfred Hitchcock and revived by Peter and suspense or to increase set-piece
among those to show how fades, irises, Jackson for The Lord of the Rings: The viscerality. Although primarily used
dissolves and superimpositions were Return of the King (2003). comically, reverse motion can also have
as central to the language of silent The Dunning-Pomeroy self-matting a disconcerting impact, as can rack
cinema as the movement and _posi- bipack, which facilitated a primitive focus, dolly zooms, slit scans, speed
tioning of the camera. form of blue-screen shooting, offered a ramps and time-lapse and bullet-time
Devised by Norman Dawn, matte variation in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). sequences. So always look closely, not
paintings conjured such illusory But both systems were rendered every cinematic trompe-l’oeil is CGI. m
environments as the Emerald City in obsolete by rear projection, which
The Wizard of Oz (1939) and the Statue of utilized translucent screens to em-
Liberty beach in Planet of the Apes (1968). bellish street scenes, travel sequences

44
Martin Scorsese used close-ups and
slow motion to emphasize the
brutality of the boxing bouts in
Raging Bull (1980).
Betty Hutton relives the glory days
ofthe silent serial in The Perils
of Pauline, a 1947 biopic ofthe on

Ceram Le CemeLCeNMIKAKODE
Pearl White.

RL
The rise of the cliffhanger

IDEA N2& 20

SERIALS
eS eer ees

Over 470 serials were produced in the United States between ABOVE: Buster Crabbe flanked by BELOW: Poster for Edward Sedgwick’s
Frank Shannon (Dr Zarkov) and Jean 20-part Fantomas (1920), which took
1912 and 1956. In telling continuous stories in 10-15 weekly Rogers (Dale Arden) in Flash
Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938).
its visual cues from French serial
master Louis Feuillade’s 1913 original.
episodes of 15-25 minutes each, chapterplays, as they were
also known, helped turn cinema-going into a habit.
Moreover, their legacy lives on in the Hollywood blockbuster.

Serialization had been a standard crime adventures, as well as Western,

literary practice long before Edison science-fiction and superhero sagas.
released What Happened to Mary? in Minor major studios like Columbia
conjunction with McClure’s Ladies’ World and Universal and Hollywood’s low-
Magazine in 1912. But it was The budget Poverty Row outfits such as
Adventures of Kathlyn (1913) that Republic dominated the scene. With
instigated the silent serial boom by Roy Rogers and Gene Autry among its
melding the sensationalism of dime stars and William Witney and John
novels, populist theatre and movie English as its principal directors,
melodrama into an episodic format Republic could also call upon the
that pitted feisty heroines against services of special effects wizards
fiendish villains and their infernal Howard and Theodore Lydecker and
machines. The plots relied more on stuntmen like Yakima Canutt to keep
contrivance, coincidence and con- titles thrilling, on deadline and within
volution than continuity and character. budget. By contrast, Universal could
But each instalment promised copious splash out $250,000 on Flash Gordon
action and a cliffhanging climax, and (1936) and cash in by re-editing it and
serial queens such as Kathlyn Williams, its sequels as features.
Grace Cunard, Ruth Roland and Pearl During the 1930s, troubleshooters
White became so popular that such as Buster Crabbe, Ralph Byrd, Tom
production rose from six titles in 1914 Tyler and Kane Richmond took their
to 28 in 1920. roles as seriously as cowboys Buck
Coinciding with the nascent Jones, Johnny Mack Brown, Ken
feature film, American serials exploited Maynard and John Wayne. But once Lucas and Steven Spielberg is readily
forces of nature, technology, chase serialdom had finished battling the evident in the similarity between Darth
sequences and last-minute rescues to wartime Axis powers, brawn replaced Vader in the Star Wars films and The
create spectacle across the generic brain and an element of camp began Lightning in The Fighting Devil Dogs
range. Cut-price imitations were creeping into action increasingly (1938), and Indiana Jones and the
produced in Britain, Norway, Denmark, dependent upon clichéd situations and eponymous hero of Don Winslow of the
Germany, Italy and Spain. But nothing stock footage. An attempt was even Navy (1942). Moreover, corporate
could match Louis Feuillade’s Fantomas made with Frances Gifford, Kay Hollywood’s enduring fixation with
(1913), Les Vampires (1915) and Judex Aldridge and Linda Sterling to revive superheroes also has its antecedents in
(1916), which introduced a_ so- the imperilled heroine rubric. But the serials featuring Superman, Batman,
phistication and psychological depth Paramount Decrees impacted heavily Captain America, the Green Hornet,
that Hollywood made little attempt to upon the serial, as did television, which Buck Rogers and the Lone Ranger. m
emulate as sound turned the adapted the chapter format for its long-
chapterplay into an escapist format running series. Consequently, studio
that was aimed primarily at Saturday production ceased with Columbia's
matinee audiences and saw the plucky Blazing the Overland Trail in 1956.
heroine being replaced by action men Yet the influence that chapterplays
in jungle, aviation, espionage and exerted on directors such as George

47
ABOVE: An accident waiting to
happen: Stan Laurel and Oliver
about to reduce calm to chaos
in The Finishing Touch (1928).

LEFT: The master and the student:

Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp
character was dubbed a shabby
version of Max Linder’s dandy.
From knockabout to gross-out

IDEA N& 21

SLAPSTICK

Screen comedy comes in many forms but the most ABOVE: Showcasing their unique
brand of verbal slapstick, Duck
BELOW: Oh behave!: Mike Myers laced
the action of Austin Powers:
enduring is slapstick. This did much to popularize moving Soup (1933) was the last Marx
Brothers comedy featuring Groucho,
International Man of Mystery
(1997) with both slapstick and
Chico, Harpo and Zeppo. double entendres.
images with the first audiences worldwide since the
physical antics of characters striving to retain dignity — as
everything around them descended into chaos — were much
less culturally specific than verbal humour.
Slapstick was named after the battacio, as ‘socko’ that pitched his seemingly
or ‘slap stick’, which made a dramatic indestructible Keystone Kops and
popping sound when actors hit one Bathing Beauties into breakneck
another with it and which was used in chases, high-rise perils, encounters
the Commedia dell’arte, an Italian with recalcitrant props, and all manner
stage tradition whose blend of of pratfalls and assaults.
stereotype, sketch and shtick was However, Chaplin found such
passed down through circus and frantic buffoonery crude and shifted
pantomime to vaudeville and burlesque the emphasis to character and
and into cinema. Many early gag films situation, while still using knockabout
plagiarized popular variety turns and to humanize and subvert his Little
comic strips, but the fast-moving Tramp’s travails in a hostile society.
knockabout also reflected everyday Harold Lloyd similarly adopted a more
experience in increasingly mechanized genteel approach in creating his
urban sprawls. Silent slapstick trademark go-getter, and his comedy of
invariably contained an element of thrills was surpassed only by Buster
social commentary. Keaton’s mastery of outsize props,
Louis Lumiere’s LArroseur arrosé which was integrated into the narrative
(1895) cracked the first screen joke and with a fluency and precision that allow-
several French comedy series proved ed him to headline sel&generated features,
vital to the development of film while early comedy stars such as Ben comic component in madcap romps
grammar and technique. Moreover, Turpin, Chester Conklin and Snub such as It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
shorts featuring André Deed as Boireau Pollard drifted into walk-on obscurity. (1963) and the films of Jerry Lewis. Jim
(1906-09), Charles Prince as Rigadin However, Keaton was one of many Carrey exaggerated Lewis’s divisive brand
(1909-20) and Ernest Bourbon as clowns to struggle in the sound era, of mugging in the 1990s. But as physical
Onésime (1910-14) also allowed their with only the Hal Roach duo of Stan comedy grew more infantile in the Home
stars creative input, with Max Linder Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and their Alone, American Pie and Austin Powers
virtually becoming a slapstick auteur Danish counterparts Carl Schenstrom franchises, as well as in the gross-outings
in the shorts he made between 1910 and Harald Madsen, making an entirely of the Farrelly brothers, the slapstick
and 1917, which considerably influ- successful transition. The Marx contained in Bollywood masalas and
enced Charlie Chaplin in Hollywood. Brothers, W.C. Fields, Charley Chase, Hong Kong chop-socky continued to
Chaplin debuted in 1914 for Mack Abbott and Costello, and the Three hark back to more innocent times. =
Sennett, whose Keystone Studio had Stooges incorporated slapstick into
launched Mabel Normand, Fatty their films. It also became a mainstay
Arbuckle and Harry Langdon. Dubbed of cartoons such as Tom and Jerry.
‘the King of Comedy’, Sennett Yet, despite the efforts of Jacques
advocated a fast, abrasive style known Tati, slapstick became just another

49
 Doubling up for daredevilry
Wire fu techniques allow Nameless
(Jet Li) and Sky (Donnie Yen) to duel
in mid-air in Zhang Yimou’s wuxia
classic, Hero (2002).

Association secured access to sets to

ensure that no animals were harmed
during filming.
Beyond Errol Flynn actioners,
stunts were largely the preserve of B
movies and serials during the 1930s.
But masters of the stunt performer’s
art like Yakima Canutt and B. Reeves
Eason also enlivened prestige pictures
such as Stagecoach and Gone with the
Wind (both 1939), and the daring set-
piece became a key element of
widescreen epics such as Ben-Hur
(1959). As the studio era ended,
however, the emphasis shifted away
from classical antiquity and the Wild
IDEA N° 22 West and onto the modern metropolis,

STUNTS where Cary Loftin perfected the car

chase in Bullitt (1968) and Vanishing
Point (1971) after 30 years of devising
blow-outs, skids, rolls and crashes.
The Hollywood maxim ‘pain is temporary, film is forever’ is The Bond movies set new standards
for stunt work which were sustained
a little glib. But it could stand as an epitaph to the stuntmen into the blockbuster era by the likes of
and -women who have lost their lives bringing spectacle Hal Needham, Glenn Randall, the
Corbould brothers, Jeannie Epper and
and authenticity to movies since Frank Hanaway was shot Yuen Wo-Ping. Moreover, despite
off his horse in Edwin S. Porter’s The Great Train Robbery (1903). insurance pressures, Sylvester
Stallone, Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise
The first stuntmen - there were very daredevilry of stars like Pearl White Maintained the tradition of stars
few stuntwomen in the early days of and Charles ‘the Thrill-a-Minute Stunt doing their own stunts. The emergence
cinema — were acrobats, rodeo riders, King’ Hutchinson was all their of new breakaway, squib and
athletes and body builders, who relied own work. pyrotechnic processes, as well as such
as much on physical courage as techniques as wire fu, demonstrates
During the silent era, stuntmen
technique. The same was true of such as Gene Perkins and Harvey Parry the continuing ingenuity and vibrancy
cowboy Tom Mix and Keystone’s of physical stunting. But the audience’s
braved fire, water and wild beasts to
slapstick clowns. By contrast, Mack insatiable demand for ever more
keep the action as sensational as
Sennett’s high-speed antics were recklessly spectacular stunts has
possible, while Al Wilson and Dick
meticulously staged, by ex-racing prompted the development of
Grace took to the skies in aerial
driver Del Lord, and both Buster Keaton indestructible synthespians, whose
adventures like the first Oscar winner,
and Harold Lloyd planned their stunts simulated derring-do looks set to be
Wings (1927). In the process of satisfy-
to the last detail to ensure they were as limited only by the human
ing their audience’s craving for
safe as they were hilariously prodigious. cliffhangers, mid-air rescues, punch- imagination. =
Douglas Fairbanks similarly spent hours ups and chases, 10,794 injuries were
rehearsing his swashbuckling bravura. sustained shooting Hollywood films
But shorter schedules meant greater between 1925-30, with 55 of them
risks for those stunting in serials. being fatal. Many horses were also
Moreover, stuntmen were rarely killed by the pit fall and Running W
credited since producers wished the trip methods, which were outlawed in
thrill-seeking public to think that the 1940 after the American Humane

50
ricut: Third time lucky: Buster
Keaton repeats in Steamboat Bill,
Jr. (1928) a stunt he had already
performed in Back Stage (1919) and
One Week (1920).

BELOw: Yakima Canutt doublin

John Wayne in John Ford’s
Stagecoach (1939), in which he
performed another daring horse leap
KML avetrees

MY on 7

‘Cliffhangers, mid-air rescues, punch-ups

and chases.’
 e a a sdaaah tal aia an
eee enn ene eens

The most iconic movie star?

Marilyn Monroe boosts The
Seven Year Itch in the
September 1955 issue of Movie
Stars Parade.

. ee en ee ee
Selling the dream

BELOW: The keeper of the flame: BOTTOM: Rescued from a war zone,
IDEA N& 23 Bollywood superstar Aishwarya German Shepherd Rin Tin Tin made
Rai in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s

THE STAR SYSTEM

26 pictures for Warners between
Devdas (2002). 1922-31 and saved the studio
from bankruptcy.

Seas
a a aa
ee
By controlling and even reinventing actors’ personas, the
Hollywood star system ensured matinee idols provided proof
that dreams could come true. But over the past 60 years, the
freelance spirit, media prying and the rise of the internet
have significantly diminished studio-controlled star mystique.

Most early screen performers were and Be Carefuls’ being imposed upon
amateurs. But the switch from novelty Hollywood in the early 1920s and the
to narrative prompted American film- studios became much more protective
makers to assemble stock companies of of their assets. Signed to lucrative but
actors to meet demand from the restrictive deals (which often included
nickelodeons. Stage stars deemed the morality clauses), bankable talkie stars
early flickers beneath them and many traded their individuality for plum
appeared anonymously. However, a roles, soft-lit close-ups and covert
year after Thomas Edison introduced support if their private lives threatened
French import Pilar-Morin and the film to become too public. Thus, while Clark
studio Kalem identified its principal Gable and Myrna Loy reigned
players, Independent Moving Pictures contentedly as the King and Queen of
chief Carl Laemmle faked the death of Hollywood, more intransigent icons
Florence Lawrence to boost The Broken such as Bette Davis and Olivia de
Oath (1910) and in the process launched Havilland found themselves on frequent
the star system. suspension for refusing roles. REY FERRIS
OLL NY E-
Such was the commodification of During World War II Davis played a Biv me stayay
GATES
oiAECTEO
ROSS LEDERMAN
or

star identities that names were prominent part in the Hollywood

changed, biographies concocted and Canteen for service personnel, while
looks transformed in order to establish the likes of James Stewart saw action in
fan bases and sell tickets. Matinee idols Europe. Stewart was also one of the
became ideals of beauty and role first stars to go freelance, as agents
models. But while every national film grew more powerful and packages and buster era, concept and spectacle came
industry had its stars, none could rival percentages replaced contracts and to matter more than celebrity in the
Hollywood for its diversity and depth coercion. Moreover, as older stars new cinema of CGI attractions. Event
of talent. Most stars either played drifted into television, newcomers such movies now open as much through
variations on their screen selves or as Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas set internet buzz as stellar presence, and
became the personification of their up their own production companies, while movie royalty continues to exist,
genre. In addition to the A-listers, there while Marlon Brando - who was it is now more prominent in Bollywood
were stars of B movies, series, serials neither typically photogenic nor than Hollywood. =
and shorts as well. Children, animals studio-fashioned - introduced the
and cartoon characters also found fame Method acting style and African-
as the fan magazines colluded with American Sidney Poitier landed
studio publicity departments to mainstream leads.
glamorize the Tinseltown lifestyle. At the same time, the rise of
However, Fatty Arbuckle’s notorious rock’n’roll created a rival form of
manslaughter trial and the shocking stardom and, although movie stars like
deaths of William Desmond Taylor and Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts retained
Wallace Reid led to a code of ‘Don'ts their commercial value into the block

53
Hooray for Hollywood!

IDEA N2 24

HOLLYWOOD

Without Hollywood, there would be no Bollywood,

Lollywood (in Pakistan) or Nollywood (Nigeria). There also
wouldn’t have been variations on the studio system in
Britain, France, Germany and Japan. But the American
movie capital might just as easily have been Jacksonville,
Florida or even Cuba.

Despite the myth, this former orange- film-making everywhere and helped
growing backwater some seven miles Hollywood survive the economic crises
north-west of central Los Angeles was wrought by the Depression and the
not chosen for its proximity to Mexico post-World War II combination of
to permit independents defying the suburban migration, television, rising
Motion Picture Patents Company (see costs and the Paramount Decrees.
Feature Films and Shooting Scripts) to Lasting from the early sound era to
slip across the border to avoid enforcer the coming of television, Hollywood’s
gangs. More persuasively, it offered fabled Golden Age was comparatively
long hours of sunshine and mild short, but what André Bazin called ‘the
winters to guarantee the all-year genius of the system’ enabled it to
production required to keep the expedite a switch from mass production
thriving nickelodeons supplied. Holly- to creative co-operation and the Frankly my dear: Rhett Butler
wood’s other attractions included a collective control of distribution. As (Clark Gable) and Scarlett O’Hara
(Vivien Leigh) in David O. Selznick’s
low tax base, plentiful labour, limited the studios were then swallowed up by lavish production of Gone With
union interference, cheap real estate multinational conglomerates, they the Wind (1939).

and a diverse landscape within a 50- began sponsoring pictures developed

mile radius that could stand in for by independent producers, directors or
anywhere in the world. stars, packaged by talent agencies or movies into soundtrack albums, video
Selig Polyscope led the way, co-production partners, and made on games, meal deals, toys, TV and
shooting The Count of Monte Cristo there leased soundstages or at runaway cartoon series, novelizations, comic
in 1907 and establishing the first locations. Yet the Hollywood brand books, stage shows and theme-park
permanent studio in 1909. Within six retained its potency, which was rides. Indeed, Hollywood is now less a
years, 60 per cent of all American reinvigorated by the blockbusters that film community than a_ business
pictures were being made in Hollywood. caught the international imagination opportunity, and its reliance on pre-
Thomas Ince’s industrial rational- and reinforced its box-office hegemony sold properties like adaptations,
ization of production and Adolph through post-production special effects remakes and sequels means that it
Zukor’s systems of vertical integration, that no other industry could afford on takes increasingly fewer artistic risks.
by which a studio owned the means of a similar scale, let alone generate to Yet even though it is now only the
production, distribution and exhib- such a high standard. world’s third-largest film industry in
ition, and block booking enabled the Reaganomic deregulation further terms of output (behind Bollywood
Wall Street-backed studios to churn out enhanced Hollywood's ability to react and Nollywood), its cultural and
the star-driven, generic features that to changing circumstances, and the commercial predominance will
captured the global market in the wake corporations governing the studios remain unchallenged for the
of the Great War. Moreover, this since the 1980s have exploited the shift foreseeable future. =
commercial dominance allowed the in audience demographics, the home-
Big Five studios to introduce technical entertainment boom and the opening
innovations such as sound, colour and up of the old Soviet bloc and China by
widescreen that became integral to adopting the synergy strategy that ties

54
‘Hollywood is now less a film community
than a business opportunity.’

Erected on Mount Lee in 1923

to advertise a real estate
development, the famous
450ft-long sign read
‘Hollywoodland’ until 1949,
The men behind the magic Scriptwriter-turned-executive, Darryl
F. Zanuck supervised production at
20th Century-Fox in two stints,
between 1934-56 and 1962-71.

IDEA N2 25

MOVIE MOGULS

Few men were more revered or reviled than the moguls who
ran Hollywood during its Golden Age. Despotic, temperamental
and poorly educated, these opportunistic showmen
nevertheless had an instinctive grasp of popular tastes and
used the vertically integrated structure they imposed upon
the American film industry to entertain the world.
Having scratched livings in various became renowned for opulent, star-
trades, the majority of the moguls - studded family sagas, in which virtue
most of whom were of Eastern was rewarded during the happy
European Jewish descent — stumbled ending. Cohn attempted something
into movies as the owners of penny similar on tighter budgets at Columbia, The Blacklist). Consequently, through
arcades, nickelodeons or distribution as did the doggedly independent a combination of gall, gumption, luck,
agencies. William Fox and Carl Goldwyn, whose polished features had nepotism, persistence and ruthlessness,
Laemmle turned to production in a bid an intelligence that belied his mala- these inveterate survivors were able to
to break the Edison Trust (see The propistic reputation - ‘Our comedies steer Hollywood through the
Kinetoscope and Nickelodeons), with are not to be laughed at’. Jack L. Warner, Depression and World War II.
their immigrant experience teaching however, opted for a trenchant, pacy The moguls also _ occasionally
them the value of universally accessible social realism that often brought him exhibited artistic insight and re
pictures, which became a Hollywood into conflict with the guardians of sponded with alacrity to changing
hallmark. Laemmle also recognized the Production Code, which strictly trends in fashion, music, language and
the importance of stars and ballyhoo to regulated the content of all Hollywood manners. Being of migrant stock, they
the longer features that he pioneered films from 1934 and to which the moguls also accommodated foreign talent and
in the wake of Adolph Zukor’s success had assented to prevent external inter- used their knowledge of European
with the imported film d’art Queen ference following a spate of scandals in culture to appeal to the widest possible
Elizabeth (1912). He also founded the 1920s (see The Star System). audience. But they had no answer to
the Universal City studio complex in Such co-operation typified the way the postwar financial problems that
1915, which confirmed Hollywood’s the studio heads tackled social, were exacerbated by television, spiral-
hegemony over an increasingly indust- economic and technical issues. They ling costs and the Paramount Decrees.
rialized business. supported practices such as block and However, the brand names they
Indeed, Laemmle, Fox, Zukor, blind booking, as well as accepting a established enabled their studios to
Samuel Goldwyn, Louis B. Mayer, Harry common sound-on-film process to weather the vicissitudes of New
Cohn and the four Warner brothers facilitate the introduction of talkies. Hollywood and flourish once again in
were tantamount to front-office auteurs, Furthermore, they shared the stars, the less romantic era of globalized
who not only managed the daily writers and directors they controlled multimedia conglomerations that
operation of their studios, but also set through iron-clad contracts, and began in the 1980s. m
the tone for the kind of pictures they united in protecting their investments
produced. Laemmle encouraged a by resisting the demands ofcraft guilds
Germanic influence at Universal, while and trade unions and by collaborating
Zukor’s approach at Paramount was controversially with the House
more chicly continental. Mayer’s MGM UnAmerican Activities Committee (see

56
‘A combination of gall, gumption, luck,
nepotism, persistence and ruthlessness.’

ABOVE: Louis B. Mayer (front centre)

proving MGM's boast to have ‘more
See mane eee ene
la apeeewa Celealihwa VCees

RIGHT: Robert De Niro headlined Elia

Kazan’s adaptation ofF. Scott
Fitzgerald’s The Last Tycoon (1976),
which was inspired by MGM’s ‘Boy
Wonder’ producer, Irving G. Thalberg
Meese
 i
|
ie

‘i ba) atts:
iF é

‘Selling blocks of unseen films was inspired The end of block booking prompted
sO Meem OM Ke tT eye (eeea

by traditional wholesale methods.’

1@)(So) ter MOkkIT a MaDe!
million but only took $26 million at
FaTeal nae) Ce

AUTH DEBOUIN NCMUIEIMS Coes 7

It’s a seller’s market

IDEA N& 26

BLOCK BOOKING

The Hollywood studio system was built on block booking. moved to the suburbs to pursue rival
Selling blocks of unseen films was inspired by traditional pastimes like watching television, but
production costs had also begun to
wholesale methods and designed to ensure that venues spiral. No longer assured of sales, the
always had enough product. Initially, it was considered a studios made staff cutbacks and
dispensed with programmers (see
flexible and mutually beneficial arrangement. However, B Movies), cartoons and live-action
protests eventually resulted in a drastic structural shorts. They also began concentrating
on prestige pictures that had to stand
realignment that transformed American film-making. on their own merits. But not even
widescreen, colour and stereophonic
In the nickelodeon era, films were sold basis. But even though United Artists sound could prevent expensive flops
by the foot. But the shift to feature abjured block booking, many in- such as Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra
production necessitated the intro- dependent producers felt discriminated (1963), and the tyranny of the bottom
duction of exchanges to optimize against. Also, conservative pressure line turned Hollywood into a place of
circulation. In 1914, Adolph Zukor’s groups claimed that the system had sequels, copycats and focus groups as
Paramount Pictures was formed from fostered an increase in morally dubious risk-free homogeneity replaced artistic
the merger of several exchanges and its titles. Faced with the prospect of innovation and diversity.
links with Famous Players-Lasky saw external censorship, the studios agreed Ironically, exhibitors were also hit
production, distribution and exhib- to adhere to the 1934 Production Code, by the drop in output, and the closure
ition unified within one company for forgo seasonal bookings for smaller of smaller theatres ushered in the
the first time. Ultimately, MGM, blocks and provide exhibitors with current age of multiplexes and block
Warners, RKO and 20th Century-Fox detailed synopses of unmade movies. busters, which indulges a modified
came to be similarly vertically Nevertheless, having survived the form of block booking and the studio
integrated and, when revenue-sharing Depression under President Roosevelt’s ownership of cinema chains. It also
with exhibitors was introduced in the protection, Hollywood was soon beset allows a film’s fate to depend almost
early sound era, they began to operate by crusading senators, the US Justice entirely upon its opening weekend
at full capacity and shifted the risk of Department and the newly formed takings before it is rush-released into
production by supplementing their Society of Independent Motion Picture the home-entertainment market. =
standard star vehicles with B movies Producers; only World War II delayed
that were guaranteed outlets at a flat the Supreme Court’s imposition of the
rental fee by full-line forcing. Paramount Decrees in May 1948, which
Elsewhere, minors like Universal not only outlawed block booking, but
and Columbia were heavily reliant on also forced the Big Five to divest
block booking, while Poverty Row made themselves of their cinemas.
do with the ‘states rights’ regional The timing of the decision could
distribution scheme of selling films on a not have been worse, since not only
state-by-state rather than nationwide were audiences declining as Americans

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 Art as industry

IDEA N2 27

THE STUDIO SYSTEM The RKO studio on Gower Street,

which was acquired by Lucille Ball’s
Desilu TV company in 1957 before

[a I IREE TPT merging a decade later with its near

neighbour, Paramount.

Americans didn’t invent the studio system, which integrated

so many of the different operations of film-making and
distribution, but they made the most effective use of it.
By industrializing film production, Hollywood was able to
satisfy domestic demand, dominate the global market and
reinvent itself in the face of periodic setbacks.
Primarily managed by moguls of to their scripts and storyboards in However, the studio system began
European descent, the Hollywood manufacturing prestige pictures, B to unravel as the effects of television,
studios were divided into five majors movies and serials, as well as live-action spiralling costs, the House UnAmerican
(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount, and animated shorts. Activities Committee and _ the
Warner Bros, 20th Century-Fox and A handful of stars were also allowed Paramount Decrees were felt in the
RKO), three minors (Universal, Col- to demonstrate their versatility, but immediate postwar period. Colour,
umbia and United Artists) and the many became identified with the genres stereo, widescreen and 3-D were all
various ‘B-hives’ of Poverty Row. Most that were the staple of a conveyor-belt introduced in a bid to win back
had been formed by merger in the process that churned out common- audiences, while mass production was
1920s, and New York financiers had not denominator entertainment designed abandoned in favour ofleasing facilities
only kept the studios solvent during to eradicate the risks attendant on art in return for distribution rights, as part
the Depression and the transition to films. Much production took place within of package deals with independent
sound, but also imposed operational the controllable studio environments producers, talent agencies and free-
and ethico-political constraints to of soundstages and backlots, although lance stars. Nevertheless, RKO closed in
ensure that Hollywood up-held the the diverse Californian landscape also 1957 and the failure of several all-star
American Way and made money. To this allowed for location shooting. mega-productions in the following
end, the majors devised vertical Each studio had its own personality, decade left the studios prey to
integration, which allowed them to but Hollywood was a community multinational conglomerates.
produce their own films, screen them bound by co-operative rivalry and Deregulation and the blockbuster
in their own theatre chains and shared ideals and practices. Conse- boom prompted a second round of
distribute them to non-aligned ex- quently, the vast majority of the 7,500 acquisitions in the 1980s, which re-
hibitors through block booking. features produced between 1930 and positioned the studios within multi-
Creative power essentially lay with 1945 utilized cause-and-effect linearity media groups advocating marketing
the studio heads and their trusted unit and invisible continuity editing to synergy. Yet the old names remained,
producers, who developed projects ensure the accessibility of action whose and new technology and_ release
with the writing and craft departments content was governed by the self strategies have enabled Hollywood to
before roles were cast and directors regulatory Production Code that was expand both its international influence
appointed. Tight budgets and shooting enforced between 1934 and 1968 by the and its share of the thriving home-
schedules limited scope for spontaneity, Motion Picture Producers and Distrib- entertainment market. =
yet auteurial talents did emerge utors of America to prevent interference
alongside the journeymen who stuck by outside pressure groups.

60
 s Bronson Gate on
Marathon Str t, Paramount Pictures
was the first v ‘tically integrated
studio and is 1 yw the only one still
based in Holly

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Generic iconography: a hero in a
white hat (Charles Bronson) confronts
the man in black (Henry Fonda) in
Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time
in the West (1968).
 s& NO ONE...BUT NO ONE... witt
Cinema’s universal riGHT: Alfred Hitchcock so excelled at
the thriller that he was nicknamed
Hi OMG aes aeans

language
‘The Master of Suspense’.

BELOW: A typical example of Douglas

Sirk’s melodramas that became
known as ‘woman’s pictures’ because
of their target audience.

RUNS
ANTHONY VERA

aM

IDEA N& 28

GENRE
ROCK
Genre — the categorization of films based on type - is one of
cinema’s most useful ideas. It enables producers to cater for
HUDSON
popular tastes and ensures viewers know what to expect
each time they buy a ticket. It also allows critics to judge a
movie’s merits against a set of established criteria. AGNES MOOREHEAD : 0

Although ‘genre’ is a literary term, its form of a vampire, an alien, a femme Spaghetti, Paella, Sauerkraut, Borscht
first application to film was purely fatale or a screwball heroine. and Curry Westerns that began
industrial. The Hollywood studios ran Many film-makers found such appearing in the 1960s. But most had a
as efficient factories and executives formulaic patterns restrictive. But stronger sense of national identity.
were keen to invest in the projects most several auteurs flourished within the Weimar Germany saw the emergence
likely to turn a profit. Genre took the generic tradition. Howard Hawks of the Bergfilm (mountain film) and
guesswork out of production as core mastered many styles, while John Ford Heimatfilm (homeland film), while the
audiences existed for melodramas, became synonymous with Westerns, chic ‘white telephone’ comedies
comedies, Westerns, crime films, action Douglas Sirk with melodramas, produced in Fascist Italy gave way to
adventures, horror, science fiction and, Vincente Minnelli with musicals and the Peplum (sword-and-sandal) and giallo
with the coming of sound, musicals. Alfred Hitchcock with thrillers. (erotic, gory thriller) movie. Indian
The recurring tropes made such Subsequently, mavericks like Mel audiences revelled in historical and
generic features easier to produce and Brooks and Robert Altman delighted in mythological variations on the masala
promote as they shared iconographies, subverting generic conventions and musical format, while Mexicans
techniques, settings, themes, musical the dominant ideology they represented. preferred bawdy chanchada musical
motifs, characters and stars. Indeed, Yet even though generic myths get comedies and wrestling pictures.
certain studios became known for burlesqued, they cyclically pass Martial-arts movies held sway in Hong
specific genres: for instance, Warner through phases of deconstruction and Kong, while Japan’s samurai and
for the gangster cycle, Universal for nostalgia back to reaffirmation, before yakuza codes co-existed with such
horror and MGM for the musical. inevitably being debunked once more. dramatic genres as the jidai-geki
Genres could be broken down into Some Hollywood genres have (period), gendai-geki (contemporary) and
sub-categories and hybridized. They slipped out of vogue, however. The shomin-geki (common people). Anime is
could also extend into B movies, serials, Westerns and musicals that were box- similarly awash with sub-genres and
documentaries, animation and the office bankers in the classical era have their influence is increasingly being
avant-garde. Yet, whatever form they now been replaced by effects-laden felt in MHollywood’s comic-book
took, genre films invariably reflected fantasies and many blame such fare for adaptations (see Animation). Genre
the socio-cultural conditions in which dumbing down American cinema. has, indeed, become cinema’s universal
they were made. They were often Hollywood prompted the rise of language.=
exploited to reinforce civic values, but genre film-making around the world as
they could just as easily be used for local producers sought to counter
escapism or disconcertion, as all genre American commercial dominance.
pictures pose some sort of threat to the Some merely indigenized existing
status quo, whether it comes in the genres, most notably in the form of the

63
The thrill of the old
and the Philosopher's Stone

IDEA N& 29

PRE-SOLD SOURCES
STEELS
RE SI
Cinema’s reliance on other media for content and form has Having been translated into 67
languages and sold over 300 million
always been driven as much by commercial as by creative copies worldwide, J.K. Rowling’s
Harry Potter franchise was one of the
considerations. After all, basing a film on a pre-sold safest pre-sold bets in Hollywood
history.

source — material that has already struck a chord with

audiences in another format - significantly reduces the risk
of a screen version’s box office failure.

Proclaimed the ‘seventh art’ (after denounced at the time for taking too become a cornerstone of Holly-
music, dance, painting, literature, many liberties with Thomas Mann’s wood blockbuster production, with
architecture and sculpture) by Louis novella. Conversely, the heritage computer-generated effects thrilling
Delluc, cinema has never existed in adaptations of Merchant Ivory and fans and synergy and merchandising
aesthetic isolation. Literature played a Claude Berri in the 1980s were attacked enriching the controlling conglomerates.
crucial role in its evolution. The first for illustrating rather than interpreting Japanese manga comics similarly
one-reelers could only depict isolated their source texts, although this was sustain animated features, while
scenes, but directors worldwide were considered a virtue in the case of the European favourites like Tintin and
soon attempting to précis entire novels Harry Potter series (2001-11). Asterix the Gaul have made the
in 20-minute dramas. By the mid-1910s, Knowing when to retain the in- transition from graphic books. Video
classics and bestsellers were not only timacy and immediacy of the pro- games have also forged a reciprocal
aiding the development of features, scenium and when to open out the bond with cinema, but the lack of
they were also helping to attract a action has been the primary problem interactivity has meant that hit movies
better class of viewer (see Film d’Art). facing those adapting plays. Dialogue such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
However, critics often denounced is usually sacrosanct where master have been rare. But as features become
cinema’s cavalier attitude to adaptat- dramatists are concerned, but stylized increasingly expensive to produce and
ion as secondary characters and stage speeches have tended to be toned promote, and their fate remains de-
subplots were jettisoned in the process down since the early sound era, when pendent upon their opening weekend
of compression. Indeed, the debate verbose photoplays were often performance, film-makers will continue
continues today as to whether a film- dismissed as ‘canned theatre’. But to rely on presolds, remakes and
maker’s first duty is fidelity to their plays, operas and musicals are no sequels to offset box-office caprice. m
source or presenting their own unique longer filmed with such frequency and
vision of it. modern spin-offs are more likely to
Screenwriters have usually found it come from television programmes,
easier to expand upon a short story or comic books and video games.
newspaper article than to condense an Syndicated in daily newspapers,
entire novel; in the case of the latter, cartoon strips epitomized popular
pulp crime and Western fiction has culture around cinema’s inception.
often proved easier to rework than These comic cuts and ongoing adven-
more canonical titles. Nevertheless, tures were soon inspiring serials and
devotees still complain if an adaptation series in Europe and America alike.
is too free. Robert Bresson, Akira Comic books similarly hit the screen in
Kurosawa and Luchino Visconti excelled Poverty Row adaptations in the 1940s.
at capturing the essence ofa source, yet Since Richard Donner’s Superman
the latter’s Death in Venice (1971) was (1978), the superhero sub-genre has

64
‘Critics often denounced
cinema’s cavalier attitude
to adaptation.’

RIGHT: John Mortimer and Truman

Capote’s screenplay for The
Innocents (1961) owed as much to
William Archibald’s 1950 play as
Henry James’s 1898 novella, Th
Turn of the Screw.

Below: Adapted from a posthumously

published novel by Giuseppe Tomasi
di Lampedusa, Luchino Visconti’s
The Leopard (1963) won the Palme
d'Or at Cannes.
 ‘Few child actors have
enjoyed longevity.’
Agove: Judy Garland was 16 when
she began filming The Wizard of
Oz (1939) and had to wear a corset
to achieve Dorothy Gale’s chili-like
ESTOLes

weer: Life imitated art with the title of

this 1936 picture, as Shirley Temple's
banker Jather George NU anet
allbut $44,000 of her $5 million
UT Oem w ern Toe

Pett
wae ie ALICE FAYE GLORIA STUART JACK HALEY MICHAEL WHALEN *wxasme:
A family, not a factory

IDEA Ne 30

CHILD STARS Chosen from 300 Sicilian boys,

eight-year-old Salvatore Cascio had
SSe eES Se never been to the pictures before he
made Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema
Paradiso (1988).
Despite bringing winsomeness and authenticity to films for
viewers of all ages, few child actors have enjoyed longevity.
Indeed, several have led troubled and tragically short lives
as they paid the price for parents, producers, the press, the
audience and themselves failing to come to terms with
their inevitable maturation.

Although children had long performed grown-ups and putting on shows to the harshness, cynicism and debase-
on stage, they rarely featured in early school scrapes and first love. ment experienced by many children
films. Consequently, Mary Pickford, the If the studios peddled the idealized damaged by their environment.
Gish sisters and Richard Barthelmess vision of childhood demanded by their As the careers of Macaulay Culkin
continued taking juvenile roles into conservative backers, film-makers and Haley Joel Osment testify, a child
their twenties. But seven-year-old Jackie elsewhere offered a more realistic star’s shelf life is now shorter than ever,
Coogan’s success alongside Charlie perspective, with Vittorio de Sica’s with many only making headlines for
Chaplin in The Kid (1921) prompted Shoeshine (1946), René Clément’s their substance-fuelled antics on the
each of the studios to find its own Forbidden Games (1952), and Francois descent from acclaim to celebrity and
moppets, even though this meant Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959) tackling obscurity. Image is everything and the
providing educational facilities and issues such as war, poverty and broken media delights in toppling pin-ups. But
adhering to strict labour laws. Kids on homes. Yet while the youthful de while talents like Leonardo DiCaprio
the lot reinforced the myth of butants in the aforementioned films, and Natalie Portman continue to find
Hollywood being a family rather than a Franco Interlenghi, Brigitte Fossey and fame and fortune, starstruck kids and
factory. Moreover, films starring Jackie Jean-Pierre Léaud, went on to have their parents will keep dreaming. m
Cooper, Anne Shirley and Freddie decent careers, European cinema made
Bartholomew made money, as did less systematic use of child stars than
shorts and B series such as Our Gang Hollywood or Bollywood, where icons
and The Bowery Boys. like Nargis, Madhubala and Meena
The Shirley Temple phenomenon Kumari started young.
proved even more lucrative, as parents There were fewer contracted kids in
clamoured to buy tie-in merchandise postwar Hollywood as the studio system
and stage mothers flocked to Hollywood. began to unravel. The scampish
Ethel Gumm’s daughter, Frances, was teenager epitomized by Mickey Rooney
reinvented as Judy Garland for Every was replaced by edgier types played by
Sunday (1936), which co-starred Deanna older actors such as Marlon Brando and
Durbin, whose ‘Little Miss Fixit’ James Dean, who better reflected the
musicals saved Universal from angst and alienation of adolescents
bankruptcy. Both girls struggled with moulded by the Cold War, rock’n’roll
their weight, but Garland suffered most and exploitation movies (see Teenpics).
from the regimen of pills that most Disney sought to stem the tide of
studios used to keep their child stars delinquency, defiance and sexuality
perky in pictures that sentimentally with several quaint Hayley Mills
celebrated civic values, domestic bliss vehicles. But the provocative roles
and the innocence of youth, even after played by Jodie Foster, Linda Blair and
the focus shifted from helping out the Brooke Shields in the 1970s stressed

67
 Essential reading for cinephiles

CLINT
EASTWOOD

Magazines like Cine Arte, Cahiers

du Cinéma, Sight & Sound and
Premiere variously assess film as an
entertainment, an art, a business
and an academic discipline.

IDEA N2 31

FAN MAGAZINES

The fan magazine is one of the clearest indicators of

cinema’s shifting demographic in its first 120 years. The
earliest publications were aimed at increasingly
emancipated females enticed by romance and glamour,
while today’s prozines are targeted squarely at geeky young
males obsessed with genres and special effects.

Trade journals like Moving Picture World ilk had to print more than just
first appeared in the mid-1900s, illustrated scenarios.
offering a mix of business news, Readers now wanted to know about
technical information and reviews. the personalities, opinions and
This formula was soon emulated by lifestyles of their idols, and Hollywood
such enduring titles as American producers quickly recognized the
Cinematographer (founded 1921) and The importance of magazines such as
Hollywood Reporter (1934), which became Photoplay (1911) to the success of the
the film colony’s first daily, in nascent studio system. Refusing to
competition with the self-proclaimed spread gossip or pry into private lives,
showbusiness bible, Variety (1905). But pioneering editor James Quirk sold the
the 1910 revelation that Florence Dream Factory image to two million
Lawrence was the IMP Girl (see The Star movie-goers a month. Consequently, he
System) ended the anonymity of screen secured the guaranteed access to the
performers and the onset of star mania stars that enabled his successors to
meant that Motion Picture Story and its commission columnists of the calibre

68
Catering for cineastes and cultists
alike, the film magazine market
faces increasing competition from
online ezines and specialist blogs.

cues |!
of Hedda Hopper, Louella Parsons, photocopied pamphlets that sold websites such as Ain’t It Cool News, Green
Walter Winchell, Sidney Skolsky and through subscription or at genre Cine Daily and Senses of Cinema, which
Adela Rogers St. John. In doing so, he conventions and cult movie stores. have helped exacerbate a _ print
established a template that was copied Influenced by Famous Monsters of media crisis that has cost many
by publications worldwide. Filmland (1958) and Castle of Frankenstein respected newspaper critics their posts
The slow decline of postwar (1959), they both reflected and and forced several movie magazines
Hollywood saw celebrity rags like reinforced the growing male fixation to close. =
Confidential exploit the growing with the exploitation genres and,
inability of the studio publicity because they were less reliant on studio
machines to control the news agenda goodwill, contributors had much
and suppress scandal. Moreover, with greater freedom of expression. Many
mainstream circulations dropping, went on to write for prozines -
scholarly journals began to attract professionally produced magazines
devoted followings. Indeed, Sight & aimed at specific genre audiences —
Sound (1932), Film Quarterly (1945), such as Starlog and Fangoria, while
Cahiers du Cinéma (1951), Positif (1952), desktop publishing allowed the likes of
Film Comment (1961) and Movie (1962) Gore Creatures and Garden Ghouls Gazette
initiated the theoretical debates that to reinvent themselves as the more
led to the critical shift from stars to influential Midnight Marquee and
directors that sustained the new wave Cinefantastique.
of glossies and fanzines fuelling the Despite the rise of fandom (which
younger generation’s enthusiasm for has spawned numerous indie and
blockbusters and videos. Z-grade directors), most titles were
In contrast to serious but accessible short-lived. Yet Shock Xpress, Necronomicon
titles such as Studio (1987) in France, and Flesh and Blood have been
Movieline (1985) in the United States and anthologized in book form, while
Empire (1989) in Britain, the first Psychotronic and Video Watchdog have
fanzines were mimeographed or found new homes online, alongside
Roll out the red carpet

IDEA N& 32 Penélope Cruz became the first

Spanish performer to win an

THE OSCARS Academy Award for Vicky Cristina

Barcelona (2008).

The Academy Awards are the most prestigious prize

ceremony in world cinema. They are popularly known as the
Oscars, in honour of the 13%-inch alloy statuette designed
by Cedric Gibbons and nicknamed ‘Oscar’ by either Bette
Davis, Academy librarian Margaret Herrick or columnist
Sidney Skolsky, depending on whose story you believe.

The awards were introduced in 1927 by sense of historical or cultural

the Academy of Motion Picture Arts significance, and a star braving
and Sciences (AMPAS) in a bid to foster hardship, disability or prejudice
a new artistic and technical com- invariably proved irresistible. Con-
munality within Hollywood that would sequently, titles likely to be Oscar bait
also help limit the growing influence were held back for the winter holidays
of the labour unions, ward off the so they would be fresher in the minds
censorial demands of religious and of AMPAS’s 6,000-strong electorate
conservative pressure groups, and both than films released earlier in the year.
legitimize and optimize the com- However, the verdicts of the ageing
mercial prospects of talking pictures. and highly conventional membership
Film prizes were nothing new, as the haven’t always met with universal ap-
National Board of Review had already proval. Iconic figures like Greta Garbo
been making annual presentations and Alfred Hitchcock were repeatedly
since 1917. But, from the inaugural spurned, while Dudley Nichols (1936),
dinner at the Hollywood Roosevelt George C. Scott (1970) and Marlon
Hotel on 16 May 1929, the Oscars Brando (1973) famously refused their
captured the imagination of the public, awards. Indeed, Oscar success has often of middlebrow adaptations and worthy
the media and the movie colony largely been a curse rather than a blessing, social dramas. Some commentators have
because they were bestowed by peers. with numerous winners struggling to expressed concern that the Oscars risk
This has remained an enduring aspect live up to new expectations. losing their relevance by becoming
of their appeal, along with the With sentiment and lobbying often stranded in the widening gap between
opportunity they afford fans to witness counting for more than genuine the kind of films lauded by the critical
Hollywood’s A-list in all its finery. The quality, Oscars have frequently been establishment and those that top box-
ceremony is now televised live in over given in recognition of entire careers office charts. Over the years, categories
200 countries worldwide. Indeed, such rather than specific performances. for title writing, dance direction,
has been their international influence Decisions haven’t always been original story and_ blackand-white
that the Oscars have spawned particularly enlightened, either, with a cinematography have come and gone,
equivalents including the BAFTAs in. regrettable parochialism limiting the and the Academy Awards may have
Britain, the Césars in France, the number of major awards won by either to undergo further, and _ possibly
National Film Awards in India and the ‘non-white’ or non-English-speaking more drastic, revision if they are to
Golden Roosters in China. artists. It took until the 82nd edition, continue to reflect and reward the
From the outset, Oscar buzz in 2009, for a woman - Kathryn best in motion-picture art, science
improved a nominated picture’s box- Bigelow — to be named Best Director. and commerce. =
office prospects and the studios quickly A certain generic bias has also de-
latched on to voter-friendly formulae. veloped, with sci-fi, horror and comedy
Films with lavish production values, a invariably being overlooked in favour

70
 THRO Luanda (Ge eT OLENA LeYEL nici: Marlon Brando accepled his
Boulevard, the Pantages Theater Oscar Jor On the Waterfront
played host to the annual Oscar (1954), but declined the award for
ceremony throughout the 1950s. The Godfather (1972).

eee

a
More than 1,700 special effects sho
were required in Pleasantville (1998)
to produce images containing both
black-and-white and colour s
The continuing appeal of black-and-white

LEFT TO RIGHT:

IDEA N& 33 Fast-reacting panchromatic film

MONOCHROME
stocks allowed for greater control
over artificial and natural lighting
in pictures like Seventh Heaven
(1927).
The celestial sequences were shot in
monochrome in Powell and
Though colour tinting, toning and stencilling were widely Pressburger’s A Matter of Life and
Death (1946).
used after 1895, film-makers often preferred to work in Recreating the past with cutting-edge
shades of grey. Many still do today; in fact, it would appear technology, as colour was digitally
drained to achieve monochrome in
The White Ribbon (2009).
there has always been more to black-and-white than a mere
absence of colour.

The classical Hollywood look balanced viewers are less distracted by spectacle (1939) and A Matter of Life and Death
blacks, whites and greys. But several and can concentrate on storyline, (1946) in using colour and monochrome
studios had distinctive visual styles. dialogue and character psychology. to contrast different settings within a
MGM and RKO achieved a pearly sheen Owing to its popularity among single film.
by over-exposing film in the camera arthouse film-makers who prefer to Yet while digitization has made it
and under-developing negatives in the communicate through tone, com- easier to produce hybrid pictures such
laboratory to produce low-contrast position and mise en scéne, the myth as Pleasantville (1998), directors such as
images that flattered the subject. At arose that black-and-white was more Woody Allen (Manhattan, 1979), Aki
20th Century-Fox, the aperture was authentic, serious and aesthetically Kaurismaki (Juha, 1999) and Jim
reduced to increase the depth of field valid than colour. However, the need to Jarmusch (Coffee and Cigarettes, 2003)
and attain sharper pictures. Warners sell features to television, as well as on have regularly produced uniquely
opted for a grainier realism to suit its video and DVD, saw such a conclusive black-and-white features. However, it
gritty themes, while Universal bor- shift to colour that even pictures seems likely that budgetary constraints
rowed the high-contrast chiaroscuro of originally shot in monochrome were will compel those with monochrome
German Expressionism for its horror subjected to colourization to increase visions to follow Michael Haneke (The
cycle of the 1930s and ’40s, which their marketability. White Ribbon, 2009) in shooting on
proved so influential to film noir. Despite the furore in the 1980s over standard stock — which is less expensive
The Academy Award for cinema- computer-embellished bowdlerizations than black-and-white film - before
tography was divided into blackand- of early blackand-white movies digitally draining the colour in post-
white and colour categories between disregarding the director’s artistic production. =
1939 and 1966. Yet unreliable or integrity, colourized versions continue
expensive technology meant that most to emerge, with even fierce opponents
Hollywood movies remained mono- such as Martin Scorsese pigmenting
chrome until the mid-1950s. The footage for The Aviator (2004). In fact,
transition was slower elsewhere and blackand-white is now often used to
only partially for economic reasons. give action a nostalgic, historic,
Monochrome conveys less visual anachronistic or fantastical feel, while
information than colour. Therefore, many have emulated The Wizard of Oz

73
Pre-digital-era SFX

IDEA N2 34

PROCESS SHOTS
asove: Fred Jackman supervised the BELOW: The wave effects in The Ten
Such is the clamour for novelty and spectacle in cinema matte shots that allowed Willis Commandments (1956) were
O'Brien's stop-motion dinosaurs to achieved by reversing footage of
that little stays state-of-the-art for long. Yet several of the imperil Wallace Beery and Bessie 300,000 gallons of water being
poured into a tank.
Love in The Lost World (1925).
process techniques for combining different image elements
first devised in the 1920s and ’30s remained key to the
creation of special effects until the advent of the digital age.

For much of film’s first two decades, in the 1950s. Yet, despite combining
visual effects were simple in-camera live and animated action in Disney’s
illusions. Mattes, combining two Mary Poppins (1964), the system couldn’t
elements into a single image, were be used with CinemaScope lenses — as
achieved by covering the frame of the they distorted the images - and it was
camera with shaped cards and superseded by Petro Vlahos’s blue-
rewinding the reel until Norman Dawn screen colour-difference process.
patented his glass process in 1911. Intricate, laborious and time-
However, such static mattes prevented consuming, this enduring technique
intra-frame movement and travelling nevertheless helped launch the
mattes were introduced in the mid- blockbuster era and was. only roles, such as Danny Kaye in Wonder
1920s to locate moving images within superseded by CGI. Man (1954), to play scenes opposite
environments that were either im- Crucial to the working of all these themselves, or they could divide the
possible, impractical or too expensive processes was the optical printer, frame into split-screens, as in The
to visit with a full cast and crew. which linked one or more projectors to Thomas Crown Affair (1968). Printers
Frank Williams devised the first a camera to form composite images. In- were also vital to the creation of
method of bipacking and contact camera tricks like fades, dissolves, opening titles and credit crawls at the
printing to merge images on male and wipes and superimpositions were now end of the film, as were hand-drawn
female mattes into a composite shot. optically printed, with RKO’s Linwood mattes. But all these tasks can now be
The Williams Process was prone to G. Dunn notably concocting ex- performed with greater efficacy and
leaving matte lines around the edges of travagant scene transitions for Flying efficiency by computers. =
foreground figures, but it enhanced Down to Rio (1933). Dunn also worked on
silents like The Lost World and Ben-Hur Citizen Kane (1941) and estimated that
(both 1925) and allowed John P. Fulton 50 per cent of its shots had been
to create the still-impressive invisibility optically altered or upgraded. Indeed,
effects in The Invisible Man (1933). printers could reframe images to
Generating colour mattes proved more remove imperfections or unwanted
problematic until Technicolor pio- details (garbage mattes). They could
neered a blue-screen process (see In- turn long shots into close-ups; speed
Camera Effects) for The Thief of Bagdad scenes up or down by removing or
(1940). Nonetheless, transparent, soft- duplicating frames; feign pans, zooms
edged and fast-moving objects and tilts; and even amend weather
invariably had a blue fringe, which conditions and refine an image’s
detracted from epic sequences such as lighting and texture.
the Red Sea crossing in The Ten By repeating the same _ shot,
Commandments (1956). printers could also fashion freeze-
Utilizing a yellow screen and a frames, as in the iconic climax to
beam-splitting prism, Rank’s sodium Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (1959).
vapour process offered an alternative They could also allow actors in dual

74
Publicity shot for Mary Poppins
(1964), which won an Oscar for Peter
Ellenshaw's matte paintings, Eustace
Lycett’s sodium travelling mattes and
Hamilton Luske’s animation.
 Fiat lux

ABOVE LEFT: Classic chiaroscuro in a ABOVE RIGHT: Alfred Hitchcock put a

futuristic setting: Harrison Ford and light in the glass to make the milk
Sean Young in Blade Runner (1982). seem more sinister in Suspicion
(1941).
IDEA N& 35

ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING

Film lighting has always served three principal functions: to

ensure visual clarity; to suggest a scene’s authenticity; and to
convey atmosphere in order to elicit an emotional response.

Despite the use of artificial lighting in screens led to the abandonment of full- the Nouvelle Vague. The European
photography, most early filming relied frontal and side lighting in favour of preoccupation with source light within
on diffuse daylight and took place on the three-point lighting system that the mise en scéne also impacted upon
location or in studios that were either provided sharper figure modelling and 1970s America. But studio and
open to the elements or had glass walls more distinct separation from the independent features alike retained a
and ceilings or retractable roofs. While background. Flat lighting became bad characteristic aspect through the use
Hollywood producers tended to shoot form, as directors of photography (DPs) of North (aka shadowless) or low-key
outdoors, their East Coast counterparts developed trademark methods of lighting, which reflected the darker
were using arc floodlights and mercury sculpting with light in order to themes of New Hollywood and became
vapour lamps to supplement natural reassure or disconcert audiences. pivotal to the sci-fi, fantasy and comic-
light by the mid-1900s. They also Nevertheless, a classical Hollywood book blockbuster, along with the
devised effects to show the source of look for both interiors and exteriors increased incidence of coloured light.
lamp, fire and window light and made did emerge around the coming of In addition to consulting with the
dramatic use of lighting to isolate sound, with the introduction of director, cinematographers also
characters within a scene, glamorize panchromatic stocks and incandescent collaborate with production and
them with soft-edged close-ups and tungsten lights. costume designers to decide upon the
menace them with low-angle shots, This mid- to high-key precision positioning and concealment of lights
silhouettes and shadows. style, which avoids dark shadows, around a set and advise on how their
Along with single-source lighting, pertained until the post-World War II colour temperature will affect hues
the latter techniques were imported era, when faster films were employed and textures. Modern lighting is
from Europe after shaping on location sequences. Lighting designs notable for its diversity and soft-hard
Expressionism, Impressionism and were further simplified as sets grew contrasts. But, even though digital
Poetic Realism (which would all smaller, colour took over from cameras require less illumination than
influence the chiaroscuro of film noir). monochrome and DPs emulated both their celluloid counterparts, artificial
But it was American cinematographers television’s non-directional uniform lighting remains key to conveying a
whose inventive use of spotlights, brightness across the image and the film’s mood and meaning. =
carbon arcs, reflectors and diffusing bounce technique pioneered during

76
‘Modern lighting is notable for its diversity
and soft-hard contrasts.’

DP Roger Deakins used car os :

om ee
headlamps to backlight Ed Tom Bell
7 m _e on
(Tommy Lee Jones) as he enters a
motel room in No Country for Old saa
Men (2007).
 Dr Caligari’s long shadow

IDEA N2 36

EXPRESSIONISM

Employing exterior or objective representation to convey

interior or subjective states, the silent Schauerfilme (horror
films), Kammerspielfilme (chamber dramas) and Strassenfilme
(street films) produced in Weimar Germany between 1919
and 1929 continue to have a major influence on world cinema.

Expressionist films had their roots in Indeed, these non-American cinematic

the artist groups of Der Blaue Reiter influences also manifested themselves
and Die Briicke, the poetry, prose and in Fritz Lang’s Destiny (1921) and FW.
plays of writers such as Georg Kaiser Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) which were
and August Stramm, and the theatrical hailed as Expressionist masterpieces (if
stagings of Karlheinz Martin and Max not always box-office successes) long
Reinhardt. Easily the most significant before Ernst Lubitsch’s costume films,
of the resulting radical departures from Murnau’s invisibly edited chamber
cinematic bourgeois realism was Robert dramas and the realist street films of
Wiene’s The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), G.W. Pabst were added to the canon.
which explored the themes of revolt, Ultimately, the high-key lighting
selfrealization, insanity and primeval (see Artificial Lighting), distorted two-
sexuality that reflected the mindset dimensionality, subjective camera
of a defeated nation beset by war movements and macabre topics
reparations, political uncertainty and became part of an émigré cinema, as
moral ambiguity. Moreover, it brought actors, directors, cinematographers
a fresh psychological and poetic and composers were lured to Hollywood
complexity to what was essentially a or fled the Third Reich. Purists now
narrative medium. insist that Expressionism cannot be
Determined to prove that high art used to define the films they produced
could revive German cinema’s outside Germany. But a term is required
commercial fortunes, Caligari producer to validate the connection between the
Erich Pommer turned limited resources original works and such beneficiaries
and an unreliable electricity supply to of their distinctive stylistic qualities
his creative advantage by having and tone of angst and paranoia as the
designers use canted angles, forced Universal horror series, film noir and
top: Shot by émigré cinematographer Above: Gotham City Gothic: director perspectives and painted backdrops to
Karl Freund, Tod Browning's
the modern comic-book blockbuster,
Tim Burton and Oscar-winning
Dracula (1931) launched the production designer Anton Furst pay reinforce the mood of dislocation not to mention key works by acclaimed
Universal horror cycle of the 1930s homage to Fritz Lang’s Metropolis suggested by the stylized performances
and ’40s. film-makers such as Alfred Hitchcock,
(1926) in Batman (1989).
of Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt. Orson Welles, Carol Reed, Werner
Yet, while it exhibited classical Herzog, Tim Burton, Terry Gilliam and
opposiTE PaGE: This poster for The Expressionism, Caligari also drew Guy Maddin. Perhaps Caligarism,
Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920)
conveys the angularity of the stars inspiration from the atmospheric chiaroscurism or pseudo-Expressionism
and Walter Rohrig, Hermann Warm dramas of Swedes Mauritz Stiller and
and Walter Reimann'’s sets. could serve instead?m
Victor Sjéstrom and Danes Benjamin
Christensen and Carl Theodor Dreyer,
as well as the sensationalist urban
crime thrillers produced by Nordisk in
the 1910s and gothic horrors such as
Stellan Rye’s The Student of Prague (1913)
and Henrik Galeen’s Der Golem (1915).

78
ro

air -
 ee

Aove: Designed by architect Robert ‘French cinema must be cinema; French

Mallet-Stevens, artist Fernand Léger
and future film-makers Alberto
Cavalcanti and Claude Autant-Lara, cinema must be French kb
The Inhuman Woman (1924) is a
modernist masterpiece.

RIGHT: Filmed in Brittany and

combining documentary and
avant-garde sensibilities, Jean
Epstein’s Finis terrae (1929) was a
major influence on Neorealism.
Impressions of psychological realism

IDEA N& 37 Marcel L'Herbier’s Eldorado (1921)

was a master class in cinematic

THE NARRATIVE AVANT-GARDE expression that influenced such

Nouvelle Vagueurs as Alain
Resnais and Jean-Luc Godard.
SS APRS E SE eC ETT
In 1914, 90 per cent of films shown around the world
were French. But the Great War halted this production,
allowing Hollywood to assume hegemony and impose
its preferred storytelling style: In the 1920s, however, a
group of Gallic cineastes rebelled against this classical
linearity and employed avant-garde techniques to imbue
their narratives with greater emotional and visual
complexity and veracity.

Postwar Paris bristled with modernist camera Movement, mise en scéne and ahead of F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh
challenges to artistic convention. In process shots to present patterns of (1924) and presaging many feminist
keeping with this spirit, Louis Delluc thought and feeling. But Gance’s The themes.
called for film to sever its links with Wheel (or La Roue) (1923) shifted the Epstein anticipated Poetic Realism
art, literature, theatre and music and emphasis to rhythmic editing and in Faithful Heart (1923), Neorealism in
develop a photogénie or photographic audacious subjectivity that immersed Finis terrae (1929) and Alain Resnais’s
purity that was sufficiently free of audiences in the action and compelled experiments with structure, time and
commercial constrictions to allow them to seek meaning in technique space in The Three-Sided Mirror (1927).
personal expression and psychological rather than composition and perform- Herbier was a master of Impression-
exploration. His exhortation that ance. The other members of the loose istic evocation, whose ‘plastic har-
‘French cinema must be cinema; cabal had likewise begun to exhibit monies’ in The Inhuman Woman (1924)
French cinema must be French’ led to more distinctive styles before the and Money (or LArgent) (1928) gave style
two new waves: one was Surrealism coming of sound ended the experiment a dramaturgic and formal function,
and the other was a form of narrative altogether. while the self-reflexivity of Eldorado
avant-gardism that became known Operating within the mainstream (1921) predated the Nouvelle Vague he
as Impressionism. industry, the Impressionists put theory further helped emerge by co-founding
Critics dispute whether French into practice and exerted a sizeable the Cinémathéque Francaise and
Impressionism was a coherent move- influence on melodrama, horror and the Institut des Hautes Etudes
ment or merely a coincidence of narra- film noir, stirring film-makers as Cinématographiques (IDHEC).
tive avant-gardists. Delluc, Germaine different as Maya Deren and Alfred Finally, Gance’s metaphorical
Dulac, Jean Epstein, Marcel L’Herbier Hitchcock. In addition to _ their editing in The Wheel proved a major
and Abel Gance were united in their collective achievement, they also influence on Soviet montage, while its
admiration for German Expressionism attained individual significance. naturalism found echoes in Poetic
and Kammerspielfilme and Hollywood Known as the ‘father of French Realism. He also pioneered handheld
features like Cecil B. DeMille’s The Cheat cinematic art’, Delluc manipulated and widescreen techniques in Napoleon
(1915). Inspired by the use of editing to temporal and spatial unity to bring a (1927), whose 1950s rediscovery saw
convey emotion, as well as to drive the sense of selective realism and lyrical him installed as one of the influential
drama, they made a character’s inner interiority to fatalistic urban dramas film journal Cahiers du Cinéma’s few
life as important as his or her external that anticipated Poetic Realism. He also French auteurs (see Auteur Theory). =
deeds. Employing intimate narratives established the French tradition of
to suggest mood , they also manipulated aesthetic theory and founded the in-
plot, time and perspective to depict fluential cinéclubs. Germaine Dulac
dreams, memories, ideas and fantasies. meanwhile devised an ‘integral cinema’,
Initially, these French film-makers with The Smiling Madame Beudet (1923),
adopted a pictorialist approach, using demonstrating the subjective viewpoint

81
Learning your craft

Gong Li in then-husband Zhang

Yimou’s Raise the Red Lantern
IDEA N2 38 (1991), which confirmed the arrival

FILM SCHOOLS
on the world stage ofthe Beijing Film
Academy's Fifth Generation graduates.

All art forms spawn their own specialist training

establishments. The world’s first film school was the All-
Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), founded in
Moscow in 1919. Many have since followed its model,
although the content of courses has varied widely, with
some schools encouraging conformity and others creativity.
A lack of equipment dictated the VGIK’s in 1940, the Centro produced graduates
first curriculum. With pro-tsarist of the calibre of Michelangelo of ‘movie brats’ - which included
producers hoarding film stock in the Antonioni, Pietro Germi, Marco Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas,
wake of the Russian Revolution, tutor Bellocchio, Dino De Laurentiis, Vittorio John Milius, Paul Schrader and Martin
Lev Kuleshov was forced to base Storaro and Nestor Almendros. Scorsese — changed Hollywood forever.
workshops around simulated shoots FAMU in Prague and the Lédz Film Film schools continue to revitalize
with empty cameras and the re-editing School in Poland similarly reneged on the moving image worldwide. The
of existing pictures, including D.W. their duty to produce artists to serve Beijing Film Academy, for example,
Griffith’s Intolerance (1916). He also the state. Vera Chytilova, Jiri Menzel, produced Fifth Generation directors —
taught students the Kuleshov Effect to Milos Forman and Jan Nemec became Chinese film history is divided into
demonstrate the associational power of leading lights of the 1960s Czech Film generations — like Tian Zhuangzhuang,
montage and collaborated with them Miracle (or New Wave), while Andrzej Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, who
on features like The Death Ray (1925). Wajda, Krzysztof Kieslowski and introduced Chinese cinema to a global
Alumni such as Sergei Eisenstein Krzysztof Zanussi were active alongside audience in the 1980s. Yet there will
and Vsevolod Pudovkin became pivotal FAMU alumna Agnieszka Holland in always be those who, like one-time
figures in the Soviet film industry and the Cinema of Moral Anxiety, which video-store clerk Quentin Tarantino,
later returned to teach at the VGIK, captured the mood of civil unrest find their own way to make it. =
alongside Mikhail Romm and Sergei around the rise of Solidarity in the
Gerasimov (after whom the Institute 1980s. The Institut des Hautes Etudes
was renamed in 1986). But while the Cinématographiques (IDHEC) - the
VGIK nurtured homegrown talent like almer mater of Louis Malle, Alain
Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Paradjanov, Resnais, Costa-Gavras, Ruy Guerra,
Sergei Bondarchuk, Nikita Mikhalkov Volker Schlondorff, Theo Angelopoulos
and Aleksandr Sokuroy, it also accepted and Claire Denis - played its part in the
foreign students, including Ousmane Parisian upheavals of 1968, by which
Sembene and Souleymane Cissé, who time film schools had finally begun to
proved key to the emergence of African make an impact in the United States.
cinema. When not poaching writers and
Ironically, the Communist-created directors from the theatre, the
VGIK inspired the foundation of the Hollywood studios (like the Japanese
Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia Zaibatsu) preferred to train aspirants
in Rome (1935) and the Deutsche through apprenticeships. Thus, despite
Filmakademie in Berlin (1938), as the the founding of the University of
Fascist regimes sought to indoctrinate Southern California School of
their own film-makers. But while the Cinematic Arts, in 1929, few alums
Universum Film Aktiengesellschaft flourished. However, the decline of the
(UFA), which dominated production in studio system coincided with the
Germany throughout the Nazi era, opening of film centres at UCLA, NYU
assumed control of the Filmakademie and Columbia, and this new generation

82
 Andrei Tarkovsky’s feature
debut, Ivan’s Childhood (1962) ,
had a poetic quality that confirmed
the liberalisation of VGIK under
director-tutors Mikhail Romm and
Grigori Chukhrai.

Tarkovsky while at VGIK and Mother

and Son (1997) bears the influence of
the latter’s Mirror (197
Colliding images, compressed time

Intellectual montage: Sergei

IDEA N2 39 Eisenstein juxtaposed three shots of
lion statues in Battleship

MONTAGE Potemkin (1925) to suggest the

rousing of the masses into action.

Film movements and techniques are forever passing in and

out of fashion. Some people, for instance, currently question
montage’s historical significance. But there seems little
reason to doubt the great Soviet film-maker Sergei Eisenstein’s
contention that montage - the rapid putting together of
miscellaneous imagery — is ‘the nerve of cinema’.
Despite its Soviet associations, montage Constructivist principle of linkage (in
actually emerged outside Russia in the which images were connected rather
1910s. D.W. Griffith instinctively than impacted together) in Mother
understood that a shot’s represented (1926) and Storm over Asia (1928).
reality acquired additional meaning Elsewhere Alexander Dovzhenko was
when juxtaposed with other images, imbuing montage with lyricism in
while the Futurists, Formalists and Earth (1930).
Impressionists utilized metaphorical However, the coming of sound and
editing, accelerated montage and the Kremlin’s imposition of Socialist
discontinuity in films like Anton Giulio Realism saw montage denounced as
Bragaglia’s Thais (1917). However, it was decadent and debased. French critic
the codification of these ideas by Lev André Bazin would further decry the
Kuleshov at the VGIK and _ their technique’s conflicts of scale, volume,
exploitation by Dziga Vertov in his rhythm and velocity as manipulative
stylized documentary or ‘kino eye’ and undemocratic in proposing his
efforts to catch life unawares that theory of mise en scéne. Yet montage
prompted Eisenstein to devise a more continued to exert considerable
aggressively expressive ‘kino fist’ influence worldwide.
method that drew on _ Japanese Depicting meteoric rises, arduous Brian De Palma and Oliver Stone also
ideograms and the Marxist dialectic to journeys and training regimes in owed much to montage, as did the
force viewers into active engagement pictures like Citizen Kane (1941) and makers of Hong Kong martial-arts
with the colliding images of montage. Rocky (1976), Hollywood montages con- movies and Japanese chambara series.
Essentially, Eisenstein subverted densed time, space and information in Commercials and music videos also
Hollywood’s continuity editing stra- conjunction with fades, dissolves, split bear the montage imprint. But
tegies as an act of anti-capitalist rebel- screens and double exposures. Such Eisenstein’s legacy is most readily
lion. Disregarding conventions of time passages compress narrative rather evident in the increasing rapidity of
and space, he broke the rules of screen than subvert it and have now become Hollywood editing. Two-hour pictures
geography and the axis of action and clichés. But, set to an evocative sound- now contain upwards of 2,000 shots,
employed eyeline and graphic mis- track, they remain surprisingly effective. compared to 300-500 over 90 minutes
matches, ellipses and temporal expan- The British Documentary Movement in the studio era. So, with average shot
sion to forge metric, rhythmic, tonal, of the 1930s employed montage, close- lengths halving from four to two
associational and intellectual montage ups and typage to educate and inspire seconds between L.A. Confidential (1997)
sequences that were designed to arouse the masses, while Nouvelle Vagueurs and The Bourne Supremacy (2004),
emotions and provoke ideas. Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard rumours of montage’s demise seem
Yet while Eisenstein was refining favoured such non-classical editorial greatly exaggerated. =
this dramatic mode of editing in Strike gambits as jump cutting and multiple
(1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and perspective montages to disrupt
October (1927), fellow Soviet Vsevolod traditional forms of narrative linearity.
Pudovkin was pioneering the epic Alfred Hitchcock, Francis Ford Coppola,

84
 eenet

=
5 ae
—
jae aa] csLs
rr ae
. Ate fi |

6M = ce Asove: Brian De Palma paid homage BeLow: Unusually for a Hollywood

OTh tage eee 1S t e to the ‘Odessa Steps’ massacre in picture, Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild
Battleship Potemkin with the Bunch (1969) contained 2,721 edit
- 999 PCMeN ee Le [ear acmeTe we points, with 325 coming in the
| !e l V e O Cll ]e I ] ]da 5 Untouchables (1987). infamous massacre montage.
‘These “character actors” were rarely
temperamental or miscast.’

ricut: In Earth (1930), Alexander

Dovzhenko chose wife Yuliya
Solntseva to embody the purity and
fecundity of the Soviet countryside.

BELow: Here playing a cop in Renny

Harlin’s Cleaner (2007), Puerto
Rican Luis Guzman is invariably cast
as hard men on either side of the law.
 Looking the part

ABOVE: Using a low angle to suggest ABOVE: Hollywood's pernicious habit

the character’s authority, director of making-up Caucasians to look
Vsevolod Pudovkin cast himself as the Oriental limited opportunities for
police officer in Mother (1926). fine actors like Anna May Wong, seen
IDEA N2 40 here in Shanghai Express (1932).

TYPAGE

Actors have long been chosen for their looks and demeanour
as much as for their talent, in order to make a film’s action
more authentic and accessible. Indeed, typage (or typing or
typecasting) is a crucial facet of cinematic shorthand.

Imported from the theatre, typage Non-professionals cast for their schedules moving by working on
proved hugely useful to silent film- suggestion of ‘types’ headlined several projects at once. Moreover,
makers, as it enabled them to create Neorealist classics such as Roberto unlike stars, these ‘character actors’
readily recognizable characters Rossellini’s Germany, Year Zero (1948) were rarely temperamental or miscast
without having to digress from the and Luchino Visconti’s La terra trema and audiences knew exactly what to
narrative. However, this identifiability (1948). Indeed, Vittorio De Sica turned expect each time C. Aubrey Smith,
didn’t just apply to supporting players, down Hollywood star Cary Grant to cast William Demarest, Margaret Dumont,
character actors, bit-parters and extras. factory worker Lamberto Maggiorani in George Zucco, Gabby Hayes or Gale
Stars also became known for taking Bicycle Thieves (1948) opposite seven-year- Sondergaard appeared on the screen,
particular roles, and this familiarity old Enzo Staiola, who was selected to even if they didn’t always know their
not only enhanced their commercial play the trusting son on the strength of names. Racial stereotyping meanwhile
appeal but also reinforced the his walk. French director Robert severely limited the opportunities of
conventions of the genre they Bresson also prioritized qualities that stalwarts like Anna May Wong, Hattie
frequented, be it comedy, melodrama, would register on camera _ over McDaniel and Katy Jurado.
crime, horror or the Western. photogenicity in choosing the ‘models’ Many of the old guard of supporting
Sergei Eisenstein rejected many he imbued with so-called ‘automated and character players drifted into
aspects of mainstream cinema, but he naturalism’. The idea was that, in films television as the studio system wound
realized the value of typage to his such as A Man Escaped (1956) and down. However, they remain in
formalist style - which placed as much Pickpocket (1959), viewers would project demand with casting directors
emphasis on the visuals as the content their own response onto a character’s worldwide, with many ageing stars
— as it allowed audiences to understand words and actions rather than share in now settling for secondary roles
instantly the status of each figure in a a simulated emotion. alongside the dependables and
flurry of colliding images. Moreover, as Frank Capra once described movies versatiles who bring credibility, colour
Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) as tables with the stars on the shiny and conviction to scenes without
and October (1927) were essentially surface and the ‘character people’ stealing focus. m
propagandist works, it was vital that as the legs. Hollywood certainly
viewers saw themselves in the collective appreciated the need for a wide range
hero portrayed there as establishing a of supporting actors and most studios
new order. Vsevolod Pudovkin and had their own stock companies. This
Alexander Dovzhenko also frequently made both cinematic and economic
cast unknowns and many of the types sense, aS many contractees were
they depicted survived into the era of seasoned performers who knew their
Socialist Realism. jobs, cost little and could keep the

87
Subversion and liberation

The cruellest cut: a calf's eyeball was

IDEA N& 41 used to give the impression Simone
Mareuil was being sliced with a
SURREALISM razor in Un Chien andalou (1928).

In order to liberate audiences from social, political and

religious restriction, the Surrealists rejected accepted codes
of cinematic representation and perception and embraced
the logic of dreams, the psychological power of discordant
juxtapositions of images and the innate truth of the absurd.

Luis Bunuel once claimed that he made blasphemy was insufficiently shocking.
films to ‘disturb people and destroy the Yet André Breton, who had drafted the
rules of a kind of conformism that first Surrealist Manifesto in 1924,
wants everyone to think that they are proclaimed the pair’s follow-up, LAge
living in the best of all possible worlds’. dor (1930), to be ‘the only authentically
Despising the Impressionism that Surrealist film ever made’.
French producers had hoped would Dali only dabbled in cinema which is usually considered the last
countermand Hollywood hegemony in thereafter, most notably designing the official Surrealist film. Screen
the early 1920s, Bunuel and his fellow dream sequence for Alfred Hitchcock’s Surrealism has never entirely
Surrealists took their cinematic cues Hollywood film Spellbound (1945). But disappeared, however. André Bazin
from the trick films of Georges Méliés, Bunuel continued ‘raping clear reintroduced Surrealist notions of
slapstick, lowbrow serials and the consciences’ with provocative assaults accidental significance in positing his
exotic fantasies of German on Catholicism, the establishment and theory of mise en scene and many
Expressionism. The influence of Soviet the bourgeoisie such as The Young and European auteurs including Federico
montage was also evident in the use of the Damned (or Los Olvidados) (1950), The Fellini, Jan Svankmajer and Juraz Herz
associative and abstract linkage to Exterminating Angel (1962) and That are indebted to the Surrealist aesthetic,
abjure narrative cogency in the likes of Obscure Object of Desire (1977). as are numerous Japanimators and
René Clair’s Dadaist short Entr’acte Despite Jean Cocteau’s Blood of a Poet North American mavericks such as
(1924) and Germaine Dulac’s The Seashell (1930), Jean Vigo’s Zero for Conduct (1933) Terry Gilliam, Guy Maddin and David
and the Clergyman (1928), which had and the nature films of Jean Painlevé, Lynch.»
been scripted as an exercise in ‘raw Surrealist cinema lost its momentum
cinema’ by Antonin Artaud. with the coming ofsound. Nevertheless,
However, the Surrealists were less it impacted upon the anarchic comedy
than impressed with Dulac’s film, just of the Marx Brothers, socko (see
as they had been with such Dadaist Slapstick) cartoons, the knowing
experiments as Man Ray’s Return to sensuality of Mae West, and the
Reason (1923), Fernand Léger’s Ballet mischievous malevolence of Hitchcock
mécanique (1924) and Marcel Duchamp’s and James Whale. It might have been
Anemic Cinema (1926), which captured more influential still had it not been
the rhythmic movement of geometric overshadowed by Sergei Hisenstein’s
shapes. Even Un Chien andalou (1928), writings on realism and _ the
Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel’s commercial dominance of the classical
‘desperate and passionate appeal to narrative style favoured by _ the
murder’, was viewed with suspicion, as Hollywood studios.
its commercial success was interpreted In 1946, Man Ray, Duchamp and
as meaning that its cocktail of Léger collaborated with Hans Richter
iconoclasm, lust, violence and on Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947),

88
‘Surrealists rejected accepted codes ... and perception
and embraced the logic of dreams.’
ABOVE: Jean Vigo's Zero for
Conduct (1933): the famous pillow
fight culminates in a slow-motion
parody ofa religious procession.

RIGHT: Poster capturing the trippy

nature of Terry Gilliam’s adaptation
of Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and
Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).
Maya Deren and Alexander
Hammid’s noirishly surreal
masterpiece Meshes of the
Afternoon (1943) cost just $275
to produce.
Beyond the mainstream

In Mothlight (1963), Stan

Brakhage affixed insect wings,
leaves and grass to the celluloid to
examine the projector beam’s role in
IDEA N& 42 an animated life cycle.

EXPERIMENTAL CINEMA
eee
aN eR SNS TST
Experimental cinema — a term of convenience for the various _ outings such as Kiss (1963), which also
echoed the efforts of Kenneth Anger,
avant-garde and underground attempts to coerce audiences
Gregory Markopoulos and Jack Smith
into taking a more intellectually active part in viewing moving to explore the socio-political, erotic
and gay themes that were proscribed
images — has emerged as an art form in its own right. It has also
by the Production Code. Such
had a considerable influence on its commercial counterpart. provocations not only encouraged 60s
exploitation, but would also be taken
Conceiving, making and editing their materials directly on the celluloid to extremes two decades later by such
low-budget works alone or with surface - employed by Man Ray in exponents of transgressive cinema as
minimal collaboration, most experi- Return to Reason (1923) and Stan the German horror auteur Jorg
mentalists enjoy complete artistic Brakhage in Mothlight (1963) may have Buttgereit and Nick Zedd who emerged
freedom. But such independence has had a limited effect on popular cinema, from New York’s No Wave Cinema
invariably led to marginalization, with the abstract images they generated boom in the mid-1970s.
screenings often being confined to showed that it was possible to use Besides inspiring the ironic kitsch
galleries, museums, cinéclubs and shape, texture, colour and tempo to of mavericks such as George and Mike
specialist venues. This alternative express thought and to ignore, subvert Kuchar, radical auteurism also pushed
approach to exhibition reflects a or fragment narrative convention. the moving image in the direction of
resolute refusal to adopt industrial Crucial to the development of performance art, gallery installation
methods of production, with non- associational montage, the rhythmic and an expanded cinema dependent
mainstream artists mostly opting for juxtaposition of images in the city upon new technology. Moreover, it
shorts over features and either making symphonies of the 1920s influenced prompted the production of ‘new
pioneering use of new technology or the found footage collages of Stan talkies’ like Laura Mulvey and Peter
keeping faith with formats discarded Vanderbeek, which proved as signif Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx (1977),
by the studios. Thus, while many artists icant as Bruce Conner’s audiovisual which deconstructed narrative codes
preferred to work with 16mm, 8mm or synchronizations in the evolution of by combining them with psycho-
Super 8, Nam June Paik and Valie the music video. Contrasting with analysis and film theory. Fittingly,
Export were switching to video in the these exercises in rapid cutting, the such invitations to see differently are
1960s, while John Whitney and Scott time-lapse studies of Marie Menken now more widely available thanks to
Bartlett were creating the first and the dance-inspired dreamscapes of microcinemas and the internet. m
computer-generated items a full decade Maya Deren were more personal and
before mainstream cinema was. accessible, hence their clash with
Experimental film is characterized structuralist titles using audiovisual
by a lack of linearity and the use of distancing techniques like Michael
audiovisual distancing techniques. Snow’s Wavelength (1967) and Hollis
Although most experimentalists make Frampton’s Zorns Lemma (1970), which
contrapuntal or non-naturalistic use of were less concerned with content than
sound, some embrace silence. Others the systems used to present it and the
eschew basic film-making methods al- material nature of film itself.
together. Yet while the non-camera Such self-reflexive, anti-illusionist
techniques - applying marks or tactics had their roots in Andy Warhol

91
 WARNER BROS.SUPREME TRIUMPH
Was silence golden?

IDEA N2 43

SOUND
ABOVE: ‘You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!’: BELOW: The sound mix accompanying
Al Jolson and May McAvoy make Fredric March’s transformations in Nothing has had a greater transformational impact upon
history in The Jazz Singer (1927). Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1931)
included heartbeats and bells cinema than the coming of sound. Charlie Chaplin felt it
ringing in an echo chamber.
destroyed ‘the great beauty of silence’. To the contrary, it
could be argued that dialogue, music, sound design and
effects enhance a film’s visuals by reinforcing their
meaning and illusory realism.
Despite Thomas Edison’s audiovisual had to learn new _ techniques.
ambitions, problems with synchron- Unsurprisingly, with stage actors,
ization and amplification retarded the playwrights, dialogue directors and
development of practical sound composers now settling into Hollywood,
apparatus until the 1920s. Even then, the first talkies were often static and
Hollywood resisted the overtures of the verbose. Performers congregated
electronic companies AT&T and RCA, around microphones concealed about
since the silent film had reached a level the set, while noisy cameras were
of sophistication that was commercially confined in distant booths nicknamed
successful and aesthetically admired. ‘ice-boxes’. Furthermore, synchronization
Yet the lack of public demand and difficulties limited intra-scene editing.
prohibitive cost failed to deter the cash- Such problems were eventually
strapped Warner Bros, which released solved, however, by unidirectional
The Jazz Singer with a Vitaphone disc boom mikes, camera blimps and
soundtrack in October 1927. Such was Moviola sound readers, while dubbing
its reception that the other studios and subtitles ended the practice of
followed suit, with Vitaphone being casting local stars in multiplelanguage
discarded in favour of Western remakes of prestige pictures for export.
Electric’s sound-on-film system which The universality of silent cinema was
placed the sound track alongside the gone forever, as were the stars like
images on the celluloid strip. Constance Talmadge whose voices
The transition was actually rather didn’t suit their image and the
slow, as studios and auditoria had to be musicians who had provided live
wired for sound, and casts and crews accompaniment in cinemas. Moreover,

92
 LN
David Lynch had the actors reverse
their actions and invert the dialogue ‘The universality of silent cinema
to achieve the sense of audiovisual
dislocation in the Red Room
sequences in Twin Peaks: Fire was gone forever.’
Walk With Me (1992).

the expense of conversion put the of film-making, with the imaginative Hollywood introduced stereo in the
studios in hock to Wall Street, whose use of rhythmic and non-naturalistic 1950s, which presaged the noise
conservative backers were able to sound being largely confined to reduction, multi-track and digital
impose the Production Code in 1934 to experimental shorts and animation. techniques that increased the density
restrict the talkies’ ability to discuss In the early 1930s, the Soviet film- of soundtracks that nowadays bombard
contentious issues. makers Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod audiences with sonic sensations that
Once it was agreed that audio levels Pudovkin advocated the use of immerse them in the increasingly
would remain constant regardless of contrapuntal or asynchronous sound computer-generated action. m
camera distance from the actors and to contrast a film’s audio and visual
that dialogue would be prioritized over aspects rather than simply enhance
ambient sound and music (as audibility naturalism. Subsequently, Jean Renoir
mattered more than authenticity), and Orson Welles sought greater
directors got the hang of sound realism by employing off-screen noises,
reasonably quickly. Guns rattled and tonal shifts, aural bridges and
tyres screeched in gangster movies, overlapping dialogue, while Jacques
melodramas echoed with voice-overs Tati pioneered audio minimalism by
and interior monologues, and the dispensing with speech and placing
musical emerged as a new genre. But comic emphasis on everyday sounds
while sound brought a fresh potency to and Jean-Luc Godard subverted
silence and reinforced compositional hierarchical convention by using
hegemony by focusing the viewer’s sounds from both inside and outside
attention on specific details within the the story world to disrupt the reality of
frame, it quickly became a necessary the image. But such expressive use of
rather than an innovative component sound has been rare, especially since

93
 5“4
Miki)
Aas

Zither player Anton Karas on a

dubbing stage performing his
famous ‘Harry Lime Theme’ for The
Third Man (1949).
 Storytelling on staves

IDEA N& 44

MUSICAL SCORES

The modern compilation soundtrack has brought the

screen score full circle by evoking the silent era, when
accompanists included popular songs in their cue-sheet
repertoires. The emphasis in the interim was on the
symphonic. Yet while scores everywhere reflect individual
films’ particular origins, they also share some core principles.

Film music helps shape the meaning of Kong (1933) initiated the saturation
an image and the viewer’s identification style of scoring almost every scene that
ABOVE: Riffing on the notes E and F, BELOW: Steven Spielberg with John
with it. Remaining unobtrusive and Hollywood exported around the world. John Williams’s ‘shark’ theme proved Williams, who shares the Oscar
subordinate to the dialogue, it The influence of European crucial to ratcheting up the suspense record of 45 Best Score nominations
in Jaws (1975). with Alfred Newman.
establishes time, place and mood; romanticism on the Hollywood studio
defines character psychology; empha- score was profound, with key composers
sizes dramatic themes; and delineates such as Steiner, Erich Wolfgang
abstract ideas. Some scholars have Korngold, Dmitri Tiomkin, Mikldés
claimed that music either parallels or Rozsa, Bronislau Kaper, HannsEisler
counterpoints the action. But image and Franz Waxman all being émigrés.
and score often interact, with com- However, a more distinctively American
posers and arrangers varying melody, idiom became apparent in the 1940s
harmony, rhythm, tempo, volume, and ’50s, as Alfred Newman, Alex North,
timbre and instrumentation to manip- Leonard Rosenman, Elmer Bernstein
ulate emotional response as John and Henry Mancini introduced folk
Williams did in Steven Spielberg’s Jaws music, the blues and jazz.
(1975). The repetition of leitmotifs is a Many film-makers and composers
very effective method of guiding re- formed lasting partnerships, among
actions, although the suggestive nature them Sergei Eisenstein and Sergei
of music can be misused to subliminally Prokofiev, Alfred Hitchcock and
reinforce ideologically unsound no- Bernard Herrmann, Federico Fellini
tions about gender, sexuality and race, and Nino Rota, Francois Truffaut and The average feature contains around
such as the use of tomtoms and chants Georges Delerue, and Sergio Leone and 40 minutes of music. However, some
in Hollywood Westerns. Ennio Morricone. Others directors have none at all, while others follow the
Whether improvised or notated, composed their own scores, including avant-garde Danish film-making group
the music played by pianists, organists Charlie Chaplin, Satyajit Ray, John Dogme 95 in restricting themselves to
and orchestras in the early cinema Carpenter and Clint Eastwood. the audio material recorded on set
proved vital to the development of In the 1950s, electronic music during filming. Many silent pictures
screen storytelling, as recurring motifs became more common, as _ did have recently been revived with new
and associated conventions clarified modernist concepts like dissonance, scores, which are often played live. But
both the plot and character motivation. atonality, polytonality and _ serial whether it’s classical or experimental,
Artists of the calibre of Camille Saint- music, most notably in cartoon and nostalgic or anachronistic, film music’s
Saéns (The Assassination of the Duc de avant-garde scores. But rock’n’roll had primary function remains to sustain
Guise, 1908), Erik Satie (Entr’acte, 1924) the greatest impact on Hollywood narrative unity and connect the
and Dmitri Shostakovich (The New music. The lyrics of songs were used to audience to the action. =
Babylon, 1929) composed for silent comment on a situation or reveal a
films. But scores seemed artificial in character’s feelings in pictures like
the early days of sound and music was Mike Nichols’s The Graduate (1967),
limited to sources within the story whose Paul Simon song score confirmed
world until Max Steiner’s work on King the trend for soundtrack albums.

95.
Sound principles

IDEA N° 45

DUBBING
Tolling bells, clashing swords and
Screen sound is often taken for granted. Yet the mix of chirping crickets were among the
sound effects recorded on a
speech, music and effects has to be as subtle and precise as Vitaphone disc for Don Juan (1926).

a film’s visuals. Modern audio effects are every bit as

sophisticated as computer-generated imagery, and the bulk
of this sound sculpting takes place during post-production.
Sound effects were initially generated conversion after just installing wide as the Bollywood superstars who lip-
in movie houses using machines like screens, cinema sound only assumed a sync to them. Nixon also guested in
the Allefex, which could produce some new dimension with the introduction Disney’s Mulan (1998) and the voice
50 sounds ranging from storms to of Ray Dolby’s noise-reduction system track for most animated features is pre-
birdsong, while the first sound feature in the mid-1970s, which greatly recorded to provide pacing and
— rather than talkie - Don Juan (1926), enhanced the quality of the sound in personality cues for the animators.
contained effects and an orchestral blockbusters like Star Wars and Close Sound effects, however, are dubbed
score. The talkies then forced the focus Encounters of the Third Kind (both 1977). after the shoot by either sound editors
onto dialogue, as the primitive In many countries, dubbed or Foley artists. Named after Jack Foley
microphones and mixing techniques dialogue is preferred to so-called live — an innovative but uncredited sound
didn’t allow for the modulation of speech. But in Hollywood the original man at Universal between 1929 and
recording levels. Moreover, their delivery is retained wherever possible, 1960 - the latter create just about every
sensitivity restricted movement by although looping, as re-recording movie sound that isn’t ambient, spoken
either the cast or the camera, while dialogue is often called, does allow or musical. Using props to reproduce
editorial difficulties with synchron- performers to rectify delivery or timing everything from footsteps to gunshots,
ization saw average shot lengths in- issues and make late script changes. they give fictional and documentary
crease from 4 to 10 seconds, with pictures The once-laborious task of dubbing has films alike the audio authenticity that
becoming more verbose and static. been expedited by the Automatic reinforces three-time Oscarwinner
However, techniques in dubbing or Dialogue Replacement process, which Walter Murch’s contention that ‘the
adding rerecorded sound improved is also used to add the background better the sound, the better the image’.
immeasurably in the mid-1930s, chatter nicknamed ‘walla’. ADR is also Digitization may have transformed
especially once MGM _ technician employed in restoration work, with screen sound, but nothing beats alittle
Douglas Shearer established the Anthony Hopkins notably imperson- human ingenuity. =
Academy curve to standardize methods ating Laurence Olivier in the 1991
of reducing hiss during the recording, overhaul of Spartacus (1960).
dubbing and theatrical playback of Vocal substitution became a
monaural sound. Equalizers enabled common practice in the early sound
sound perspective and, even though era, as Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
engineers only had four channels at amusingly showed by having shrill
their disposal, they still achieved such Jean Hagen, a siren of the silent era,
memorable sounds as King Kong’s roar, mime to Debbie Reynold’s mellifluous
Fred Astaire’s tapping feet and Orson tones. Marni Nixon sang for Deborah
Welles’s overlapping dialogue. Kerr in The King and I (1956) and Audrey
The post-World War II development Hepburn in My Fair Lady (1964). As a
of magnetic tape and multi-track performer Nixon may have remained
equipment gave mixers greater largely anonymous, but playback
latitude. But with exhibitors reluctant singers such as sisters Asha Bhosle and
to shoulder the cost of stereophonic Lata Mangeshkar became as celebrated

96
eaeere,
eee
ile esEEE

ABove: The mighty ape’s bellow in ™%

King Kong (1933) was achieved by
effects mixer Murray Spivak playing
MOM ROTM LCC anVeee RCIA Celmoa08

ricut: Marni Nixon dubbed much of SO * f /

Eliza Doolittle’s singing in My Fair . = y,
Lady (1964), but Audrey Hepburn pes
performed the chorus of Just You * a
Mariam ee

FAR RIGHT: When Spartacus (1960)

was restored, Anthony Hopkins
dubbed Laurence Olivier’s lines in the
infamous ‘snails and oysters’
exchange with Tony Curtis.

Cod
4
 Overcoming the language barrier

IDEA N2 46

SUBTITLES

Subtitles are often difficult to read, rarely provide verbatim

translations and are actively disliked by a sizeable
proportion of the world’s viewing public. Despite their
drawbacks, however, they have been helping audiences
understand films for over a century.

No one’s entirely sure when intertitles, his European counterparts, he audiences, with names, settings and
the forerunners of modern subtitles, continued to use narrative intertitles other cultural details being amended
were first used, but captions linking into the 1920s. Only the most to increase accessibility. Indeed, by the
the action appear in R.W. Paul’s Scrooge significant parts of the dialogue were end of the silent era, American captions
(1901) and began occurring more written out, and directors like Cecil B. were being reworked for 36 different
frequently after multiscene films De Mille and Ernst Lubitsch delighted language markets. Yet when the talkies
became the norm. Most offered written in leaving the more risqué utterances arrived, Hollywood followed the
expository outlines of the ensuing to the viewer’s imagination. However, example of its European rivals in
action, but spoken titles became many felt that intertitles slowed a producing foreign-language versions of
increasingly common in American picture’s pace and distracted from the its most prestigious pictures.
pictures from 1908, with the dialogue imagery and F.W. Murnau famously Filmed at Elstree in English, French
being intercut with shots of the speaker eschewed them altogether in The Last and German, E.A. Dupont’s Atlantic
from around 1912. Laugh (1924). (1929) was the first multi-language
D.W. Griffith resisted dialogue Yet intertitles were crucial to release. But the hub of continental
captions and the increasingly popular cinema’s successful export. Rather production was the studio Paramount
technique of cross-cutting between the than simply being translated, they built outside Paris, which employed a
speaker and the text. But, like many of were creatively adapted for specific 24-hour shooting schedule to make
movies in up to 14 languages. Joinville
completed 100 features and 50 shorts
in its first year, but language transfer
dubbing and subtitling soon showed
themselves more cost-effective, al-
though that didn’t stop later features

“HORROR SEIZED ME such as Jean Renoir’s The Golden Coach

(1953) and Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu

AS | GAZED OVER
the Vampyre (1979) from being issued in
multi-language formats.
The European preference
THE WRECK’S SIDE”
for
dubbing was rooted in the refusal of
the authoritarian regimes in Italy,
Germany, Spain and the Soviet Union
to screen films in their original

ane
a0 tery: s
ROBINSON CRUSCE
Intertitles conveyed Robert Z.
Leonard's narration in Otis Turner’s
30-minute adaptation of Daniel
Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1913).

98
 a ty, ”
| : i
But tell me about this famous horse a oe
Let’s go® kort nia
on enceSfiring!
of yours that you won the Olympics with.

: ie i
ait’ .
Men fortzl mig om den bergmte hest,
som du vandt olympisk guld pa.

, * ;
Kerro kuuluisasta hevosesta,
jolla voitit olympialaiset.

language. However, nationalism also inclusivity. But problems with lip- Scenes translated from Japanese
into English, Danish and Finnish in
prompted France to adopt dubbing and synching and inflection and lapses in Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo
this Gallicization became an art in audio synchrony and ambient Jima (2006).
itself: Gérard Depardieu thus revoiced integration often reduce re-recording’s
Kenneth Branagh in Henry V (1989), effectiveness.
although when Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) Clearly, neither technique is wholly
achieved an international release satisfactory. Yet they enable cinema to
Depardieu’s own performance re- be a truly global medium. Cost-con-
mained intact courtesy of Anthony scious Hollywood has been keen to dis-
Burgess’s English subtitles. card dubbing. But audience demand in
As this last example suggests, after key territories such as India, China and
long vacillation, Britain finally Mexico suggests there’s no immediate
plumped for subtitling, along with end in sight to the sub-dub impasse. =
Scandinavia, Japan and Brazil. But
while subtitles preserve a picture’s
artistic integrity by retaining the
original language and vocal per
formance, they can also obscure and
deflect attention away from the visuals.
Moreover, many consider them elitist
in comparison with dubbing’s greater

99
Keeping cinema-goers up to date

IDEA N2 47

NEWSREELS
RIT SE
ABove: With its famous crowing BELOW: The Pathé News crew prepares
Newsreels proved crucial to several technological and cockerel logo, Pathé News was a key to cover Elizabeth II’s coronation in
part of British cinema shows from Westminster Abbey in June 1953.
stylistic developments in cinema, not to mention 1910-70.

establishing the format of the TV news bulletin that would

supplant them. First and foremost, though, they gave
audiences around the world a better understanding of the
tumultuous times in which they lived.
The first topicals or animated process, while a number of other
newspapers, as newsreels were initially newsreels experimented with colour.
known, allowed viewers with limited Whatever the format, the tone of the
literacy skills to keep up with national commentary allowed largely un-
and international events. Opening censored one-reelers to slip author-
with a hard news story, the half-dozen itatively but genially from weighty
pieces in a silent reel lasted between 40 reportage to coverage of civic cere-
and 90 seconds each. These rarely monies, sporting events, novelty items
represented scoops and were often and advertorial footage of the sponsoring
outdated by the time they were studio’s biggest stars attending the
screened. But, with few papers print- premieres of their latest pictures.
ing photographs, the cine-gazettes Such was the popularity of
launched by Pathé in France, Britain newsreels that they played in dedicated
and the USA between 1908 and 1910 theatres as well as on standard cinema
made the Great and the Good seem bills. Documentarist and critic Paul
more familiar and fostered the new Rotha insisted that newsreels were
cult of celebrity. descriptive rather than creative, yet
Most newsreels adopted a neutral they were frequently used as plot growing public scepticism and the
tone. However, Lenin recognized the devices in the likes of Laurel and advent of television newscasts tipped
propagandist value of cinema and Hardy’s Sons of the Desert (1933). The the newsreel into a rapid postwar
supported Dziga Vertov’s efforts to ‘Voice of God’ narrative style pioneered decline in the USA. Yet it remained the
promulgate the Bolshevik message by Louis de Rochemont’s The March of only form of indigenous film-making
through the Kino-Pravda newsreels Time (1939-51) similarly influenced the in many African and Latin American
(1922-25) that afforded the first opening segment of Citizen Kane (1941) countries. Moreover, as Germaine
practical application of montage. and added authenticity to hard-hitting Dulac, Esther Shub and _ Yuliya
Communist regimes in Eastern Europe, dramas such as The House on 92nd Street Solntseva had earlier demonstrated, it
China and Cuba later followed suit, (1945), which de Rochemont produced was also one ofthe few cinematic fields
and the Allies and Axis powers alike for Fox. Roberto Rossellini’s Paisd (1946) where women could thrive. =
sought to win hearts and minds with also reflected newsreels, while the
newsreels during World War II. lightweight cameras and_ portable
Sound significantly increased sound equipment used to record them
newsreel’s potency after Fox Movietone proved vital to the evolution of Cinéma
added ambient noise, speech and Vérité, Direct Cinema, Free Cinema
music to its selections several months and the Nouvelle Vague.
before the release of The Jazz Singer in Although editorial magazines like
1927. Two years later, Fox attempted a RKO’s This Is America and Rank’s This
widescreen version using the Grandeur Modern Age enjoyed brief success,
ABovE: A Fox Movietone News van RIGHT: Between compiling the 23
seeking out a story in 1931 in Culver editions of Kino-Pravda, Dziga
City, the home of Hollywood's largest AARC yUL CAMERA OIRea |
studio, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. techniques to the Young Pioneers
documentary, Kino Glaz (1924).

SL dsi:i:h ie
ed a7)
Vay)
Lee ET]
 "
‘

‘Debate rages ... about the justification

for censorship.’
Above: Provocative shots ofJane
Russell’s bust in The Outlaw
UROL e me aes eNO CO)A
between director Howard Hughes
and the Production Code
PGA CLACOT

ricHt: While in prison, Yilmaz Giiney

wrote many screenplays like Yol
PRY) MULE CeMm
Vana einen eMeL ee ETT
to his instructions by Serif Goren and
Zeki Okten.
See no evil

Abbas Kiarostami’s work has been

IDEA N2 48 banned in Iran for 15 years,

CENSORSHIP
including Certified Copy (2010),
which was the first feature made
outside his homeland.

Ever since Senator James A. Bradley objected to the sight of

dancer Carmencita’s ankles and petticoats in an 1894
Kinetoscope loop, moving pictures have been subject to
censorship. The unique power of mass persuasion
attributed to cinema has made it especially susceptible to
proscription and classification.
Censorship is an instrument of control Hollywood has often been less religion, marriage and the family.
that has usually entailed the excision concerned with the moral welfare ofits Many blamed it for preventing
of unpalatable scenes, the banning of audience than the profitability of its Hollywood from tackling weighty
entire pictures or the silencing of pictures. It grew increasingly daring issues in a realistic manner. It was only
contentious artists. Spaniard Luis following the Supreme Court’s Mutual abandoned in favour ofa ratings system
Bunuel was among many film-makers Decision (1915), which denied movies in 1968, after movies had finally been
who endured exile in the twentieth freedom of speech. But a series of granted First Amendment protection
century to retain their freedom of scandals that tarnished the film by the 1952 Miracle Decision and the
expression. Sergei Paradjanov and community’s reputation in the early market for family films had collapsed
Yilmaz Gtney were imprisoned by 1920s persuaded the studios to with the coming of television.
the Soviet and Turkish authorities demonstrate their contrition by The home-entertainment boom
respectively for their refusal to adopting the list of ‘Don’ts and Be of the 1980s precipitated several
conform, while Sadao Yamanaka and Carefuls’ drafted by Will H. Hays of the censorship crises, with the previously
Herbert Selpin paid the ultimate price Motion Picture Producers and pragmatic British Board of Film
for resisting official policy in militarist Distributors Association. Classification being coerced into
Japan and Nazi Germany. Talkies enabled a franker discussion slapping 18 certificates on so-called
Countries with nationalized film of taboo topics than the silents and as a ‘video nasties’ by alarmist tabloids.
industries tend to operate the strictest result Hollywood again incurred the Meanwhile, as debate rages elsewhere
forms of censorship. But religious and wrath of conservative forces. But it took about the justification for censorship
ethical considerations often dictate the Catholic Legion of Decency’s threat beyond issues relating to the protection
what can be seen on screen as much as ofa nationwide boycott in 1934 for the of minors, the establishment continues
political expediency. Kissing was long moguls to accept the system of to determine what can be screened in
prohibited in Indian features, while voluntary self-regulation known as the countries lke Iran, China, Malaysia
the depiction of women has often Production Code, which stipulated and Singapore. =
proved problematic for Muslim film- that a film’s script and final edit had to
makers. For much of cinema’s history, be approved by the Hays Office in order
the portrayal of obscenity, profanity, to secure a release.
blasphemy, criminality and violence In addition to exerting moral
was forbidden even in supposedly control, the Code also promoted
liberal states. respect for the constitution, the law,

103
Beyond persuasion

IDEA N& 49

PROPAGANDA

Whether consciously or not, all films contain an element of

propaganda simply in the way they reflect the time and
place in which they were made. However, the term is
usually applied to features and documentaries that
consciously strive to rally the committed, convert the
sceptical or subvert the intransigent.
Propaganda succeeded for much of (1941-42) and allegories such as
cinema’s first century, since there was Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible (1944)
an innate trust in filmic truth. Yet early effectively sustained morale during
examples of films designed to arouse World War II.
jingoistic sentiments like Tearing Down Escapism also played a significant
the Spanish Flag (1898) were actually part in propaganda material in the
reconstructions and not authentic USSR, as it did in Germany. Following Once considered history written in
records; much of the trench action lightning, D.W. Griffith's Civil War
the failure of overtly propagandist
epic The Birth ofa Nation (1915) is
screened during the Great War was pictures like S.A.—Mann Brand and Hitler now dismissed by many as racist
similarly staged. The German High propaganda.
Youth Quex (both 1933), Joseph Goebbels
Command recognized the potential of preferred to attempt to manipulate the
film propaganda much more quickly masses through musicals, spectacles state industries in Cuba and China and
than its British or French counterparts and biopics. Even Leni Riefenstahl’s behind the Iron Curtain continued to
and, in 1917, it appropriated several Triumph of the Will (1935) eschewed toe the Party line, film-makers in the
commercial companies to form the specific ideology to reinforce Hitler’s West were as likely to challenge
state-controlled Universum Film cult of personality. On the other hand, government orthodoxy as support it.
Aktiengesellschaft to co-ordinate no other warring nation produced Consequently, John Ford’s pro-war
production (see Film Schools). UFA films as pernicious as Jew Siiss and The Vietnam! Vietnam! (1971) went un-
would continue to dominate the Eternal Jew (both 1940). released as Peter Davis’s Hearts and
German film industry throughout the In Britain, the Ministry of Minds (1974) won the Academy Award
Weimar and Nazi eras. Information encouraged a mix of firm for Best Documentary; an oppositional
Feigned footage of atrocities and paternalism and quirky humour in its tone has subsequently characterized
savage denunciations such as Rupert newsreels and public information most treatises on the wars in Iraq and
Julian’s The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin shots, while features such as Went the Afghanistan. Many exposés of
(1918) confirmed film’s newfound Day Well? (1942) and Western Approaches globalization, political chicanery and
potential for demonizing and (1944) were notable for a documentary climate change have been similarly
demoralizing the enemy. Lenin realism that was rarely employed in adversarial. But for all their post-
similarly recognized its ability to Hollywood’s more gung-ho outings. modern irony and rhetorical irrever-
inform and inspire and dispatched The US studios never really fathomed ence, these films are every bit as
agit-prop trains across the Soviet Union the mood of Occupied Europe, but the propagandist as their forebears -
to spread the Bolshevik message home-front dramas, service comedies, and are often more sanctimonious,
through Dziga Vertov’s Kino-Pravda Good Neighbour musicals intended to tendentious and unscrupulous. =
newsreels (1922-25) and the montage bind Latin America to the Allied cause
features of Sergei Eisenstein, Vsevolod and combat adventures they churned
Pudovkin and Alexander Dovzhenko. out after Pearl Harbor proved as vital to
Stalin was more cautious about cinema the war effort as graver fare like Frank
and imposed a restrictive code of Capra’s Why We Fight series (1942-45).
Socialist Realism designed to promote As a Third Cinema emerged,
government policy. Yet front-line propaganda remained a key weapon
bulletins like the Fighting Film Albums throughout the Cold War. But while

104
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ros

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eres

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ar

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ee
|
.

Pes
re

eb

Eschewingog political ideology, Leni

Riefenstahl used spectacle, nature,
on and folklore to elicit a
patriotic response to Triumph of
we
&

S
Ss

th1e 1934 Nurembe

 Tripping the social ‘fantastique’

IDEA N2 50

POETIC REALISM

Focusing on shattered illusions, lost love and existential

ennui, the French cinéma du désenchantement of the 1930s
was characterized by a commitment to tackling the issues
confronting the working poor with an elegiac naturalism
that eschewed idealistic Hollywood conventions.
Rooted in the populist literature of ‘invisibly poetic’ prose that not only
Pierre Mac Orlan and Francis Carco and influenced Hollywood noir, but also
the sombre émigré silents made in post-World War II outsider cinema,
Paris in the 1920s, Poetic Realism has whose virile yet vulnerable anti-heroes
exerted an influence that far exceeds recalled the everymen played by the
its limited original output. It was great French actor Jean Gabin, whose
foreshadowed by social-realist dramas fight for passion and happiness was
like Jean Grémillon’s La Petite Lise (1930) doomed by their milieu, inherent flaws
and Pierre Chenal’s La Rue sans nom and fate. Indeed, as the communal
(1932), as well as René Clair’s Sous les optimism of Renoir’s Le Crime de
toits de Paris (1930), A nous la liberté and Le Monsieur Lange (1935) and La vie est a nous
Million (both 1931), which sought to put (1936) gave way to isolation and despair
ordinary people on screen. Marcel as Europe drifted inexorably towards
Pagnol’s Marius trilogy (1931-36) war, Gabin served as a barometer
similarly transcended its stage origins, of national self-esteem in Duvivier’s
and also anticipated Neorealism, Pépé le Moko (1937), Renoir’s La Grande
top: Dita Parlo and Jean Dasté: true
through a use of Provencal locations. Illusion (1937) and The Human Beast
ABOveE: Terence Davies casts a poetic
love threatened by social reality in realist glow over 11-year-old But it was the combination of French (1938), and Carné’s Port of Shadows (1938)
Jean Vigo’s Parisian barge drama, Liverpudlian Leigh McCormack in
LAtalante (1934).
cinema’s non-industrialization and the and Daybreak (orLe jour se léve) (1939).
The Long Day Closes (1992).
changing political climate caused by But it was Renoir’s defeatist satire
the rise and fall of the Front Populaire The Rules of the Game (1939) that
that allowed this form, which Mac extirpated Poetic Realism. Carné
Orlan referred to as the fantastique sought vainly to revive it in the 1950s,
social, to flourish. but audiences demanded coarser
Jean Vigo uniquely depicted dramas about gangsters, rebellious
grinding urban poverty with an avant- youths and fallen women. Yet its legacy
garde sensibility in LAtalante (1934), but is much greater than the mise en scéne
the films of Marcel Carné, Jean Renoir technique it engendered. Jean-Luc
and Julien Duvivier shared an everyday Godard envisaged Band of Outsiders
emotional veracity that was achieved (1964) as ‘a French film with a prewar
through a mix of street authenticity atmosphere’ and the Poetic-realist
and the studio stylization of designers spirit has since imbued works by
Alexandre Trauner and Lazare Meerson. directors as diverse as Robert Bresson,
The literate scripts of Jacques Agnes Varda, Jacques Demy, Olivier
Prévert, Charles Spaak and Henri Assayas, Atom Egoyan, Terence Davies
Jeanson prefigured the ‘Tradition of and Aki Kaurismaki. =
Quality’ that would so incense Francois
Truffaut and prompt both the politique
des auteurs (see Auteur Theory) and the
Nouvelle Vague. But critic André Bazin
detected in them a_ hard-boiled

106
The epitome of poetic realism: Jean
Gabin and Michéle Morgan face an
uncertain future in Marcel Carné’s
Port of Shadows (1938).
‘The first constructed sets were built for the
Italian superspectacles.’
Above: Lazare Meerson’s sets were key
to achieving the romanticized
working-class atmosphere in René
OTTO tCDamcTR MeCN vets
cee
RiGHT: The sets for Enrico Guazzoni’s
Roman epic Messalina (1922) were
unrivalled in their day for size and
NCO atl melee gets

s-
Designs for living

IDEA N2 51

STUDIO REALISM
Designer Peter Grant created a 1930s
American town with minimalist sets
and lines on the studio floor for Lars
von Trier’s Dogville (2003).

Production design has come a long way in the past century,

moving from painted backdrops to computer-generated
scenery. But one thing has remained constant: the need to
create credible environments to persuade the audience of
the authenticity of the action on the screen.
Georges Méliés was the first production that had such an impact upon editorial strategies of the classical
designer, with the atmospheric poetry American cinema. narrative style.
of his fantasy settings influencing the The industrial process allowed for Yet the perfectionism of post-World
series and serials of Victorin Jasset and less experimentation, however, and the War II designers was cited along with
Louis Feuillade. However, the first Hollywood brand of studio realism was literate scripts for stifling French
constructed sets were built for the characterized by an _ impersonal cinema and this “Tradition of Quality’
Italian superspectacles of Enrico technical perfection. Yet art directors was swept away by the Nouvelle Vague,
Guazzoni and Giovanni Pastrone, Cedric Gibbons, Hans Dreier and which advocated location shooting.
which inspired D.W. Griffith’s Robert Day achieved recognizable The introduction of lighter cameras
Intolerance (1916) and instigated the styles of homely opulence, Continental and faster colour stocks persuaded
American tradition of recreating elegance and urban grit at MGM, more directors to film in the real world,
reality on a studio stage or backlot. Paramount and Warner Bros and this shift coincided with the
Indoor shooting became more respectively. Poverty Row also had its decline of studio systems everywhere.
commonplace with improvements in own realist aesthetic, whether it was Even Hollywood destroyed sets that had
artificial lighting. This not only re-imagining the look of a frontier become too expensive to recondition
enabled producers to keep costs down, town or fashioning the claustrophobic, and store.
but also gave directors complete chiaroscuro’d interiors of film noir. Mainstream realism has been rare
control over every aspect of filming. But if Hollywood realism had a in the blockbuster age. But throughout
Inspired by the work of Swedes Victor selfconsciously generic feel, French film history, periods of stylization have
SjOstrom and Mauritz Stiller, the realism was unique to a specific time usually been followed by returns to
German Kammerspielfilm and Strassenfilm and place. With milieu intrinsically greater simplicity. So no matter how
(see Expressionism) used studio linked to fate, designers like Lazare sophisticated CGI may become, there
realism to reveal the psychology of Meerson and Alexandre Trauner paid should always be a place for the
their dramas by emphasizing symbolic such meticulous attention to authentic intimacy and interactivity ofa realistic
elements within the mise en scene. detail that their studio sets had a studio set. m
Eschewing the stylization of profound influence upon Neorealism.
Expressionism, G.W. Pabst’s Joyless Street Indeed, the mise en scene became
(1925) exploited optimum _ studio so central to the action that the
conditions to develop the subjective camera began to roam freely around it
camera and invisible editing techniques in long takes that challenged the

109
 The buzz of the B-hive

BELOw: Poster for Cat People (1942), pottom: Shot in just three weeks, Jean
the first of the nine superior horror Rollin’s Levres de Sang (1975) is a
Bs Russian-born Val Lewton produced superior example of the erotic
IDEA N2 52
at RKO, European horror Bs produced in the
1960s and ’70s. B MOVIES

Produced on limited budgets by second-string casts and

crews and frequently lacking in originality and technique,
the B movies churned out by studios and independents
alike were key to the aesthetic development and economic
viability of film industries around the world.

Rooted in the low-budget featurettes Cassidy, Charlie Chan, the Falcon,

released by Universal under Bluebird, Blondie and the Mexican Spitfire. But
Red Feather and Butterfly in the 1910s, while MGM’s Andy Hardy and Dr
the Hollywood B allowed executives to Kildare franchises were as polished as
make the most cost-effective use of their rivals’ A pictures, Poverty Row
facilities and personnel, while also outfits like Monogram, Republic,
ensuring a steady supply of mainstream Grand National and the Producers
entertainment for neighbourhood Releasing Corporation stuck to cheap-
venues whose regulars did not always and-cheerful formulae in refining the
appreciate the subtleties of more horror, sci-fi and film noir genres.
prestigious fare. Occasionally, the likes of RKO’s Val

nM CONWAY The B became a staple of American Lewton produced a sleeper hit or cult

JAC PENDYONEE
1 cinema shows during the Depression. classic. But while many stars and front-
Produced by
VAL LEWTON The demise of cinévariety, which rank directors got their start in B
jrected by offered live acts as a supplement to the
Xe
movies, dependable artisans such as
JACQUES TOURNEUR
Oawrrr sootem movie bill, and the decline in weekly Edgar G. Ulmer, Phil Karlson, Sam
attendances from 110 to 60 million Newfield, Lew Landers, William
between 1930 and 1933 prompted the Beaudine and Joseph Kane spent much
decision to add an hour-long attraction of their careers on Gower Gulch
to the cartoons, newsreels and shorts before moving into television after a
already supporting the big picture in combination of the Paramount
order to offer value for money to Decrees, inflated costs, increased
matinee patrons who often preferred running times and the switch to colour
quantity to quality. Costing $70- shooting effectively ended traditional B
WN = Zz 80,000, the average B picture was sold production in the early 1950s.
JEAN ROLLIN men) to exhibitors for a flat fee as part of a Within a couple of years, however,
block-booked package and often made a new wave of Bs was unleashed by
a $10,000 profit at a time when many Allied Artists and American Independent
theatres changed the bill twice a week. Pictures attracting a juvenile clientele
With 75 per cent of Hollywood’s who wanted the racier brand of
1930s output being second features, counterculture movie that eventually
both majors and minors launched their became known as_ exploitation.
own B units. These invariably adhered to Showmen like William Castle, Edward
the different studios’ house styles in D. Wood, Jr and Roger Corman
recycling old plots, sets and stock encouraged a vogue for teenpics, gory
footage, while also providing gainful horrors, creature features, biker movies
employment to contracted aspirants and nudie-cuties that played at drive-
and veterans. The most popular items ins and grindhouses and eventually led
were Westerns, thrillers and comedies, to the collapse of the Production Code
with series evolving around such and the overdue emergence of free
AN LOU PHILIPPE. ANNIE BRIAND INTERDIT AUX MOINS DE 13 ANS
HALIE PERREY. PAUL BISCIGLIA enduring characters as Hopalong expression in US cinema.
EASTMANCOLOR
jinale: DW. LEPAUW. Pi EL)

110
 Vincent Price in The Masque of
Red Death (1964), the penultimate
entry in Roger Corman'’s eight-film
Poe cycle for AIP.

B movies weren’t exclusively an has seen wannabe auteurs producing

American phenomenon, as they had Z-grade fodder for specialist festivals
long been produced worldwide, often and DVD labels, as well as for release
to meet government-imposed quotas or online. Clearly, the spirit of the B-hive
to defy Hollywood. However, they were lives on.
rarely exported before movie geeks like
Quentin Tarantino referenced Asian
and Latin American traditions during
the 1990s indie boom that revived the
B mentality. Subsequently, the greater
affordability of film-making equipment
From Happy Hooligan to Harry Potter

IDEA N2 53 Between 1934 and 1947, William

Powell and Myrna Loy played society

SERIES sleuths Nick and Nora Charles in six

chic MGM whodunits.

Few modern movie-goers will have heard of Bout-de-Zan, Joe

Deebs, Philo Vance or Torchy Blane, let alone seen one of
their films. Yet these characters headlined the series that
preceded the mega-franchises that have dominated
Hollywood thinking since the start of the blockbuster era.
Recurring characters had long been either lowbrow comedy - like the Carry
appearing in pulp fiction and the On films (UK, 1957-92) and Le Gendarme
popular press before J. Stuart Blackton de Saint-Tropez (France, 1964-82) - or
acquired comic-strip favourite Happy domestic scenarios constructed around
Hooligan for six films in 1900. Indeed, cosy characters such as the Olsen Gang
the emphasis was firmly on humour in (Denmark, 1968-2001) and Tora-san
many American and European series (Japan, 1969-95).
before the Great War, with the likes of Following the fortunes of an
Max Linder, Fatty Arbuckle and Charlie itinerant pedlar, the latter harked back
Chaplin adopting trademark traits in to Hollywood’s Golden Age, when series features. However, Star Trek, The
slapstick romps that often derived as cartoons, live-action shorts and second Muppet Show and Mission: Impossible
much from character as situation. features were corralled into series to subsequently made the opposite
Gilbert M. Anderson similarly offer reassurance and value for money journey, as corporate Hollywood began
devised the ‘good bad man’ persona for during the Depression and the war placing increased reliance on strings of
his Broncho Billy Westerns (1910-16) years. Majors, minors and _ B-hivers horror, sci-fi, action, cop, comic and
and their success inspired adventures produced series pictures, with MGM’s kidpic sequels, as well as more
like The Hazards of Helen (1914-17), The Thin Man and Andy Hardy, Fox’s consciously created series like Star Wars
which in turn affected the evolution of Charlie Chan and Paramount’s ‘Road’ and Harry Potter. The latter now vies
the serial. Yet action series had already movies devised for Bob Hope and Bing with James Bond for the most profitable
become a fixture in France, thanks to Crosby having considerably more franchise of them all. m=
Victorin Jasset’s Nick Carter (1908) and polish than the low-budget comedies,
Zigomar (1911). thrillers, oaters (B Westerns) and jungle
Imitations featuring Dr Gar-el- adventures churned out by Columbia,
Hama (Denmark, 1911-16), Stuart Universal, Monogram and Republic. Yet
Webbs (Germany, 1914-26) and Za-la- block booking ensured that audiences
Mort (Italy, 1915-24) followed, and got to see the Mexican Spitfire, the
genre franchises have since continued Three Mesquiteers, Boston Blackie and
to flourish worldwide, whether they Blondie as often as more iconic figures
centre on sword’n’sandal strongmen like Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes,
like Maciste, masked wrestlers such as which not only ensured that entire
Santo, martial artists like Wong Fei- units were kept busy, but also that the
hung, master swordsmen such as studios could blood new talent in tried-
Zatoichi, Native Americans like and-trusted formats.
Winnetou or eccentric ghouls such as A number of series migrated to
Coffin Joe. However, arthouse instances, television, including Perry Mason, Dr
such as Francois Truffaut’s Antoine Kildare, The Saint and Lassie, and small-
Doinel saga (1959-79), have been rarer, screen staples such as the soap opera,
as there was less risk involved in the sitcom, the ranch Western and the
producing populist fare that traded in police procedural all had their roots in

112
 S&S
= g
» ine

,fe
\ eee Fd

‘Studios could blood new talent in ABOVE: Johnny Weissmuller with

Maureen O’Sullivan and Cheeta
while shooting of one of the 12
tried-and-trusted formats.’ Tarzan movies he made between 1932
and 1948.

ueFT: Daniel Radcliffe asks for

directions to Platform 934 at King’s
Cross Station in Harry Potter and
the Philosopher’s Stone (2001).
Brevity is the soul of wit
Ben Turpin crosses Charlie Chaplin
in Essanay’s two-reel lampoon of
showbiz types, His New Job (1915).

Edison first matched sound and vision

in the Kinetophone in 1895, but
problems with synchronization and
amplification confounded processes
like the Cameraphone (1908) and
Photokinema (1921).
In 1923, however, Lee De Forest
began recording such vaudeville stars
such as Eddie Cantor on the Phonofilm
IDEA N2 54
sound-on-film system. Three years later,
SHORTS Warners used Vitaphone to showcase
Al Jolson and Ruth Etting, and Fox
followed suit in 1927 with its Movietone
soundies and newsreel.
The majority of moving pictures in cinema’s first two decades Bing Crosby, Judy Garland, Cary
ran for one or two reels of film. Yet even after features came Grant, Ginger Rogers and Humphrey
Bogart made their screen debut in such
to dominate, the so-called ‘short’ remained a versatile and films, while directors from René Clair
popular form, with many of the medium’s finest artists to Steven Spielberg started out making
shorts. Indeed, the Hollywood studios
producing examples at various stages in their careers. used series like Crime Does Not Pay, the
Pete Smith Specialties and Joe McDoakes as a
The first films were unedited and lasted Charlie Chaplin found international proving ground for aspiring talent.
no longer than 50 seconds. But even as fame and his success institutionalized Film-making hopefuls still use
content and form became more the comic two-reeler, with Laurel and shorts as calling cards. But the short is
ambitious, film-makers continued to Hardy, W.C. Fields and the Three an art in itself, with its own
operate within one or two reels - Stooges continuing the tradition international festivals and categories at
running between 10 and 20 minutes - through the transition to sound. the Academy Awards. The short also
and industries worldwide were geared Animated shorts proved equally gained a new lease of life in the
towards the production, distribution durable, with several studios having anthology film, which includes several
and exhibition of short subjects until their own dedicated production units. selfcontained stories within a single
the mid-1910s. However, the adapt- Even after the cartoon migrated to feature. Numerous horror movies
ability of the format enabled it to television, short animation continued followed in the wake of Ealing’s Dead of
survive the switch to features, and to thrive, both within the mainstream Night (1945). But the omnibus also found
shorts remained a mainstay of American and the avant-garde. Indeed, the short an arthouse niche, with auteur anthol-
cinema programmes until block book provided the optimum form of ogies like The Seven Deadly Sins (1962)
ing was outlawed and the studios were expression for many experimental and RoGoPaG (1963) inspiring recent
divested of their theatre chains in 1948. film-makers, as well as those special- outings such as Paris, je t'aime (2006)
Short documentaries, travelogues izing in nature, medical, instructional, and To Each His Own Cinema (2007). =
and educationals were all produced sponsored, propaganda, sport and
during the silent era, along with topical films.
slapstick comedies. Most countries had The short also played a pivotal role
their own knockabout clowns, but in the development of sound. Thomas

114
 tort-Kk
‘Directors from René Clair to Steven HG Soaeashe
Oliver Hardy, James Parrott’s The

Spielberg started out making shorts.’ aie ae

Music Box (1932) won the inaugural

BELOW: Paris, je t'aime (2006), a

portmanteau of vignettes by 20
aKa aClinea eS
BeLow: Marjane Satrapi teamed with
Vincent Paronnaud to adapt her
graphic novel, Persepolis (2007), ©
Va maca tl em ame guages
following the Iranian Revolution

tert: Chihiro and Haku in Hayao

Miyazaki’s Oscar-winning fantasy
Spirited Away (2001), which
OTe MEER EAM COTTE TTee
ofJapanimation.
From pencils to pixels

IDEA Ne 55

ANIMATION
i eo ee eS
Much of cinema’s prehistory was shaped by animated images ABOVE: Terrytoon stalwart Mighty BELOW: Lotte Reiniger’s exquisite
Mouse was among the first big-screen silhouette masterpiece The
produced by optical toys, while most cinema programmes cartoon characters to find a niche
on television.
Adventures of Prince
Achmed (1926) is the oldest

included a cartoon until the 1970s. Today, animated features surviving animated feature.

are key to children acquiring the movie-going habit.

Emile Reynaud projected the first Such was the demand for cartoons
animated films with his Théatre that several Hollywood studios opened
Optique in 1892 (see Persistence of their own animation units. The Warner
Vision). But the arrival of moving trio of Friz Freleng, Tex Avery and
photographic pictures reduced Chuck Jones, along with MGM’s
animation to an expensive and time William Hanna and Joseph Barbera,
consuming novelty. Nevertheless, channelled the old slapstick comedy
Emile Cohl and Winsor McCay refined style into socko vehicles for Bugs Bunny
two-dimensional cartooning, while and Tom and Jerry, which hugely
Arthur Melbourne Cooper and Ladislaw influenced television animation from
Starewicz mastered the stop-motion the 1950s. However, some American
method of animating models one graphics drew on the postwar European
frame at a time. In the 1910s, Americans modernist aesthetic that had itself
Earl Hurd and John Bray divided the been inspired by avant-gardists such as
drawing and colouring of characters Oscar Fischinger, Hans Richter, Lotte
and backgrounds between specialist Reiniger, Len Lye and Norman McLaren,
artists and further streamlined the who had fashioned a non-linear, non-
process by introducing cels. objective and often abstract style in
This industrial approach was experimenting with direct-application,
emulated by Walt Disney, whose pixelation, pin-screen and silhouette
success with characters like Mickey techniques
Mouse encouraged him to move into Iron Curtain animators like Jiri
feature animation with Snow White and Trnka, Jan Svankmajer and _ the
the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Although his members of the Zagreb School often
stories emphasized conservative values, produced subversively satirical work,
Disney was receptive to aesthetic and while Japanese artists like Astro Boy hits such as Toy Story (1997) and Up
commercial innovation. Artists Ub creator Osamu Tezuka and the Oscar- (2009), as well as Nick Park’s endearing
Iwerks and Fred Moore convinced winning director of Spirited Away (2001) Wallace and Gromit ‘claymation’ romps,
him to combine realism with Hayao Miyazaki opted for an escapist which employ stop-motion techniques
anthropomorphism, earning the approach that drew inspiration from to animate Plasticine models. =
studio the loyalty of young fans who manga comic books. Anime has since
would purchase its merchandise, had a profound influence on adult
watch its TV shows and visit its theme animations like Persepolis (2007), as well
parks. Disney also embraced new as on the computer-game graphics and
techniques such as multi-plane digitized effects that have become a
photography and rotoscoping, which staple of the Hollywood blockbuster.
allowed the tracing of live-action However, it was Disney that revived
footage and paved the way for the the global popularity of feature
digital mapping and tracing and animation, with the likes of Beauty and
image-capture processes now used in the Beast (1991) and The Lion King (1994)
computer animation. presaging computer-generated Pixar

117
Realizing the impossible

IDEA N& 56

MODELS

In 1898, J. Stuart Blackton used cardboard cut-outs for his

naval re-enactment Battle of Santiago Bay. The ships in the
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise may be more three-
dimensional and convincing, but they also demonstrate
cinema’s continued reliance on artisanal models in the age
of computer-generated imagery.
Models enable film-makers to set scenes allegories such as The Beast from 20,000
in environments that would otherwise Fathoms (1953) and mythical adventures
be impossible, problematic or too like The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958). Created by Nick Park at Aardman
Animations, Wallace and Gromit are
expensive to visit or build. They also Moreover, he inspired latter-day practi- plasticine figures modelled over
permit their destruction by earth- tioners such as Phil Tippett, whose stop- metal armatures and filmed using
the stop-motion technique.
quake, flood, fire, incendiaries, mutant motion experience on Star Wars (1977)
creatures and invading aliens. prompted the invention of the Go
The earliest model shots were not motion technique employed on RoboCop
integrated with the live action. But the (1987), which gave animated effects a
introduction of foreground miniatures more naturalistically blurred look. Dimensions of Dialogue (1982) and
and the Schtfftan process facilitated Harryhausen served his apprentice- features like Little Otik (2000).
the illusion of habitable spaces in ship with George Pal, who later Svankmajer’s disciples include the
historical and futuristic pictures like directed the stop-motion fairytale tom Brothers Quay, Kihachiro Kawamoto,
Ben-Hur (1925) and Metropolis (1926). thumb (1958). An exile from Nazi Tim Burton and Henry Selick, who
Natural landscapes were also cast in Germany, Pal perfected the replacement challenged the growing hegemony of
model form, as were aircraft, space- technique of progressing frame-by- CGI with the first all-stop-motion 3-D
ships, superheroes and monsters, with frame movement by adding new pieces feature Coraline (2009). Like Nick Park clay-
the ingenuity and authenticity of their to his models rather than manipulating mations such as Wallace and Gromit in The
design, decoration, lighting and oper- them. But while his Puppetoons failed Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), this champ-
ation eventually being seen in moving to capture American imaginations ioned a texturality and tactility that
contexts thanks to the development besotted with Disney cartoons, they computer software still can’t match. =
of the motion-control camera that continued a European tradition that
enabled the precise movements re- dates back to Arthur Melbourne
quired to merge the different elements Cooper’s Matches: An Appeal (1899).
of an effects shot. The doyen of stop-motion puppetry
The artisanal aspect of model- was the Russian-born Ladislaw Starewich,
making and its ancillary water, cloud who followed intricate insect satires
and pyrotechnic effects has given the like The Cameraman’s Revenge (1911) with
craft a romantic cachet among film wry fables such as The Tale of the Fox
buffs. Yet the best SFX are those that (1930), whose influence was evident in
create spectacle while essentially Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox (2009).
remaining invisible. Czech maestro Jiri Trnka also started
Fascinated by the stop-motion with charming sagas like A Midsummer
magic that Willis O’Brien concocted for Night’s Dream (1959), but a new political
The Lost World (1925) and King Kong audacity emerged in The Hand (1965),
(1933), Ray Harryhausen turned the which prompted fellow countryman
incremental movement of articulated Jan Svankmajer to take an even more
armatures into an art form in sci-fi subversive approach in shorts such as

118
Ernst Kunstmann, Konstantin
Irmen-Tschet and Erich Kettelhut
produced the state-of-the-art models
and trick photographic effects for
Metropolis (1926).

BELOW: Model-makers Ian MacKinnon

and Peter Saunders brought Nelson
Lowry’s designs tolife for the Roald
Dahl adaptation Fantastic Mr
Fox (2009).
 }F
+
4

In the gutter: Lamberto Maggiorani

and Enzo Staiola as father and son
Antonio and Bruno Ricci in the most
influential Neorealist drama,
Bicycle Thieves (1948).
The poetry of ordinary life

IDEA N& 57

NEOREALISM

Variously labelled a movement and a genre, Neorealism was

rooted in the social, political and economic turmoil of a
traumatized nation as Italy threw off its Fascist shackles at
the end of World War II. But its naturalistic, anti-classical
Hollywood influence has been global and enduring.
‘The ideal film,’ wrote screenwriter anti-heroes spoke their own vernacular
Cesare Zavattini, ‘would be 90 minutes in episodic dramas that were often shot
of the life of a man to whom nothing on location in natural light and in
happens. Despite urging contem- long, mobile takes that respected real
poraries to repudiate plot contrivance time. Making innovative use of negative
and studio artifice, the closest Zavattini space like bare walls and open skies, as
came to realizing his ambition was well as grainy stock and _ post
Vittorio De Sica’s Umberto D (1952), the synchronized sound, features like
last masterpiece of what critic Umberto Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City
Barbaro called “Neorealism’. (1945), Luchino Visconti’s La terra trema
The great myth of the genre was its and De Sica’s Bicycle Thieves (both 1948)
newness, which was perpetuated by presented an objective appreciation of
practitioners keen to obfuscate their other people’s reality that approached
connection to Mussolini’s film industry. moral poetry.
While it differed from the ‘white This hybrid style failed to find a
telephone’ comedies (see Genre), domestic audience, but it has inspired
propagandizing epics and _ lavish and incited Italian film-makers ever top: Shooting in long takes on the ABove: Neorealismo rosa: Giuseppe De
streets in available light: Anna Santis’s Bitter Rice (1949) was
melodramas of the Fascist era, since. It also influenced German rubble Magnani in Roberto Rossellini’s accused of rose-tinting realism by
Neorealism’s origins lay not only in films, Free Cinema, British social Rome, Open City (1945). emphasising Silvana Mangano’s
sex appeal.
nineteenth-century verismo literature, realism, Cinéma Vérité, the Nouvelle
as well as Soviet revolutionary realism Vague and the Czech New Wave.
and French Poetic Realism, but also in Subsequently, its legacy has also been Sembéne to Chad’s Mahamat Saleh
disparate features by Elvira Notari, evident in Dogme 95, the minimalism Haroun have adapted Neorealism to
Alessandro Blasetti and Francesco De of the Dardenne brothers and the explore local themes, as have Tadashi
Robertis who had all been prominent ‘readjustment dramas’ made in post- Imai, Lino Brocka, Fruit Chan and
in Mussolini’s film industry. However, Communist Eastern Europe. Abbas Kiarostami. Even American
the demise of Fascist censorship did Neorealism also manifested itself cinema has evinced Neorealism in
allow Italian directors to address in the work of Argentinian Fernando postwar ‘problem pictures’ addressing
previously proscribed topics with Birri, Brazilian Nelson Pereira dos issues such as alcoholism and racial
increased freedom. Santos and Cuban Tomds Gutiérrez prejudice, the working-class African-
Several Neorealists were Marxists Alea, which prepared the ground for American dramas of the 1970s LA
who wanted cinema to develop class Third Cinema. In India, Satyajit Ray’s School and the _ so-called ‘neo-
consciousness and proletarian unity. Apu Trilogy (1955-59) instigated a Neorealism’ of Kelly Reichardt and
Thus, they not only eschewed the parallel cinema to the Bollywood Ramin Bahrani. =
individualism and optimism of mainstream, while Youssef Chahine’s
Hollywood feature-making, but also its Cairo Central Station (1958) did much the
classical narrative techniques. Played same in Egypt. Indeed, African film-
by non-professionals, the new breed of makers from Senegal’s Ousmane

121
 Confounding and enriching linearity

‘ didn’t create the situation, I’m just

dealin’ with it!’: Mr White (Harvey
IDEA N2 58 Keitel) and Mr Pink (Steve Buscemi)

FLASHBACKS between flashbacks in Quentin

Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992).

Flashbacks allow the cinematic representation of history,

memory and subjective truth. Signalled by intertitles,
dissolves, fades and cuts, their use enabled early film-
makers to introduce a structural and psychological
complexity that was readily appreciated by the increasingly
sophisticated audiences of the 1910s — and still is today.

Despite being in abeyance for much of blend of narrative and montage in his
the 1920s, the screen flashback screenplay for William K. Howard’s The Despite the current reluctance to
returned in the following decade, as Power and the Glory (1933) proved hugely use broken timelines in mainstream
Hollywood writers borrowed from influential, not least upon Orson movies, they still recur in blockbusters
modernist literature and radio drama Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941), which like James Cameron’s Titanic (1997) and
to break the stolid conventions emulated the earlier picture’s use of Disney animations such as Treasure
established by the first talkies. The voice-over and multiple perspectives. Planet (2002). However, flashbacks tend
favoured styles were the external Confessional and investigative to be used most imaginatively in indie
flashback, in which the action rewound flashbacks also became key compon- and arthouse features like Quentin
from a momentous opening to ents of film noir, after Billy Wilder’s Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction (1994),
delineate preceding events, and the Double Indemnity (1944) and Robert Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000)
personal flashback, in which a Siodmak’s The Killers (1946) respectively. and Michael Haneke’s Hidden (2005). =
character remembered or related an But it was the technique’s flexibility
experience or was prompted to that made it so valuable, with Alfred
reminisce by a chance occurrence. Hitchcock and Salvador Dali dabbling
Many courtroom dramas relied on in psychoanalysis and Surrealism in
flashback sequences: this testimonial Spellbound (1945) and John Brahm
mode has remained popular, rein- inserting a flashback within a flashback
forcing causality in pictures like within a flashback in The Locket (1946).
The Usual Suspects (1995) and Slumdog Also in 1946, Frank Capra ex-
Millionaire (2008). But flashbacks are perimented with hypothetical flash-
much more than convenient framing backs in It’s a Wonderful Life, while Gene
devices or visual alternatives to Kelly and Stanley Donen demonstrated
verbosity. In addition to manipulating the comic potential of anterior visuals
story and time, they can facilitate contradicting the audio content in
viewer identification and shape Singin’ in the Rain (1952), which also
emotional response by providing lampooned the still-rare concept of the
insights into a character’s inner life. By flashforward. Meanwhile, Hitchcock’s
juxtaposing actions, they create Stage Fright and Akira Kurosawa’s
parallels, as in The Godfather, Part II Rashomon (both 1950) suggested that
(1974). They can also reveal information the camera could dissemble in present-
that has previously been suppressed ing subjective reality, and this subver-
and generate suspense by delaying its sive approach prompted innovators
consequences. Moreover, flashbacks such as Alain Resnais to rescue the
can deliberately obfuscate and mislead. flashback from its clichéd functions in
Although the term ‘narratage’ his mesmerizing treatise on time and
never caught on, Preston Sturges’s memory Last Year at Marienbad (1961).

122
ABOVE: Flashing back to backstreet
Mumbai, as the main character tells
his tale in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog
Millionaire (2008).

RIGHT: Alain Resnais’s Last Year at

Marienbad (1961) left characters
and viewers alike unsure whether
they’d witnessed flashbacks, fantas
remembered memories.
Borrowing from Bresson: Travis
Bickle (Robert De Niro) writing the
diaries that provide the voice-over for
Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (197
Telling it like it is?

ABoveE: In adapting Georges BELOw: A complex character: Fred

Bernanos’s novel, Robert Bresson used MacMurray’s voice-over for Double
voice-overs to emphasize Diary of a Indemnity (1944) contains
IDEA N2 59 Country Priest (1951)’s literary contrasting moments of naive

VOICE-OVER
origins and filmic reality. optimism and wiser gloom.

ATRL
NS EE
Spoken narrative has often been dismissed by film theorists
as the lazy last resort of writers unable to convey ideas
audiovisually. Yet, for such a despised technique, the voice-
over has proved invaluable across the generic range and
been favoured by some of the world’s best directors.
Despite most early films being and introduce knowing irony. They can
accompanied by live lecturers (known also replicate the tone of literary
as benshi in Japan), the popular attitude sources, as in Tom Jones (1963) and Barry
to voice-over can be summed up by lyndon (1975), and can sometimes
Brian Cox’s speech as screenwriting smooth awkward transitions in mostly been confined to works by
guru Robert McKee in Spike Jonze’s sprawling dramas like Doctor Zhivago women directors like Jane Campion
Adaptation (2002): ‘And God help you if (1965) or patch up pictures that have and Sally Potter.
you use voice-over in your work, my been heavily revised during editing, Few European film-makers have
friends. God help you. That’s flaccid, such as Blade Runner (1982). But, in the emulated Sacha Guitry in preferring
sloppy writing. Partly inspired by hands of masters like Orson Welles, narration to dialogue in The Story of a
Hollywood’s preference for self-effacing Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Cheat (1936), but several have made
craftsmanship and fears that talkies Scorsese and Woody Allen, voice-overs exemplary use of voice-overs, including
would reduce cinema to canned invariably complement the visuals Robert Bresson, Ingmar Bergman,
theatre, the technique was resisted rather than compensate for their Alain Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard,
outside documentaries and newsreels shortcomings. Francois Truffaut and Eric Rohmer.
until the mid-1930s. However, the They were certainly central to the Voice-overs also recurred in Third
dynamism of radio narration prompted success of film noir, as on- and off Cinema as a means of subverting
a volte-face and voice-overs have since screen narration echoed around Hollywood classicism, and they remain
been employed with distinction in melo- Murder, My Sweet (1944) and the Voice of a valid narrative device in both
dramas (The Magnificent Ambersons, 1942), God - as the style borrowed from arthouse and mainstream cinema. =
Westerns (Red River, 1948), musicals newsreel was called - boomed in The
(Singin’ in the Rain, 1952), epics (King of Naked City (1948). Drawing on the
Kings, 1961), war films (Apocalypse Now, acerbic argot of pulp fiction, saps
1979), teenpics (Stand By Me, 1986) and confessed how they’d been duped by
comedies (The Royal Tenenbaums, 2001). femmes fatales in Double Indemnity
Regardless of time or setting, (1944) and The Lady from Shanghai
screen stories can be related from the (1947), while unreliable raconteurs dis-
viewpoint of a first person (Fight Club, sembled in Detour (1945) and Out of the
1999), third person (The Shawshank Past (1947). Noir also gave women a
Redemption, 1994) or omniscient voice in Mildred Pierce (1945) and Raw
narrator (Amélie, 2001). In addition to Deal (1948), as well as in acclaimed
providing basic exposition, such voice- melodramas such as A Letter to Three
overs can also clarify the action, offer Wives (1949) and All About Eve (1950).
character insights, enhance intimacy However, female narrators have since

125
Low-key and hardboiled

IDEA Ne 60 An angel of doom lies in wait for

Alain Delon’s meticulous hitman in

FILM NOIR Jean-Pierre Melville’s neo-noir

masterpiece, Le Samourai (1967).

Critically disdained, morally feared and industrially

mistrusted, film noir subsisted on low budgets and B-movie
status. Essentially an artistic ghetto for Hollywood’s many
European émigré directors in the 1940s and ’50s, it used
innovative shooting and lighting techniques to evoke the
mood of anxiety and ambiguity sweeping postwar America.
Despite being named by the critic Nino chiaroscuro lighting, disorientating
Frank in 1946, film noir only became mise en scene, oblique angles and
an acknowledged critical concept retrospective voice-overs to capture
outside France in the 1960s. Sub- the mood of a nation inundated
sequently, however, debate has raged with frustrated veterans, susceptible
about whether it’s a genre, a move- bourgeois, cynical detectives, ruthless
ment, a style or a cycle. Few can even crooks, corrupt officials, opportunist
agree on what constitutes a ‘noir’. Yet, drifters, fugitive couples and femmes
regardless of canonical imprecision fatales. Moreover, by challenging the
and terminological inexactitudes, film Production Code, noir also demon-
noir and neo-noir have had an incal- strated a determination to tackle topics
culable impact on cinema worldwide. like sex, class, identity, injustice, treach-
Frank coined the phrase in noting ery, prejudice and violence with a new
the changed thematic and stylistic tone political and psychoanalytic maturity.
4
of five Hollywood features receiving a Without ever being a coherent
belated release in Paris: John Huston’s category or achieving notable com-
The Maltese Falcon (1941), Edward mercial success, noir helped change or postmodernist spin to remakes such
Dmytryk’s Murder, My Sweet, Billy the landscape of American cinema. In as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981),
Wilder’s Double Indemnity, Otto addition to introducing contentious original outings like Chinatown (1974),
Preminger’s Laura (all 1944) and themes and iconic urban settings, it and even pastiches such as Dead Men
Wilder’s The Lost Weekend (1945)..Rooted acquainted audiences with new Don’t Wear Plaid (1982). Indeed, noir was
in American hard-boiled fiction, scenarios and characters. Furthermore, becoming an increasingly cross-generic
German Expressionist and _ gothic it blooded newcomers such as Robert phenomenon, inspiring dystopian
horror films, radio dramas, French Mitchum, Gloria Grahame and Richard science fictions such as Blade Runner
Poetic Realism and Italian Neorealism, Widmark, while reinventing — est- (1982) and amorally atmospheric
these pessimistic studies of destructive ablished stars like Humphrey Bogart, Westerns such as Unforgiven (1992), as
urges and uncontrollable consequences Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. well as crime novels, video games and
reflected the changing social attitudes Robinson. Yet noir went out of vogue as beyond. Indeed, with Sin City (2005)
exacerbated by wartime events at home the declining studios sought re giving it a CGI makeover and the term
and abroad. Soon they were also demption with colour and widescreen, being applied with ever more laxity to
conveying Cold War disillusion and although its influence continued to be mainstream, indie and arthouse titles
paranoia, and earning their makers the keenly felt in gritty British crime alike, it seems that film noir is destined
censure of the House UnAmerican thrillers, Akira Kurosawa’s 1950s pulp to continue growing darker and more
Activities Committee (see The Blacklist). adaptations, Mexican cabaretera sagas, diverse and daring. =
Many of noir’s finest exponents French Nouvelle Vague homages,
were European émigrés who recognized Italian giallo thrillers and German Das
the socio-aesthetic merits of location Neue Kino melodramas.
shooting with lighter cameras, Eventually the form resurfaced
portable wire recorders and faster Stateside as ‘aprés noir’ or ‘neo-noir’,
monochrome film stocks, using which imparted a modern, modernist

126
 In Joseph H. Lewis’s The Big Combo
(1955), John Alton’s low-key, high
Crag eK need TAL emRw Cea Oe Te
the enveloping mood of mistrust
and danger.

‘Soon they were also conveying Cold War

disillusion and paranoia.’
 Red panic

Going it alone: Marshal Will Kane

(Gary Cooper) doing what a man’s
gotta do in Fred Zinnemann’s anti-
HUAC Western, High Noon (1952).
IDEA N2 61

THE BLACKLIST

The impact of the House UnAmerican Activities

Committee’s investigation into Communism in Hollywood
can never fully be assessed: after all, it’s impossible to assess
the calibre of scripts never written and performances never
given. Nevertheless, the witch-hunt that took place between
1947 and 1952 represents the studio system’s darkest hour.

Politicians had started delving into give information to the Committee) to But the depth of the divisions within
Hollywood ideology in 1938. However, coerce moguls like Louis B. Mayer, Jack the film community were made
the spate of ‘problem pictures’ and Warner and Walt Disney into issuing manifest by Carl Foreman denouncing
realist docudramas, together with the the Waldorf Statement in December 1947, betrayal in High Noon (1952) and Budd
bleak portrait of postwar society which effectively instigated a notional Schulberg condoning ‘naming names’
presented in film noir, galvanized blacklisting of Left-leaning undesirables. in On the Waterfront (1954); those films
those seeking revenge on the studios Faced with intransigent unions, won four and eight Oscars respectively.
for profiting from the New Deal and falling attendances, rising costs and an Blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo
producing pro-Soviet propaganda for anti-trust verdict on theatre ownership, pseudonymously won the Academy
the Office of War Information. The Hollywood was willing to do whatever Award for The Brave One (1956) as Robert
House UnAmerican Activities Committee it took to keep Washington and Wall Rich, and numerous scripts credited to
(HUAC) scarcely expected to find Street onside. With publications such so-called ‘fronts’ have since been
Marxist messages in movies that as Counterattack and Red Channels attributed to banned writers. Actors
required the approval of both the identifying Communist Party members and directors couldn’t assume such
conservative studio heads and the and fellow travellers, the studios must anonymity, however, and Charlie
Production Code Authority. But, by in- have been relieved when _ initial Chaplin, Paul Robeson, Kim Hunter,
quiring about Communist affiliation, opposition from the stellar Committee Joseph Losey and Jules Dassin were
HUAC was able to use the arraignment for the First Amendment collapsed and among those whose careers were
of the so-called Hollywood Ten (a group the Screen Actors Guild under Ronald affected. Less than 10 per cent of the
of mostly screenwriters who refused to Reagan agreed to swear a loyalty oath. 324 artists cited in the HUAC hearings

128
ee can
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returned to pictures. Indeed, HUAC was to technology to combat television in A protest supporting the Hollywood
Ten — Alvah Bessie, Herbert
largely responsible for the early deaths the absence of the progressive artists Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward
of John Garfield, Canada Lee and Mady who might have responded imagin- Dmytryk, Ring Lardner, Jr., John
Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz,
Christians. It even accounted for the atively to trends such as Neorealism Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott and
demise of a studio, as the scandal and the Nouvelle Vague. Ironically, the Dalton Trumbo.

persuaded Floyd Odlum to sell his blacklist hastened the end of the studio
shares in RKO to Howard Hughes, system by fragmenting the audience
whose regime proved calamitous. and encouraging independent pro-
Thwarted in its bid to avoid the duction. But it also engendered the
Paramount Decrees and with the myth moral torpor and intellectual stag-
of the Dream Factory shattered, nation in which Hollywood wallowed
Hollywood entered an era of timidity until the mid-1960s. m=
and mediocrity, in which fear,
suspicion and guilt ensured a self
censorship more draconian than
anything HUAC could have hoped for.
Doggedly peddling old-fashioned
values and vacuous optimism long
after the coming of rock’n’roll had
undermined them, the studios turned

129
 Feeling the part

IDEA N° 62

METHOD ACTING

Reacting to the seismic socio-cultural shift caused by World

War II, Hollywood welcomed the immersive Method tech-
nique that brought an additional authenticity and realism
to feature films striving to reflect the Cold War world.
Changes in screen-acting styles reflect a James Dean and Paul Newman, as well
variety of factors: technological as by students of such rival Method
advances, commercial trends, generic teachers as Sanford Meisner and Stella
conventions, national traditions, aes- Adler. The studio heads recognized
thetic upheavals. Silent acting had that this new breed of performer
relied on pantomime and _ talkies appealed to younger audiences, who
witnessed a clash between screen vet- were steadily becoming cinema’s core
erans and those trained for the stage. demographic. Chiming in with the
In the Golden Age of Hollywood, new rebellious attitude that accom-
actors tended to opt for either panied rock’n’roll, the Method also
impersonation or personification, with brought an air of danger to movies.
the director doing much to shape the This continued into the 1960s, as the
tone of a performance through script Production Code collapsed and film-
analysis and rehearsal, camera makers were finally able to tackle con-
placement and editing. However, ‘the tentious topics with an unprecedented
Method’ gave its actor-disciples greater degree of realism, with some appro-
control over their work, as they were priating the radical Brechtian tech-
encouraged to draw on_ personal niques employed by such European
experience to discover the psychological auteurs as Jean-Luc Godard and Rainer
truth about their character. Werner Fassbinder.
top: A classic clash of styles: Vivien Method acting was developed at Method acting peaked with Francis
Leigh and Marlon Brando in A the Moscow Art Theatre by Konstantin Ford Coppola’s The Godfather (1972).
Streetcar Named Desire (1951).
Stanislavski, whose system of affective Actors of the calibre of Dustin Hoffman,
ABOVE: Silent mumming par memory and physical expression was Jane Fonda, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino,
excellence: Lillian Gish and Richard adopted by the Left-leaning Group
Barthelmess in D.W. Griffith’s Way Sean Penn and Daniel Day-Lewis have
Down East (1920). Theatre in New York in the 1930s. But it since continued to adhere to its tenets,
wasn’t until the end of the following but its long-term effect on screen
decade that the Method began to acting has actually been rather limited.
impact upon Broadway, when Marlon Many stars flirt with the process by
Brando collaborated on a series of immersing themselves in the lore and
landmark theatre productions with lifestyle of their character or by
director Elia Kazan. The pair was also affecting drastic physical trans-
largely responsible for introducing the formation. But the drift towards more
Method into movies, most notably in A casual speech patterns, as well as the
Streetcar Named Desire (1951) and On the vogue for green-screen acting and rapid
Waterfront (1954), in which Brando editing, have mitigated against the
mumbled his dialogue, toyed with Method and left it looking a little
props and exhibited a raw emotion macho, mannered and self-indulgent,
previously unseen on screen. particularly in the hands of its less
Brando was soon followed by other skilled practitioners. =
graduates of Lee Strasberg’s Actors
Studio, including Montgomery Clift,

130
‘Method oe brought an Pbie of Robert De Niro fought three amateur
boxing bouts to prepare for Raging
Bull (1980), but then piled on 60lbs
d
Pane faa to movie iS , in four months to play the older
Jake La Motta.
Since its small-screen debut in 1966,
no programme has had a more
beneficial reciprocal relationship
with the cinema than Star Trek.

‘Critics have blamed television for the

juvenilization of cinema.’
LPs
Friend or foe?

IDEA N2 63

TELEVISION

No medium has had a bigger impact upon cinema than

television. Its emergence in the late 1940s exacerbated the
economic crisis that threatened Hollywood’s very existence.
But, given more people now watch movies on TV than on
big screens, television has become a major partner in film
production worldwide.

Within two years of American their back catalogues and films barely
attendances hitting a weekly record seen since their original release
100 million and box-office takings suddenly became family favourites. Yet,
topping $1.75 billion, the studios were while viewers became increasingly After two decades of struggling in
forced to impose cutbacks, sack staff movies, ‘Queen of the Bs’ Lucille Ball
cine-literate, they had to accede to became America’s favourite sitcom
and reduce output in the face of rising features being cut to fit schedule slots, star between 1951 and 1974.
costs, foreign protectionism and the punctuated by commercial breaks and
1948 Paramount Decrees. But nothing censored to appease sponsors and
hit harder than television, with pressure groups. Audiences also
rapid focal shifts between subjects,
cinemas closing across the country as tolerated the cropping of widescreen
flat lighting and fast cutting. Yet
the number of tuned-in households images to focus on the key action,
European directors of the calibre of
rose from one to 50 million between although attempts in the 1980s to
Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini,
1949 and 1959. colourize black-and-white classics met
Roberto Rossellini and Rainer Werner
Frustrated by the Federal Com- with greater resistance.
Fassbinder embraced television, and
munications Commission in its bid to Several ageing stars embarked
broadcasters like the BBC and Channel
launch subscription channels and upon new small-screen careers, with
Four in Britain and France’s Canal Plus
theatrical broadcasting, Hollywood Groucho Marx and Loretta Young
led the way in co-producing features.
retaliated by refusing to sell movies to passing Charlton Heston and James
Corporate synergy has_ recently
the networks and forbidding stars from Dean heading in the opposite direction.
strengthened the ties between
appearing on their shows. It also A new generation of writers and
Hollywood and America’s 1,750 TV
invested heavily in new technologies directors also emerged, with Delbert
stations, with sell-through deals
like widescreen, colour, stereo and 3-D Mann’s cinema adaptation of Paddy
underpinning many budgets. But
to lure people back to cinemas. But this Chayefsky’s Marty (1955) becoming the
cinema’s long-claimed cultural super-
concentration on A pictures led to the first telesourced winner of the
iority over television is in jeopardy,
abandoning of newsreels, cartoons and Academy Award for Best Picture.
with programmes such as The West Wing
serials, which all found new homes on Subsequently, shows like Dragnet, Star
and The Wire often receiving better
television, as did the Western. Trek and The Simpsons transferred to
reviews than mainstream movies. =
Moreover, NBC, CBS and ABC began cinemas, while hit TV movies such as
making their own TV movies, while the Steven Spielberg’s Duel (1971) and John
takeover of the RKO studio by Lucille Dahl’s The Last Seduction (1994) secured
Ball’s Desilu company in 1957 theatrical releases.
confirmed the shift in Hollywood’s Many critics have blamed tele-
balance of power. vision for the juvenilization of
By the end of the 1950s, 80 per cent cinema and the post-classical decline
of prime-time programming was being in plotting, characterization and
produced in Hollywood. Furthermore, narrative-spectacle balance, not to
the studios had relented on leasing mention the increased use of close-ups,

133
 Taking images to new dimensions

IDEA No 64

THE ACADEMY RATIO

a aA SE SESE TILECE
Film-makers have never been able to settle on an optimum
size and shape for their images, despite the difficulties such
variety has caused the screening houses. When the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences imposed its ratio in
1932, uniformity was achieved — albeit only briefly...
In the 1890s, after abandoning Paramount and Warners responded
experiments with square and round with 56mm and 65mm _ formats
variations, Edison engineer William respectively - the Academy of Motion
Kennedy Laurie Dickson (perhaps Picture Arts and Sciences decided that
influenced by the Golden Section in an industry dependent upon
Greek art) dictated that a moving mass production, distribution and
picture frame’s width-to-height ratio exhibition needed uniformity. So, in
should be 1.33:1 or 4:3. His 35mm 1932, it imposed the Academy ratio of
parameters were seized upon by the 1.37:1, even though the standard frame
monopolistic Thomas Edison and area was reduced by 31 per cent to
Kodak boss George Eastman and readily accommodate the sound track on the
accepted by the Lumiére brothers in film strip.
France for both aesthetic and economic Hollywood’s entire 35mm output
reasons, as the rectangular shape was over the next two decades was shot
better suited to the sideways direction using the Academy aperture. Indeed,
of the action, while the layout wasted such was its ubiquity that television
less space between the frames. appropriated the configuration. But, in
The majority of silent films were order to recover the audiences lost to
shot in the 1.33:1 ratio. However, Soviet domestic viewing, the studios soon as directors developed the hugely
maestro Sergei Eisenstein proposed a turned to widescreen formats like influential mise en scéne technique in
square frame, in which compositions Cinerama, CinemaScope, VistaVision response to it.
could be made along horizontal, and Todd-AO, which rendered the Yet, despite the emergence of
vertical and diagonal lines, while Academy style obsolete. Indeed, it is similar processes worldwide, the Scope
French director Abel Gance employed now primarily the preserve of revolution proved short-lived after the
the three-projector Polyvision system iconoclasts like Jean-Luc Godard and introduction of Panavision in the early
to present spectacular triptych Gus Van Sant. 1960s. The widescreen ratio has since
sequences in his 1927 masterpiece, Debuting with Henry Koster’s The been standardized to 1.85:1 in the
Napoleon. Robe (1953), CinemaScope used an United States and 1.66:1 in Europe. But
In Hollywood, Paramount’s anamorphic lens to squeeze a 2.55:1 while systems such as IMAX continue
widescreen technique, Magnascope, image horizontally into a 35mm frame, to strive for evermore immersive
was used for action interludes in King while a compensating lens corrected imagery, the digital video boom has
Vidor’s The Big Parade (1925) and the distortions during projection. As encouraged downsizing as more people
William Wellman’s Wings (1927). But, with the early days of sound, there watch films on portable DVD players,
with audiences enthralled by the were teething problems. The laptops and phones. =
novelty of talkies, there was no great diminished focal lengths prevented
demand for its king-sized images. staging in depth, while difficulties
Consequently, heeding the call of the with close-ups, tracking shots, lateral
Society of Motion Picture Engineers for movements and montages often led to
a proliferation ban after Fox introduced static compositions. Yet CinemaScope
the 70mm Grandeur process - and changed the narrative form of cinema,

134
 The Polyvision process in all its
triptych glory during a live
orchestra screening of Abel Gance’s
Napoleon (1927).

‘The studios soon turned to

widescreen formats.’
BELOW LEFT: A scene from Henry BELOW: The 20 x 26 metres screen at
Koster’s The Robe (1953) shown in London’s BFI IMAX colludes with
the 1.33:1 Academy Ratio and the digital surround-sound to immerse
widescreen CinemaScope viewers and place them in the middle
of the action.
‘Colour offered film-makers much more
than naturalism and spectacle. ’

~
' : Asove: Cinematographer Christopher
Doyle demonstrates the emotional
rhetoric of colour in Wong Kar-wai’s
" | exquisite 1960s Hong Kong romance,
In the Mood for Love (2000).

| Ler: Production designer Bernard

Evein and cinematographer Jean
Rabier made enchanting use of
A
colour in Jacques Demy’s The
i
Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964).
,

#
: §
ed

ME el
! .
A bolder, brighter world

IDEA N2 65 Dorothy (Judy Garland) and

COLOUR
Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) follow the
Yellow Brick Road in Victor Fleming’s
The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Experiments with colour techniques started the moment

images began to move. But it was only in the 1950s that the
Hollywood studios decisively adopted colour in their bid to
lure audiences away from the novelty of television.
The first film-makers were fully aware Technicolor, whose dye transfer process the mise en scéne or invest them with
of the aesthetic and economic benefits enabled them to produce prints of symbolic meaning, like James Dean’s
of colour, which added realism to their exceptional sharpness and richness red jacket in Nicholas Ray’s Rebel without
imagery in the absence of sound. from monochrome matrices. The two- a Cause (1955). Colour brought new
However, despite the failure to find a colour additive process used on the vibrancy to genre films, most notably
viable colour stock, moving pictures Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler The the musicals of Vincente Minnelli and
were far from limited to monochrome Black Pirate (1926) offered a pleasing if Jacques Demy. But it also permitted
for their first four decades. The 1895 limited palette of colours. But its much- greater artistic and psychological
Kinetoscope record of Annabelle improved three-colour panchromatic sophistication in the likes of
Moore’s Serpentine Dance set the trend successor contributed hugely to the Michelangelo Antonioni’s Red Desert
for hand-tinting. However, the pain- popularity of Disney animations and (1964), Ingmar Bergman’s Cries and
staking and expensive colouring of live-action favourites like The Wizard of Whispers (1972) and Wong Kar-wai’s In
longer items like George Méliés’s A Trip Oz and Gone with the Wind (both 1939), as the Mood for Love (2000).
to the Moon (1902) prompted the Technicolor didn’t just reproduce Colour is such a key component of
introduction of stencil systems such as natural hues, it made them bolder and the modern feature film that attempts
Pathécolor and the Handschiegl Color more intense and, thus, reinforced the were made in the 1980s to colourize
Process, which was used to heighten Neverland magic of the movie world. black-and-white classics to enhance
the drama in pictures like Erich von Yet Technicolor’s expense and their commercial appeal. Moreover,
Stroheim’s Greed (1924). restrictive usage policies meant that the evolution of computer-generated
Toning was a cheaper alternative, most Hollywood studios in the 1950s imagery has seen colour become ever
as it bathed scenes in a single evocative were glad to rely on the Eastmancolor more crucial to the creation of fantasy
shade. It’s estimated that over 80 per monopack - which formed colours in landscapes and exotic creatures. But it
cent of features contained coloured the emulsion and could be used in any could be argued that too many directors
elements by the 1920s, including the camera — in their battle with television. adopt a decorative attitude to colour so
glowering masterpieces of German Only one film in ten was shot in colour that its full cinematographic potential
Expressionism. But, despite experi- in 1947. But that figure had risen to one has yet to be realized. =
ments with additive processes such as in two by 1954 and 96 per cent of all
Kinemacolor (1908), subtractive alter- American features were colour by 1979.
natives like Prizma (1917) and even Colour offered film-makers much
mosaic systems such as Dufaycolor more than naturalism and spectacle.
(1932), the problems of colour Reds, oranges and yellows suggested
registration and density loss on warmth and energy, while blues and
projection meant that full-colour films greens were cooler and more relaxed.
remained a novelty. These contrasts could be exploited to
The solutions were finally provided enhance an image’s apparent depth.
by Herbert Kalmus and his partners at They could also highlight items within

137
 The depthie vogue
Hungarian-born director André De
Toth only had one eye and, therefore,
couldn’t appreciate the 3-D effects he
created for House of Wax (1953).

Kate (both 1953) and Alfred Hitchcock’s

The kiss Dial M for Murder (1954) succeeded better
is on your
yok e than most in integrating the effects into
the narrative, while B movies such as It
Th
uae Came from Outer Space (1953), made
eel
sping) grandstanding use of meteors, flaming
arrows and subterranean monsters.
The depthie vogue proved short-
lived, however. Critics dismissed its
gimmickry, while viewers grew frust-
rated with the red-green polarized
glasses they had to wear and problems
with reduced brightness and
VINCENT PRICE - FRANK LOVEJOY: PHYLLIS KIRK casoun sones-prur Pees crane wigs = anor — amcor sicrn YP
synchronization. Moreover, 3-D features
were expensive to produce and
distribute and many had to be reissued
in flat versions to recoup their costs.
French, Dutch, German, Italian,
IDEA N2 66 Hungarian, Soviet, Japanese and

3-D Mexican initiatives similarly misfired.

Consequently, 3-D was confined to sci-fi
(The Bubble, 1966), sexploitation (The
Stewardess, 1969) and shlock (Flesh for
No screen technology has been hailed as the future of cinema Frankenstein, 1973), until Friday the 13th
Part III (1982) and Jaws 3-D (1983) formed
quite as frequently as 3-D. But 3-D’s moment may finally part of a fresh blockbusting mini-boom.
have come in the first decades of the twenty-first century. Digital systems like IMAX 3D, RealD
and Sony’s 4K transformed stereoscopy
J.C. d’Almeida first projected three- (1937) and the Soviet feature Robinson
from the mid-2000s, however, as the
dimensional images from twin magic Crusoe (1947), which used Semyon Ivanoy’s studios invested in spectacles designed
lanterns in 1856. But, despite William unique parallax stereogram system. to beat both piracy and the recession.
Friese-Greene and W.K.L. Dickson’s Avant-gardists such as Oskar Indeed, many features underwent 3-D
efforts in the 1890s, Louis Lumiére’s conversion to increase their appeal. But
Fischinger (Stereo Film, 1952) and Harry
LArrivée d’un train en Gare de La Ciotat even though respected film-makers
Smith (Film #6, 1950-51) were the first
became the first 3-D film in 1903, such as Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog
to be inspired by the state-of-the-art
although it remains unclear whether and Ridley Scott entered the field, critics
Telekinema cinema at the Festival of
Lumiere achieved this effect using a Britain in 1951, which was capable were rarely as impressed as audiences. =
single anaglyphic duo-colour strip or of screening 3-D films. Hollywood
two projectors synched through colour independent Arch Oboler was suf-
filters. ficiently impressed by it to release the
Various American processes were jungle adventure Bwana Devil in the
trialled over the next few years. In Natural Vision process in November
1922, Harry K. Fairall completed the 1952. Its box-office —_popularity
first 3-D feature, The Power of Love, while persuaded the studios to produce 60
Pathé had some _ success with 3-D features in 1953.
Stereoscopik shorts such as Zowie Most were generic items that used
(1925). But sound and colour took stereoscopy less to immerse viewers in
precedent in Hollywood during this the action than to bombard them with
period and progress with three- objects seemingly emanating from the
dimensionality was limited to German screen. But André De Toth’s House of
outings like You Can Almost Touch It Wax, MGM’s Cole Porter musical Kiss Me

138
Bove: Placing viewers at the heart of
the action, the new generation of 3-D
processes has brought the possibility
of interactive cinema closer than ever.

BELow: Having waited 15 years for

technology to catch up with his vision
of Avatar (2009), James Cameron
devised the single-camera Fusion
system to shoot live 3-D action.
 The (financial) attractions
of cosmopolitanism

IDEA N2 67 Ang Lee’s Oscar winner Crouching

Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) was
CO-PRODUCTION co-produced by companies from
Taiwan, Hong Kong, China and the

SE
SE ENE Pe ET
United States.

Although the term can be applied to any form of financial, alongside the sword’n’sandal action-
ers, Spaghetti Westerns, war re-
creative or technical partnership, co-production is
enactments, spy romps, comic capers
primarily reserved for pictures sponsored by two or and erotic horrors, arthouse cinema
also became dependent upon foreign
more countries. In many cases, the alliance is forged
coin, with Fellini, Antonioni, Visconti,
in a bid to challenge American box-office supremacy, Bergman, Truffaut, Chabrol and
Godard all directing a number of co-
although Hollywood has itself been actively involved
productions, with the latter even
in co-production. lampooning the whole sordid business
in Contempt (or Le Mépris) (1963).
The history of film has largely been advantage of local subsidies, exotic However, co-production didn’t just
written around national traditions. Yet locations and cheap, non-unionized sustain existing industries. It also
co-productions have played an _ in- labour. Moreover, these runaways bolstered nascent traditions in Africa,
creasingly significant role since the opened up Continental markets Asia and Latin America, both in the
Austrian company Wiener Autorenfilm previously blocked by protective quotas making of politically charged Third
approached the French giant Pathé for and prompted the importation of new Cinema studies of the colonial
help with The Mystery of the Air in 1913. stars like Sophia Loren. experience and generic fare such as
Hollywood has actively encouraged co- Yet, as fears were being raised back martial-arts movies. Since the 1980s,
production since the Parufamet home about Hollywood’s continued television companies like Canal Plus,
Agreement of 1925 was contracted status as the world’s movie capital, RAI, Channel Four and HBO have
between Paramount and MGM to bale protests were being lodged in Europe proved a crucial source of co-production
out UFA after the failure of Carl about American cultural imperialism. revenue. But while co-productions have
Laemmle’s Film Europe initiative. Therefore, emboldened by the form- accounted for half the major festival
Indeed, the early sound era saw several ation of the Common Market, states prizewinners over the last two
Hollywood studios open Continental began signing co-production treaties, decades, they are still regarded with
facilities to make multi-lingual versions with the consequence that shared suspicion by commentators who fear
of prestige titles, with local stars being credits rose from 10 to 40 per cent that the eradication of national
cast to enhance commercial prospects. between 1955 and 1965, by which time identity from cinema will irrevocably
However, it wasn’t until the 1948 two-thirds of French films were to some reduce its aesthetic, cultural and
Paramount Decrees exacerbated the extent co-produced. commercial value. =
crisis brought on by declining The bulk of these features were
audiences and spiralling costs that dismissed as Europuddings. Designed
Hollywood really embraced co- to appeal to everybody, they were so
production, most notably with Italy. In cosmopolitan that they pleased no one,
addition to freeing up otherwise frozen with too many scenes being shot
assets, pictures filmed overseas like in touristy locations to fulfil contract-
Mervyn LeRoy’s Quo Vadis (1951) and ual obligations, while stars from
William Wyler’s Roman Holiday (1953) participating countries took asinine
also allowed the studios to take cameos to entice local fans. Yet

140
Director William Wyler refused to
make Roman Holiday (1953) on the
Paramount lot and it became the
first American film shot entirely
in Italy.

e
cabs
ee

Ceo
aauI
ee
r

|z
=
a
4
é
The chariot race in Ben-Hur (1959)
was filmed on a replica of the Circus
TOTO ITLLaCeree re SAC)
LG Tce tremeed TUTaT ear aT
biggest outdoor set of that time.
History writ large — very large

IDEA N2 68

EPICS

Drawing on established literary traditions, while also

offering unprecedented (audio)visual scope and scale,
screen epics have been popular with audiences since the
1910s because - to paraphrase President Woodrow Wilson -
they write history with lightning.
Produced in Italy, the earliest epics such as Sergei Eisenstein’s Ivan the
inspired rival film-makers and enticed Terrible (1944), which was among the
the middle classes into becoming first epics to examine its protagonist’s
picture-goers. Furthermore, super- darker side.
spectacles like Mario Caserini’s The Last Conflicting views of patriotism
Days of Pompeii (1913) ushered in the have informed national epics as diverse
feature film and forged the genre’s as Mehboob Khan’s Mother India (1957),
enduring link with the ancient and Sergei Bondarchuk’s War and Peace
biblical worlds. However, epics such as (1967) and Edgar Reitz’s Heimat (1984-
Raoul Walsh’s The Thief of Bagdad, Erich 2006), while Roberto Rossellini devised
von Stroheim’s Greed (both 1924) and a meta-historical form of Neorealism
Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings (1927) for anti-epic teleplays such as The Age of
were soon exploring a range of the Medici (1973). But, apart from the
historical, fantastical and contempo- odd indigenous outing like How the West
rary topics. Opening in a blaze of Was Won (1962), Hollywood tended to
publicity and boasting specially com- borrow the heritage of others to
missioned scores, these weren’t just showcase new techniques such as
event movies. They also helped refine colour, widescreen and stereo sound in
storytelling techniques, engendered a the runaways, remakes and co-pro-
new insistence on period accuracy and ductions that revived the epic for Cold
reinforced popular preconceptions of War audiences seeking religious solace
religion, nationhood, dynasty and and superpower reassurance.
empire. However, replicating the success of
Such ‘destiny epics’ also helped DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956)
redefine the image of the male star and and William Wyler’s Ben-Hur (1959)
enabled Hollywood to dominate the proved difficult after the failure of
global market, as few other national Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra (1963).
industries could match its lavish décor Indeed, some four decades would pass top: Poster for Mother India (1957),
Mehboob Khan's Hindi epic about
and costumes, casts of thousands or before Ridley Scott’s CGl-enhanced rural progress that earned India its
grandstanding set-pieces. However, the Gladiator (2000) restored antiquity’s first Oscar nomination.

studios themselves allowed the epic to box-office credibility. = asove: Nikolai Cherkasov in Sergei
slip into abeyance during the two Eisenstein’s Ivan the Terrible
(1944), an epic allegory on heroic
decades that followed the advent leadership designed to inspire
of sound, as they concentrated wartime audiences.
on prestigious literary adaptations,
biopics and swashbuckling adventures.
Yet, while they were notable for their
increased intimacy and _ allegorical
subtexts, these films still mythologized
their subjects, as did European titles

143
 | Beyond the Production Code
a ar

Ae

IEENAGE
WEREWOLF
IDEA N2 69

EXPLOITATION
Fiz : om ee = " i

wiowae. LANDON + onne LIME

>worBISSELL « row MARSHALL
Produced by HERMAN COHEN - oirected ty GENE FOWLER Jr. + Screenplay by RALPH THORNTON
A JAMES NICHOLSON-SAMUEL ARKOFF Production - AN AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURE

Bove: Costing AIP just $82,000 to BELOW: After four rejections, the
make, I Was a Teenage Werewolf British censor finally awarded a Originally denoting special-interest titles requiring
(1957) grossed over $2 million and certificate to Roger Corman’s 1967
launched the vogue for camp horror. LSD saga, The Trip, in 2004. additional promotion, exploitation came to define low-
budget studies of risqué subjects made outside the
mainstream. Though the term is now applied to
sensationalist B-Z grade movies aimed at the fandom
market, exploitation helped reinvent Hollywood and
establish cult genres worldwide.
Despite the popularity of American were often screened with an
features like Traffic in Souls (1913) and accompanying lecture or book pitch.
Damaged Goods (1914), and German Despite their inept scripts, indifferent
Aufklarungsfilme or enlightenment films photography and inert performances,
such as Hyenas of Lust (1919), early they attracted sizeable grindhouse
exploitation was strictly censored. Its attendances because of their ‘edu-
typical subject matter of nudity, white cational’ content.
slavery, sex hygiene and drug abuse Flicks like Edgar G. Ulmer’s prison
was high on the lists of taboo topics drama Girls in Chains (1943) and Kroger
drafted in Hollywood between 1921 Babb’s. pregnant-schoolgirl shocker
and 1934. As a result, entrepreneurs Mom and Dad (1945) - which reputedly
with a carnival background stepped grossed $100 million - were billed as
into the breach. being for ‘adults only’. But the
The most successful of these so- exploitation that plugged the gaps
called ‘Forty Thieves’ were Samuel caused by the 1948 Paramount Decrees
sy(Hy ai ati Cummins, Dwain Esper, J.D. Kendis, and television was aimed squarely at
Willis Kent and Louis Sonney, who the new juvenile audience.
profited into the 1950s from pictures Recognizing the yen for novelty,
R FONDA that broached anthropology, natur- William Castle became ‘the king of the
susan STRASBERG ism, sexually transmitted diseases, gimmicks’ with theatrical stunts such
narcotics, delinquency and vice, and
__ofvwes HOPPER sce DERN satuSACHSE scx fghoxson-eace CORMAN as Percepto vibrating seats and Emergo

144
 glow-in-the-dark skeletons floating over With the Ozploitation of maverick Such was the fandom buzz
surrounding Snakes on a Plane
the audience. But it was James H. Australian producers like Antony I. (2006) that New Line shot extra
Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoffs Ginnane mirroring the attitude of footage to incorporate online
suggestions.
American International Pictures that blaxploitation and with the erotic Euro
best caught the mood of the horror of Jesus Franco and Jean Rollin
counterculture in the decade between finding an echo in the Latsploitation of
Herman Cohen’s I Was a Teenage Werewolf Latin Americans José Mojica Marins
(1957) and Roger Corman’s The Trip and Alejandro Jodorowsky, exploitation
(1967). Pandering to the drive-in and erupted everywhere. Nuns, Nazis,
midnite matinee crowds, AIP initiated bikers, samurai, martial artists, serial
the tactics of target marketing and killers and vigilantes became the anti-
saturation opening that the studios heroes of the video age. Latterly,
would eventually adopt for their shocksploitation has defied political
blockbusters. Moreover, Corman gave correctness to become increasingly
directors of the calibre of Francis Ford graphic. Yet it’s still seized upon by
Coppola, Martin Scorsese and John movie geeks united by fanzines,
Sayles their first breaks, as well as conventions and websites, and whose
blooding new stars like Jack Nicholson. champion, Quentin Tarantino, finally
Exploitation also transformed the gave exploitation the critical and
genre scene, as sci-fi, horror and macho commercial success it had always
action came to prominence and helped craved with hits like Reservoir Dogs
undermine the Production Code, along (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). =
with the softcore sexploitation
produced in imitation of Roger Vadim’s
And God Created Woman (1956) and the
gore homages to Alfred Hitchcock’s
Psycho (1960) devised by David F.
Friedman and Herschell Gordon Lewis.

0
eee 0 0 0 OO
Coming soon...
Trailer for Julien Duvivier’s Pépé le Moko (1937).

4 | gL
CLG 7

IDEA N2 70

TRAILERS

Ballyhoo has long been central to screen success. The talent agents and publicists started
dictating how their clients were
techniques may have become more sophisticated since
presented in the media. Moreover,
cinema’s fairground days, but publicity — particularly in with the passing of block booking,
individual pictures had to stand on
the form of short trailers advertising forthcoming
their own merits and trailers became
attractions — still plays on the public’s obsessions with more crucial than ever to generating
pre-release buzz.
novelty, celebrity and familiarity.
In 1960, Columbia quit NSS to
handle its own trailers. But specialist
Film-makers were slow to exploit the Trailers were also strictly regulated.
appeal of moving pictures. Apart from companies such as Kaleidoscope came
Despite the myth, these sneak previews
entries in distribution catalogues, the to dominate the field, as trailers for Dr
of forthcoming attractions were not
only promotion most releases received Strangelove (1963) and The Night of the
introduced to drive dream palace
was concocted by nickelodeon owners, Iguana (1964) pioneered aslicker style
patrons out ofcontinuous programmes.
who used illuminated marquees, that placed a greater emphasis on
In fact, Georges Méliés ran the first
homemade posters, store displays, mood than hyperbole (although many
promotional reel outside the Théatre
streetcar banners, stentorian barkers still relied on the trusted highlights-
Robert-Houdin in Paris in 1898 and
and blaring music to lure patrons into and-voice-over format). Now under the
trailers caught on in the United States
premises decorated to suit the latest jurisdiction of the Motion Picture
after Famous Players trailed clips from
release. However, the emergence of The Quest of Life in 1916. Three years Association of America, trailers found a
movie stars around 1910 prompted later, Paramount established Holly- new outlet on television during the
Mutual and Universal to establish their wood’s first dedicated trailer unit, only blockbuster era, with makers adopting
own publicity departments to devise for the majority of the other studios to the montage methods of the music
lobby stunts and produce advertise entrust production to the New York video to appeal to cinema’s increasingly
ments and pressbooks for America’s based National Screen Service (NSS) the youthful demographic. Indeed, this
voracious newspapers and fanzines. following year. adaptability has enabled the trailer to
But while the studio-owned theatre remain effective into the digital age of
The NSS style was somewhat
chains targeted family audiences, DVDs, websites, downloads and apps. =
pedestrian and usually comprised a
independent venues opted for more ‘Voice of God’ narrator good-naturedly
sensationalist promotional methods. linking visual snippets, graphic
Some even resorted to illegal cash taglines and glamour shots of the stars.
games like Screeno and Bank Night to Directors like Cecil B. DeMille and
boost attendances during the Alfred Hitchcock were occasionally
Depression. The Advertising Code was allowed to create their own trailers. But
instituted in 1930 to standardize NSS packages satisfied producers and
practices following complaints from punters alike until the studio system
religious leaders. began to unravel in the 1950s, when

146
‘Trailers became more crucial than ever
to generating pre-release buzz.’
Asove: Alfred Hitchcock fronted an
amusing five-minute lecture with a
shock ending to trail The Birds
pcos)

THRONE OCI Ca nC A CLAAR MaKe meee

and effective way of promoting movie
stars, with hundreds ofsets being
issued around the world in the 1920s
Tie melt
Ingmar Bergman exploited the
fragility ofcelluloid for metaphorical
purposes, as a frame freezes, burns
and melts in Persona (1966).
Preserving the most perishable art

IDEA N2 71

SAFETY FILM

Only half of the 21,000 features produced in the United ABOVE: In Decasia (2002), Bill
Morrison used nitrate film to explore
BELow: Mélanie Laurent uses
flammable film stock to blow up her
material decay, the transience of life
States before 1951 survive. These were shot on dangerously and the impermanence of memory.
cinema and kill Hitler and his
cohorts in Quentin Tarantino's
Inglourious Basterds (2009).
flammable and highly unstable cellulose nitrate. Eastman
Kodak introduced a flame-resistant cellulose acetate
alternative in 1909, but it was four decades before the
industry finally made the transition to safety film.
Moving pictures only became feasible the sprocket holes making projection
after the invention of a flexible strip impossible. However, such decay caused
that could pass intermittently through the emission of nitrogen dioxide, which
the camera mechanism at a speed of reacted with the water in the gelatin to
16-20 frames per second. John Carbutt, form nitrous and nitric acids, which
Hannibal Goodwin and _ Henry corroded the emulsion salts and destroyed
Reichenbach all contributed to the the images. The increased stickiness of
evolution of celluloid, but it was the browning reels made them difficult
a
George Eastman’s Kodak company that to unfurl, while the formation of a . oF
eg : 5 : £3
profited from its launch in 1889. brittle crust presaged their eventual
PF e hisA te f f hae
The first orthochromatic films degeneration into white powder. ‘
produced luminous images. But the Archive fires further depleted
base supporting the emulsion cinema’s legacy over the next half
containing the light-sensitive silver century. But while cellulose triacetate,
salts was prone to ignition at cellulose propionate and cellulose
temperatures as low as 40°C and butyrate reduced the risk of making,
released toxic fumes as it burned storing and screening films, they also
fiercely. Yet even though 180 people brought problems of their own. With
died at a charity bazaar in Paris in 1897 the exception of Technicolor, colours
and 77 children perished in Montreal’s faded with alarming rapidity, while
Laurier Palace Cinema in 1927, film- vinegar, rancid butter and pisces funding was available to save the
makers continued to prefer to use syndromes - named after their surviving nitrate and acetate movies,
nitrate as it was more pliable, easier to respective odours - betrayed their the digital copies would still be several
splice, less likely to shrink or curl, and physical deterioration. generations distant from the original
more durable than acetate. Moreover, Polyester was introduced in the negatives and only a fraction would
the new panchromatic stocks were 1990s, but while its strength rendered ever be seen, as such is the emphasis on
capable of achieving rich, high-contrast it ideal for projection, the likelihood of the canonical classics of world cinema
monochrome imagery. it damaging the camera made it less that even scholars rarely venture in
In 1948, however, Eastman Kodak suitable for shooting. Even digital search of the forgotten gems that could
converted to Improved Safety Base preservation has its shortcomings, as perhaps rewrite screen history. =
Motion Picture Film and, within four not only is it expensive, but the various
years, production worldwide had bits and bytes are also vulnerable to
switched to the new format. But it ‘digital decay’, while hardware and
soon became apparent that studio software alike are liable to rapid
vaults everywhere were stacked with obsolescence. It’s estimated that around
decomposing pictures. Initially, the 80 per cent of the films made between
nitrate stock started shrinking, with 1890 and 1930 have already been
the diminution of the distance between permanently lost. Yet even if sufficient

149
Creating a living tradition

IDEA N2 72

THE CINEMATHEQUE FRANCAISE

ea ee i ae ea, ee eS ee ae
Directors Claude Chabrol and
While not the oldest film archive or repertory cinema in Jean-Luc Godard demanding Henri
Langlois’s reinstatement after
the world, the Cinémathéque Frangaise in Paris has long Culture Minister André Malraux
dismissed him from the
enjoyed the highest profile. Without the efforts of its Cinématheque in February 1968.

Falstaffian co-founder, Henri Langlois, and other like-

minded cinephiles, we would know a lot less about the
early days of cinema.
Louis Lumiére is reported to have said, spurned the latest releases to revive meant that over 80 per cent of all
‘The cinema is an invention without a forgotten gems and _ reacquaint motion pictures produced between
future. It was a widely held view, audiences with neglected stars and 1895 and 1930 have perished, while
moreover. Thus, though paper prints of directors. By showing fragile nitrate only half of those photographed on
motion pictures were sent to the prints and hoarding them in less than nitrate stock before 1951 have survived.
Library of Congress to _ establish ideal conditions, he enraged fellow The Nitrate Won’t Wait campaign saw
copyright, the vast majority of early archivists. Yet the classic screenings in much footage transferred to safety film
films were destroyed, as they were the 50-seat auditorium at Avenue de in the 1980s, but those engaged in
deemed to have no _ long-term Messines tutored some of the leading digitizing archives are now being faced
commercial or cultural value. However, names in French cinema, from Jean with fading colours on acetate prints
critic Ricciotto Canudo not only argued Renoir and Robert Bresson to the that are also prone to vinegar
that moving images had artistic merit, cineastes of the Nouvelle Vague. syndrome. It’s sad that works by
he also founded CASA (the Club for Moreover, by opening his vaults to Lubitsch, Murnau, Hitchcock and Von
Friends of the Seventh Art) in Paris in venues worldwide, Langlois helped Sternberg are lost forever. But with-
1920 and entered into acrimonious popularize arthouse cinema and out the 40,000-strong Cinémathéque
theoretical debates with Louis Delluc, facilitated the emergence of film as an collection, the toll might have been
whose _ ciné-club supplemented its academic discipline. considerably worse. =
screenings with lectures and publications. Despite his brilliance as a
It was this spirit of cinephilia that programmer, Langlois was criticized
persuaded Langlois, Georges Franju, for retarding the Cinémathéque’s
Paul-Auguste Harlé and Jean Mitry to involvement in fighting nitrate
establish the Cinémathéque Francaise decomposition by diverting scarce
in September 1936 and, two years later, resources into his Musée du Cinéma at
form the Fédération Internationale des the Palais de Chaillot in Paris. The
Archives du Film, with similar bodies latter’s exhibitions were emulated
being set up in New York, London and around the world, although its array of
Berlin. Initially, Langlois sought works antique apparatus, sets, costumes,
by screen pioneers, but the philistine props, scripts, posters and documents
cull of silents following the advent of remained quite unique. Moreover,
sound convinced him to salvage works since relocating to Bercy Park in
pellmell and his collection grew 2005, the facility provides a valuable
during the war as he rescued outlawed educational service to visitors and
prints from the occupying Nazis. scholars alike.
Nevertheless, preservation always A combination of industry
mattered less to Langlois than pre- indifference and a refusal to bear the
sentation. At a time when films were prohibitive cost of storing items with
available only on the big screen, he limited commercial potential has

150
6
Langlois spurned the latest releases to
-
Afroperipatetiche
ra perip ic eX. ce, t

permanent home at 51 rue de Bercy,

:as ‘i merican architect
i evive fo re @) ai Bl pass ae] Sy5 ‘
 Festival fever

Poster from the 1953 festival showing

IDEA N2 73 the original Palais des Festivals, which

CANNES
was inaugurated on La Croisette in
1949 and demolished in 1988.

It may not be the oldest film festival but Cannes is easily

the most important. This annual event on France’s Riviera
has changed cinema by dint of the number of landmark
pictures that have debuted there and the countless career-
making deals that have been struck at Le Marché.

Festivals have their roots in the ciné The festival has grown considerably
clubs and film societies that were over the years, with the addition of
formed outside America in the 1920s in sidebars like the Critics’ Week and Un
response to Hollywood’s growing Certain Regard. Such diversification
dominance of the world market. In has enabled Cannes to celebrate film
Europe, the emphasis was on foreign- history through its retrospectives and
language classics, documentaries and encourage newcomers from move-
experimental works. In developing ments like the Nouvelle Vague, as well
countries, on the other hand, such as the previously neglected Asian and
institutions were often the sole outlet African traditions. Indeed, Cannes has
for indigenous features. As many helped globalize cinema by promoting
cineastes were also aspiring directors, arthouse pictures and allowing them
they began to meet at international to find their audience.
conferences for screenings and Even American independent
discussions. In this way, the latest features such as Marty (1955), Easy Rider
technological, theoretical and stylistic (1969) and Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
innovations began to be disseminated. have benefited from the Cannes effect.
The Italian dictator Benito However, Hollywood has often been
Mussolini launched the Venice Film accused of attempting to hijack the
Festival in 1932 to propagate the festival by premiering blockbusters out
achievements of the Fascist film of competition and importing stars for documentaries, animation, shorts,
industry. Cannes was founded shortly photo opportunities. But juries have genre movies and the avant-garde. Yet,
afterwards in reaction to Jean Renoir’s tended to award prizes to less despite its size and_ significance,
pacifist masterpiece La Grande Illusion commercial items, even if choices like it remains committed to getting
(1937) being overlooked bya politically Maurice Pialat’s Under Satan’s Sun (1987) so-called smaller pictures seen, sold
motivated jury. The inaugural French and Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 and appreciated. =
event was abandoned after Germany (2004) have sparked controversy.
invaded Poland in September 1939 and Away from the media spotlight,
the postwar revival suffered a couple of Cannes is a marketplace as well as a
false starts. But Cannes was established showcase, with some 10,000 buyers,
by 1951, and starlet Simone Silva’s sellers and hopefuls annually
peekaboo flirtation with Robert descending upon the Riviera. Only the
Mitchum three years later imbued it Sundance Film Festival in America gets
with a scandalous glamour that has close to this amount of business
made it a paparazzo’s paradise ever activity. But, like Venice and Berlin, it
since. However, it was the introduction can’t match Cannes’s prestige or its
of the Palme d’Or (or Golden Palm) centrality in influencing the inter-
award for best film in 1955 that gave national screen agenda. Cannes’s
Cannes its unrivalled kudos among success has inspired a network of big
film-makers and critics. city festivals and niche events for

152
‘Cannes has helped globalize
oy
cinema
1
by Sra he 3esta ndpa
18-year-old Brigitte Bardotstole the
opportunities on La Croisette have

promoting arthouse pictures.’ ee rere

The cover of the January 1954 edition
MGV u mcm @ none or enn
Francois Truffaut's famous article, ‘A
Certain Tendency in French Cinema’,
UA CoS aT atmTe COUNoN COMVATAUCH
Everyone’s a critic

IDEA N2 74

CRITICISM
THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS...
Thanks to the arrival of specialist journals and the internet,
.
the outlets for film criticism have grown and changed €
=

8°
y

beyond recognition across the past century - with critics

often determining a film’s commercial prospects and the
Way it is interpreted either as art or entertainment.
Notwithstanding the critique of tropes rather than forging more
Edison’s The Kiss, which appeared in culturally specific styles. Inspired by
Chap Book on 15 June 1896, cinema was editor André Bazin, Cahiers du Cinéma’s
initially seen as newsworthy rather cine-literate zealots were particularly
than culturally significant. With trade ferocious in denouncing postwar Mua) THE MATRIX MEETS 007
publications reliant on advertising French features and establishing the
5 Bu “ON STEROIDS!” |
from film-makers, the first notices politique des auteurs (see Auteur Theory). pst
Bis! A
were essentially non-judgemental plot The feuds between the reviewers 2010

summaries. Producers and distributors Andrew Sarris and Pauline Kael in the
have continued to use promotional States and between the publications
largesse and access to talent to elicit Movie and Sight & Sound in Britain
ovate
positive responses
releases ever since.
to their latest typified the seismic shift in critical
preoccupations that coincided with
Aaxenicers
Many of the fanzines that emerged film studies becoming a university
in the 1920s were happy to peddle a discipline and cinema being subjected ABOVE: The British magazine Empire BELOW: Andrew Sarris’s 1968 book
typifies the polished, edgy and The American Cinema proved
diet of glamour, gossip and gush. But to reappraisal according to the informed style of criticism popular contentiously influential by putting
the technical insights and aesthetic tenets of Marxism, feminism, gay with mainstream movie fans. auteur theory at the centre of US
critical debate.
principles contained in _ Vachel activism, psychoanalysis, semiotics,
Lindsay’s book The Art of the Moving post-modernism, structuralism and
Picture (1915) encouraged a more post-structuralism. Yet the best film
informed brand of criticism that polls and pantheon of auteurs
earned cinema greater social and inaugurated by Cahiers du Cinéma’s
intellectual respectability. Moreover, Young Turks before they began making
this mew breed of criticcum- their own films (like so many critics
theorist established the film societies before and since), helped establish the
that introduced urban audiences to canon that remains central to serious
international artists. They even trans- cinematic discussion and against ia
lated treatises by the likes of Vsevolod which future generations will rebel. Andrew
Sarris
Pudovkin and Sergei Eisenstein for The contemporary landscape is
their selfpublished periodicals. much changed, with the studios
Yet, despite the work of influential plastering posters with quotes from
thinkers such as Rudolf Arnheim, Béla non-professional fanboys, print critics
Balazs and Siegfried Kracauer, the facing extinction and academics
majority of reviews remained more contesting subtexts and metaphysical
evaluative than analytical. Following minutiae online. It remains to be seen
the US film critic James Agee’s example what lasting impact this so-called
of fitting ‘coherent language’ into ‘democratization’ will have upon
‘feasible space’, many lambasted criticism and its role in the promotion
American movies for their unrealistic and appreciation of film. =
depiction of life. Critics worldwide
were equally acerbic about domestic
industries that duplicated Hollywood

15D
 The camera goes deeper

IDEA N2 75

MISE EN SCENE

The term ‘mise en scéne’ can simply mean everything

placed before the camera and its organization. But a more
complex usage was coined by critic André Bazin to define
the technique of using long takes with a deep-focused
moving camera to unify character and environment and
provide an alternative to Hollywood’s classic cut-based
narrative mode.

Various elements make up a film’s Improved lighting, smaller

basic mise en scéne in the first, most apertures and faster stocks enabled
general sense of the term: décor, space Gregg Toland to refine deep-focus
and props; costume and make-up; the cinematography and produce sharp top: Michelangelo Antonioni asove: In Play Time (1967), Jacques
blocking of the actors and the timbre images on close, intermediate and considered locale and character to be Tati used mise en scéne and montage
equally significant in films like Red to allow viewers to discover the
of their performance; the score; the distant planes. Yet while Toland was Desert (1964). myriad gags for themselves.
choice of lens, film stock and lighting shooting Wyler’s Wuthering Heights
design; and the placement and move- (1939) and Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941),
ment of the camera. Crucial to Jean Renoir was revealing in films such Hou Hsiao-hsien to create credible
conveying meaning in fictional, doc- as La Grande Illusion (1937) how a moving milieux, while also imposing their
umentary and avant-garde films, the camera could alight upon details to personality upon them.
mise en scéne can establish mood, guide the viewer, establish the Despite Hollywood resistance to a
suggest motifs and reinforce themes. technique deemed self-reflexive, osten-
characters within their locales, and
Moreover, a well-composed shot can tatious and expensive, American
draw parallels and contrasts between
reveal as much about a character and them. Post-World War II, Max Ophiils directors such as Vincente Minnelli,
the world they inhabit as pages demonstrated his mastery of mise en Samuel Fuller, Robert Altman, David
of dialogue. scene with the sinuous camerawork in Fincher and Gus Van Sant have also
Georges Méliés and the German La Ronde (1950) and the 360-degree favoured the mise en scéne approach
Expressionists were among the earliest tracks and crane shots that redefine in a bid to capture a_ scene’s
metteurs en scene. But shot duration diegetic space in Lola Montés (1955). spontaneity, specificity and equivo-
shortened with the evolution of cross- Tracks, tilts, pans and crane shots cacy. A shot’s length determines our
cutting and the transition to sound saw also helped achieve longer takes, as understanding of it. However, the
image depth subordinated to narrative they served as ‘invisible cuts’ that current vogue for rapid editing means
logic, psychological truth and spatial- reframed the that mise en scéne remains more
continuous action.
temporal continuity. However, directors Emphasizing the unity of time and associated with indie and art-house
like William Wyler and Orson Welles space, long takes were hailed by Bazin cinema than the mainstream. =
rediscovered the technique and promp- as closer to life and more democratic
ted Bazin to formulate the theory that than montage. Occasionally, they could
inspired the politique des auteurs, the be self-indulgent. But fluid sequence
Nouvelle Vague and the emergence of an shots allowed directors as diverse as
integral realism that would permit ‘a Kenji Mizoguchi, Roberto Rossellini,
recreation of the world in its own image’. Miklos Jancs6, Theo Angelopoulos and

156
 é V\
IDire ctor Villiam Wyler kept Lee

3
S

6D
5
Pe reira’s
era S ets to intensify the tension
in The De sperate Hours (1955).
 *Snereranrnnns

amr’

ABove: Abbas Kiarostami exploited BELOW: In The Searchers (1956),

the 180-degree axis ofaction to John Ford used reen space to
maintain focus on the women sustain suspense and challenge both
watching an off-screen film in generic convention and ra
Shirin (2008). attitudes to Native Ame
More than meets the eye

IDEA N& 76

OFF-SCREEN SPACE

Mainstream cinema is so preoccupied with narrative that

the focus inevitably falls on events occurring within the
film frame. But off-screen space —- those unseen areas
beyond the camera’s view ~ is often equally important in
Anna Massey is menaced by
moving the story along, drawing attention to significant murderous off-screen cameraman
Carl Boehm in Michael Powell’s
details and generating atmosphere or suspense. chilling exposé of cine-voyeurism,
Peeping Tom (1960).

Few viewers will realize how much value of characters interacting with
time they spend contemplating what persons or props off screen or having
they cannot see, but some critics insist objects suddenly enter the frame, such
that cinematic truth is almost entirely as the grasping hand in D.W. Griffith’s
dependent upon off-screen space. The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912).
In order to render a_ three Chase films relied heavily on the
dimensional world on a two-dimen- relationship between on- and off-screen
sional plane, film-makers adopted the space, as did quest pictures like
concepts of space and depth that had John Ford’s The Searchers (1956) and
pertained to painting since the Michelangelo Antonioni’s LAvwventura
Renaissance. Centrality and frontality (1960). Off-screen space also became a
were achieved by filming and cutting staple of thrillers and horror films as
along a 180-degree axis of action, while protagonists ventured out of the frame
pans, tilts and frame cuts maintained and into potential danger. But it could ensured the complete integration of
shot balance as the characters moved. also be subverted, such as when Oliver action and location. Ozu also fashioned
Such movements were key to depicting Hardy broke the fourth wall with one off-screen space through the ‘pillow’
spatial relationships, along with light of his world-weary sighs or Michael shots or visual digressions that he used
and shade, overlapping contours, text- Caine spoke directly to the camera in as scene transitions. Many film-makers
ure, colour and audiovisual perspective. Alfie (1966). have been influenced by his ideas,
However, in composing images to The shifting line between on- and among them Abbas Kiarostami, who
accommodate spaces that would be off-screen space was also crucial to the audaciously suggested offscreen space
filled by new figures entering the shot, mise en scene style perfected by the on a screen that was itself off screen in
directors acknowledged the existence likes of Max Ophtils and Kenji Shirin (2008). =
of off-screen space and soon began to Mizoguchi. But the master of offscreen
exploit it for dramatic purposes. technique was Yasujiro Ozu, who used
Shot space, editing space and sonic offcentre framing to exploit an image’s
space help viewers construct off-screen centrifugal force to guide the viewer to
areas. According to theorist Noél Burch, the edges of the frame and the real
six such zones exist, beyond the four world that existed beyond. In order to
edges of the frame, behind the set and achieve this, he devised a fully circular
behind the camera, and together they film space around which he could
can convey both diegetic and non- construct alternative axes of action and
diegetic space. Louis Lumiere initially thus create totally new spatial contexts
suggested the concept by having people throughout a scene.
appear from behind the camera in Although requiring painstaking
LArrivée d’un train en Gare de La Ciotat (1895) graphic matching and disallowing
and film-makers quickly recognized the even the most basic pans, this method

159
 The director as superstar
JEAN
SEBERG
JEAN-PAUL
BELMONDO

IDEA N2 77

os FRANCOIS TRUIAUT sees CLAUDE CHABROL

AUTEUR THEORY
Hentidptques RUE Liliane DAVIB Cloude NANSARD my DOUGE Boniel BOLLANE
a wosgee te MARTIAL SALAL edits Haniel sess + RawalCOUTARO a

ABOVE: Scripted and directed by BELOW: Godard and muse Anna Karina
Jean-Luc Godard from a Francois on the set on Alphaville (1965). Coined ‘la politique des auteurs’, auteur theory was first
Truffaut story, Breathless (or A
bout de souffle) (1960) proved key proposed in the French journal Cahiers du Cinéma in the
to popularizing auteur theory.
mid-1950s to identify film-makers whose consistency of
theme and visual style made them to all intents and
purposes the ‘authors’ of their pictures. Few concepts in
screen history have proved as significant or contentious.

In addition to fostering the seismic those to make a bid for independence

cinematic shift known as the Nouvelle by pursuing more personal projects
Vague, it also entirely revised the style from the late 1940s.
of popular and scholastic criticism. But it was only during the postwar
Moreover, it weathered the scorn of era, when French screens were
vociferous detractors espousing the saturated with long-withheld American
collaborative nature of film-making to imports, that cineastes began to equate
reinvent the director as superstar. Yet Hollywood directors such as Alfred
perhaps its greatest achievement was Hitchcock, Howard Hawks and
to force a reassessment of the Nicholas Ray with Europeans like Jean
Hollywood studio system’s ability to Renoir, Roberto Rossellini and Robert
match the sophistication of European Bresson, who brought the same sense
art cinema. of personality and consistency to their
Film histories have always focused work as writers by following critic.
on innovative directors and distinctive turned-director Alexandre Astruc’s
stylistic traits. In the silent era, D.W. camera stylo approach and using the
Griffith was very much the creative camera as a writer would wield a pen.
force behind his films, as were Erich Indeed, it was the originality and
von Stroheim, Victor Sjéstrém, Carl audacity of their use of mise en scéne
Dreyer and the principal German that prompted Francois Truffaut to
Expressionists and Soviet montagists. publish his article ‘A Certain Tendency
Into the sound era, Cecil B. DeMille and in French Cinema’ in 1954 to denounce
Josef von Sternberg defied the the old-fashioned cinéma du papa of
industrial nature of production to conservative directors such as Jean
develop trademark traits, while John Delannoy, Claude Autant-Lara, René
Ford and Frank Capra were among Clément and Henri-Georges Clouzot,

160
 Ve CO NW UTA
(CC MCNM CMe LIneel
encouraging neurotic actor
Jean-Pierre Léaud in the
Oscar-winning movie-making satire,
Day for Night (1

‘Few concepts in screen history have proved

as significant or contentious.’
who devoted more time to the script Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968. ‘movie brats’ coveted authorship and
and the actors than to the visual aspect Positing a critical switch from theme their agents were quick to convince
of their work. and narrative content to style and studio executives that director
However, it took Truffaut and aesthetic context, the book would branding was as crucial to the
fellow Cahiers alumni Jean-Luc Godard, become key to the evolution of marketing ofa blockbuster as marquee
Claude Chabrol and Jacques Rivette to university film studies. It remains stars. The credit ‘A film by’ has now
begin actually making the radically hugely influential to this day, despite been so abused that it has almost
innovative features that sparked new the rise of such competing notions as become meaningless (except, of course,
waves across the world before cine-structuralism and genre. where avant-garde film-makers are
auteurism seized the Anglo-American Sarris would later claim that concerned). Nevertheless, even in
imagination. The contribution of the ‘auteur theory is not so much a theory an age in which post-production
British magazine Movie has often been as an attitude, a table of values that digitization is often more crucial than
overlooked, as the debate was hijacked converts film history into directorial the live-action shoot, the unifying
by the feud between New Yorker reviewer autobiography’. However, it was seized vision on most films remains that of
Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris, who upon by the new generation of film- the director. =
had coined the term ‘auteur theory’ school graduates, who were no longer
before compiling a pantheon of content simply to exercise hierarchical
wotthies for his book The American superiority on the set. These so-called

161
 The rise of shakicam

Handheld camera was one of the

Vows of Chastity in Lars von Trier’s
IDEA N2 78 Dogme 95 Manifesto that challenged
mainstream film-making styles.

HANDHELD CAMERA
<a ER reees
Handheld images captured by portable cameras convey
immediacy and pitch the viewer into the middle of the
action. The Danes call the technique ‘free camera’.
Cinematographers in Hong Kong have their own saying:
‘The handheld camera covers three mistakes: bad acting,
bad set design and bad directing.’
The earliest hand-cranked cameras The popularity of the portable Making a virtue of jerky, pseudo-
were too heavy to remove from their 16mm cameras used for combat footage realistic imagery, socalled ‘un-
tripods but the need to balance compo- during World War II led to the steadicam’ reactions like Sam Raimi’s
sitions saw film-makers increasingly development of the Auricon Cine-Voice, The Evil Dead (1981) were quick in
moving the camera to reframe the ac- Arriflex 16BL and Eclair NPR, which coming. Since Woody Allen’s Husbands
tion as its focus shifted. The majority of enabled handheld shooting to become and Wives (1992) and Lars von Trier’s
Mainstream directors tried to avoid a signature technique of Cinéma Dancer in the Dark (2000), however, the
drawing attention to their technique, Vérité, Direct Cinema and the Nouvelle vogue for ‘shakicam’ has shifted to the
but Karl Freund strapped the camera to Vague, as well as television news. mainstream, as directors strive to make
his chest for the subjective shots in F.W. Challenging staid orthodoxy, shaky their pictures more kinetic and
Murnau’s The Last Laugh (1924), while and sometimes blurred handheld visceral. Juxtaposing jittery images
Abel Gance attached cameras variously images adorned films as different as Les with rapid, discontinuous cuts,
to a horse, a football and a pendulum Raquetteurs (1958), Breathless (or A bout de directors like Oliver Stone, Tony Scott
for Napoleon (1927). souffle) (1960), Jules et Jim (1961), A Hard and Michael Mann developed the fast-
The invention of dollies and cranes Day’s Night (1964), The Battle of Algiers moving run-and-gun style that
permitted cameras to follow figures (1966) and Medium Cool (1969). originated in video games which some
and objects, roam the mise en scéne, Notwithstanding the artistic and cite as demonstrating a decline in
highlight significant details, present budgetary benefits of this inexpensive craftsmanship. Yet, despite denying a
character perspectives and reveal off improvisational mode, there was a sense of space, limiting psychological
screen areas. By varying distance, angle backlash among critics accustomed to insight and placing huge reliance on
and height, fluid camerawork could Hollywood classicism. By way of the score and sound effects to
also establish patterns and rhythms response, in the early 1970s, cinema- compensate for the lack ofvisual clarity
and allow the long takes that critics tographer Garrett Brown combined and narrative coherence, pictures such
such as André Bazin insisted unified handheld flexibility with the as The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and
time and space and were, therefore, smoothness ofa dolly when he invented Cloverfield (2008) continue to thrill the
more realistic than edited sequences. the Steadicam rig, which was able to gaming generation. =
Alfred Hitchcock, Kenji Mizoguchi, absorb sudden jolts as the operator
Orson Welles, Max Ophiils and Mikl6s followed the action. First employed on
Jancs6 demonstrated a mastery of the Hal Ashby’s Bound for Glory (1976),
mobile frame. But film-makers sought Steadicam has since been memorably
a still-greater sense of freedom, vitality used by Stanley Kubrick, Brian De
and authenticity. Palma and Martin Scorsese.

162
 ee

ABOVE: Lars von Trier experimented Ste

————
with dolly shots, handheld footage Ba
and computer-programmed motion
control techniques in making
Antichrist (2009).

RIGHT: Cinematograher Raoul

COTM OE em Keenan mee
bicycle to capture the exhilaration of
the characters in Francois Truffaut's
Jules et Jim (1961).
In attempting to heighten the
drama of Nanook of the North
(1922), Robert Flaherty had
Allakariallak enact long-abandoned
Inuit hunting techniques.

‘The very process of framing

and editing images diminishes
their objectivity.’
Putting reality on screen

IDEA N° 79

CINEMA VERITE
Presenting their own versions of ‘truthful cinema’, Cinéma Asove: The documentarian as
polemicist and provocateur: Michael
BELOW: How the other half lives: Jackie
Kennedy’s cousin Edie Bouvier Beale
Moore in Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004).
Verité and Direct Cinema led a 1960s rebellion against the dances with the American flag in
the Maysles documentary, Grey
Gardens (1975).
documentary tendency to manipulate reality for dramatic
and propagandist purposes. However, they also sparked a
debate about the ethics of actuality.
Made in the image of the first Lumiére Cinema were prepared to observe the
records of reality, the earliest unfolding scene, vériteurs actively
documentaries were simple, static sought to conduct it, either by
slices of life and views of faraway appearing before the camera or
places. However, in striving for lyrical interacting with the protagonists.
naturalism in Nanook of the North (1922), Furthermore, there were differences
Robert Flaherty consciously shaped the within each tradition. Québecois
action and thus romanticized his Inuit pioneer Michel Brault devised the term
subject. The Soviet montagist Dziga ‘cinéma direct’ to distance himself from
Vertov took similar liberties with agit- Cinéma Vérité advocates like Jean
prop constructs such as Man with a Rouch and Chris Marker. Meanwhile,
Movie Camera (1929), which forged the American counterparts such as Drew
link between the documentary and the Associates alumni Robert Drew, D.A. what Albert Maysles called ‘the drama
avant-garde. Yet John Grierson, who Pennebaker, and Albert and David of ordinary people in daily life’, there
coined the term ‘documentary’, saw Maysles tended to focus on has been a boom in_ politically
nothing wrong in exploiting this personalities, while the more rig- engaged titles highlighting injustices,
‘creative treatment of actuality’ in the orously detached Frederick Wiseman legitimizing subcultures, promoting
sponsored social-utility shorts he concentrated on institutions. causes and positing solutions. Reality
produced in the 1930s, which not only Some theorists lauded the purity of television has also impinged upon the
established the British documentary Direct Cinema’s ‘fly on the wall’ feature format. But, in order to snare
tradition, but also the blend of scripted technique, as it allowed viewers to an audience, the various exposés,
narration, reconstructed incident and reach their own conclusions. But the confessionals, compilations, video
vox-pop opinion that has survived into very process of framing and editing diaries, docudramas, rockumentaries
the television age. images diminishes their objectivity and mockumentaries have increasingly
Indeed, poets and propagandists and, by making no attempt to disguise forsworn impartiality and become ever
alike continued to manipulate reality their hands-on methodology, the more reliant on gimmickry. =
(even in audiovisually and thematically Cinéma Vérité provocateurs demon-
innovative, but editorially neutral cate- strated that it was possible to entertain
gorical pictures) until the end of World while also enlightening their audience.
War II, when a decline in deference and Moreover, their visceral handheld
the advent of Neorealism increased the images proved a significant influence
clamour for greater transparency. on the Nouvelle Vague, as well as the
However, Cinéma Vérité and Direct politicized Third Cinema that emerged
Cinema took markedly different routes in developing countries the 1960s.
to creating screen truth. Their reflexive approach also informed
Taking their cue from journalistic the rhetorical films of star
photo-essays, both were keen to report documentarists like Nick Broomfield
from the heart of events and utilized and Michael Moore, who contributed
the portable cameras that had been to actuality’s unexpected commercial
perfected for wartime newsreels and success in the 1990s.
the latest stand-alone tape recorders. With camcorders and digital kit
But whereas exponents of Direct making it easier than ever to capture

165
 Gritty social realism

IDEA N2 80

FREE CINEMA

Considering it was limited to six showcases at London’s

National Film Theatre between 1956 and 1959, Free Cinema
had a remarkable impact, coinciding with the transition
from a studio system to a new internationalism and
inducing the social-realist style that remains a domestic
staple in Britain.
The tenets of Free Cinema were in its bid to create the conditions for
developed by Lindsay Anderson, Tony the continuing production and
Richardson and Karel Reisz while exhibition of independent shorts. But
writing for the journals Sequence and it did presage a new wave that
Sight & Sound. They were rooted in repudiated the theatricality of coy
Poetic Realism, Neorealism and the sagas set in bourgeois suburbia,
lyrical humanism of Robert Flaherty, unleashing a generation of angry
John Ford and Humphrey Jennings, young men and liberated women, and
and firmly rejected the patronizing unflinchingly tackling taboo social,
altruism of the documentary tradition political and sexual issues that
established by John Grierson and the subsequently recurred in everything
cosy good taste that producers had from Carry On comedies to softcore
hoped would entrance transatlantic smut and horror movies. Moreover, it
audiences. But it was primarily a desire inspired newcomers like Ken Russell
to produce personal films that spurned and Ken Loach to refine small-screen
commercial and propagandist pressure
*
docudrama and provided the impetus
and did justice to the working class for the British Film Institute’s
that united the low-budget shorts Experimental Film Fund to encourage Top: Swiss-born Claude Goretta, one ABOVE: T’m out for a good time — all
which were screened at the NFT, such talents such as Ridley and Tony Scott, of the European contributors to Free the rest is propaganda!’ Albert
Cinema, went on to direct such fine Finney in Saturday Night and
as Momma Don’t Allow (1955), Every Day Peter Watkins, Sally Potter, Peter features as The Lacemaker (1977), Sunday Morning (1960).
Except Christmas (1957) and We Are the Greenaway, Derek Jarman and Terence starring Isabelle Huppert.
Lambeth Boys (1959). Davies.
The emphasis on ordinary people The Oscar success of Richardson’s
and the everyday echoed that of Tom Jones (1963) prompted major US element and, with Roman Polanski,
contemporary regional novels and investment in British pictures epit- Claude Goretta and Francois Truffaut
plays by the likes of John Osborne, omizing Swinging Sixties chic. But the among its alumni, its overseas
whose landmark Look Back in Anger was retreat to a rejuvenated Hollywood at repercussions were more pronounced.
directed by Richardson on both stage the end of the decade plunged the UK Moreover, the influence of mission
(1956) and screen (1959). Indeed, such industry into a slump from which it maxims like ‘Perfection is not an aim’
was the compatibility of the Free only recovered in the early 1980s. Some and ‘An attitude means a style; a style
Cinema and ‘kitchen sink’ aesthetics critics have complained that social means an attitude’ was also evident in
that they combined to authentic effect realism hindered the thematic and the Czech New Wave and both the 1962
in Reisz’s Saturday Night and Sunday stylistic development of British cinema Oberhausen Manifesto and 1995 Vow of
Morning (1960), Richardson’s A Taste of by institutionalizing the gritty auth- Chastity, which initiated Das Neue
Honey (1961) and Anderson’s This enticity that is still espoused by film- Kino and Dogme 95 respectively. m
Sporting Life (1963). makers such as Lynne Ramsay, Shane
Always more of a tendency than a Meadows and Andrea Arnold. However,
cogent movement, Free Cinema failed Free Cinema also had an international

166
Percy the teenage teddy boy in Karel
Reisz’s study of a South London
youth club in We Are the Lambeth
Boys (1959).
 By

‘Third Cinema sought to instill ale Hie

ek
France-based director of Cyclo

revolutionary ideals in audiences by (CREP CM Emenee eset TMT

native Vietnam for his violent
depiction ofstreet life in Ho Chi

subverting cinematic convention.’ Ue tas

Above: Political protest through ricHt: Filmed in a Quechua-speaking

deadpan satire: Elia Suleiman’s The community in the Bolivian Andes,
Pre Urrvalonp tone POL) Jorge Sanjinés's Blood of the
Condor (1969) was a militant
denunciation of American cultural
GOES
Towards a tri-continental revolution

IDEA N2 81

THIRD CINEMA

Dismissing the Hollywood commercialism of so-called First Dariush Mehrjui’s The Cow (1969)
established the tradition of subtle
criticism and wry humanism that
Cinema and the auteurism of the European art film’s has characterized Iranian cinema
either side of the Islamic Revolution.
second Cinema, Third Cinema sought to instil
revolutionary ideals in audiences by subverting cinematic
convention and precluding passive reception. Originating
in Latin America in the late 1960s, its influence soon spread
to Africa and Asia.

Third Cinema was a cultural response Third Cinema promoted a stylistic In Asia, the cause of radical change
to the anti-colonial struggle in Africa, diversity that spawned newsreels, agit- was taken up by Lino Brocka in the
the Cuban Revolution, the rise of black prop documentaries, avant-garde Philippines, Mrinal Sen in India, Tran
consciousness in the United States and shorts, realist epics and socio-political Anh Hung in Vietnam and Dariush
the reconceptualization of Marxist and satires. Mehrjui in Iran, while seeds of
Maoist dialectics by intellectuals Yet the works of Cubans Tomas solidarity were also sown by Wayne
worldwide. Its filmic roots lay in the Gutiérrez Alea and Santiago Alvarez, Wang in America, Isaac Julien in
1950s Neorealism of Brazilian Nelson Chileans Patricio Guzman and Miguel Britain and Tracey Moffat in Australia.
Pereira dos Santos and Argentinian Littin, Brazilians Glauber Rocha and Subsequently, Third Cinema has
Fernando Birri, and in the 1960s Ruy Guerra, and Bolivian Jorge Sanjinés endorsed diasporic and exilic film-
Cinema Novo movement that had failed to incite the anticipated tri- makers, while also providing the
reinvigorated Brazilian film. Central to continental revolution. Indeed, Third impetus for the Latin American
the latter’s abrasively distanciated style Cinema came in for much criticism in renaissance led by Walter Salles,
was Glauber Rocha’s 1965 essay ‘An the 1980s. Chilean maverick Rati Ruiz Fernando Meirelles, Alejandro
Aesthetic of Hunger’, which became a complained that its objectives had Gonzdlez Indarritu, Pablo Trapero and
key text alongside two 1969 manifestos, been too narrow, while some lamented Lucrecia Martel. m
Cuban Julio Garcia Espinosa’s ‘For an its neglect of feminist and ethnocentric
Imperfect Cinema’ and “Towards a issues and others questioned the
Third Cinema: Notes and Experiences involvement of European film-makers
for the Development of a Cinema of such as Joris Ivens, Chris Marker and
Liberation in the Third World’, in Gillo Pontecorvo.
which Argentines Fernando Solanas However, Third Cinema had
and Octavio Getino codified the ideas become a global phenomenon that
and methods they had employed in addressed problems like nation-
their guerilla documentary The Hour of building, post-colonial disillusion and
the Furnaces (1968). newly emerging forms of racial,
Determined to depict life as it was religious, social and sexual oppression.
lived, Solanas and Getino advocated Its strongest base was in Africa, where
an independent, oppositional cinema the clash between tradition and
that rejected mainstream genres progress was explored in allegories,
and arthouse existentialism in favour satires and realist dramas by Youssef
of socially relevant themes and Chahine in Egypt, Merzak Allouache in
techniques that challenged historical Algeria, Ousmane Sembéne in Senegal,
conceptions, exposed injustice and Gaston Kaboré and Idrissa Ouédraogo
reclaimed national cultures. Moreover, in Burkino Faso, Souleymane Cissé in
in producing films that couldn’t be Mali, Jean-Marie Téno in Cameroon
appropriated by the establishment, and Med Hondo in Mauritania.

169
 The camera’s different eyes

Alfred Hitchcock made disconcerting

use of the ‘trombone’ or ‘contra zoom’
IDEA N2 82 shot to emphasize James Stewart's
terror in Vertigo (1958).

ZOOM
[RT RR ee
For the first third of cinema’s history, most films were photo- Paramount started using zoom
graphed with so-called normal lenses. But since the intro- lenses in features like It (1927) and Love
Me Tonight (1932). But even after Zoomar
duction of zooms and other forced-perspective techniques lenses measuring 100-1,000mm were
for making objects appear closer or farther away than they refined for aerial photography during
the war and became a staple of early
really are, movies have gone beyond ordinary human vision. televisual and advertising techniques,
they were rarely used in movies,
Perspective is key to the appreciation Emphasizing the illusion of depth despite Alfred Hitchcock’s inspired
and understanding of moving pictures, and often distorting linear perception, combination of a track and a zoom for
as alterations to a lens’s focal length wide-angle lenses initially proved more the celebrated and much-imitated
affect the perceived depth and scale of compatible with Academy ratio ‘trombone shot’ in Vertigo (1958).
an image, as well as its dramatic and monochrome than widescreen colour However, optical travelling shots
expressive impact. processes. But, once the glitches had that subverted impersonal, seamless
The standard lens in use between been ironed out, lenses with a focal classicism were eventually popularized
the 1910s and the early 1940s had a length of less than 35mm became by Europeans like John Schlesinger,
focal length of 35-50mm and sought to standard issue (especially for use in Mario Bava, Roberto Rossellini and
replicate human vision. The amount of confined spaces), unlike fish-eye lenses Michelangelo Antonioni, as well as
light reaching the film stock was affording angles of up to 180 degrees, Americans working in Britain such as
regulated by the width of the aperture which have been used primarily for Richard Lester and Stanley Kubrick.
and the speedof the shutter, while lens depicting disorientation in trippy Offering a variable focal length from
filters and gels were used to vary the pictures such as Easy Rider (1969). wide-angle to telephoto and allowing
quality of the light and these diffusion Telephoto lenses magnify distant for controlled shifts during shots,
effects became a characteristic of action, while suppressing depth zooms remain aesthetically and eco-
French Impressionism and Josef von perception and narrowing the angle of nomically effective. Not only do the
Sternberg’s collaborations with view. Following their use in Claude faster brands require less light, they
Marlene Dietrich. Lelouch’s A Man and a Woman (1966), also dispense with the need for dollies
Longer-focus lenses were intro- telephotos were favoured by Robert and tracks. Nevertheless, most viewers
duced in the mid-1910s, with cinema- Altman, Milos Forman and Akira still struggle to differentiate between
tographer Henrik Sartov notably using Kurosawa, as well as by ‘movie brats’ zooms shots taken with a stationary
them for the soft-focus close-ups of such as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford camera and slow dolly shots known as
Lillian Gish in D.W. Griffith’s Broken Coppola and Brian De Palma, who ‘push-ins’ filmed from a moving camera. =
Blossoms (1919). Abel Gance and Marcel often mixed long-focus and wide-angle
LHerbier experimented with wide- shots in the same sequence. But while
angle, or short-focus, lenses in Napoleon they compressed distances, enhanced
(1927) and Money (1928) respectively, authenticity and were useful for
but it wasn’t until Gregg Toland em- location work and multi-camera studio
ployed them on Citizen Kane (1941) that set-ups, telephoto lenses were less
they became more common in Hollywood. versatile than zooms.
 Cinematographer Laszlé Kovdcs
experimented with telephoto lenses
and different film stocks to achieve
the edgy visuals in Dennis Hopper’s
Easy Rider (1969).

pr

‘Zooms remain aesthetically and

economically effective.’
BELOW: Stanley Kubrick and
cinematographer John Alcott not
only used zooms for dramatic effect
in Barry Lyndon (1976), but also to
flatten images in imitation of
eighteenth-century painting.
Azove:A revolutionary’s education: below: Aplace for dreams. A place
Ernesto Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) for heartbreak.’ Harry Dean Stanton
and Alberto Granado (Rodrigo De la in Wim Wenders’s Palme
Serna) in Walter Salles’s The d'Orwinning road movie, Paris,
Motorcycle Diaries (2004). Bt Cn wek s7 oR
From cattle driving to easy riding

IDEA N2 83

ROAD MOVIES

Most films take their characters and viewers on metaphorical

journeys. But road movies focus specifically on the
travelling, with protagonists crossing geographical as well
as moral boundaries in order to escape their problems,
discover their true nature or attain a cherished goal.
Rooted in the mythical odyssey and the mid-1960s, when works reflected
pastoral picaresque, American excursion national disenchantment after Vietnam
fiction from Mark Twain to Jack and Watergate. The format was sub- distinctive environments, as_ did
Kerouac tapped into the pioneering sequently exploited by mainstream, politicized Latin American pictures
spirit that drove a frontier society independent, documentary and experi- such as Walter Salles’s Central Station
towards its Manifest Destiny. The dime mental film-makers. Features such as (1998), Alfonso Cuar6dn’s Y tu mama
Western also accentuated the perils of Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Badlands (1973), también (2001) and Cary Fukunaga’s Sin
traversing a vast and often treacherous Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Thelma and nombre (2009), which typified the
landscape, and its wagon-train treks, Louise (1991) and Little Miss Sunshine form’s latest variation: the migrant
stagecoach rides and cattle drives inspired (2006) centred on anti-heroic quests, expedition. =
classic features such as Stagecoach outlaws and outsiders to offer acute
(1939), Red River (1948) and Bend of the socio-cultural critiques, while also
River (1952). However, the road movie revising generic convention. Indeed,
proper relied on a very different kind the open-ended, modernist format
of horsepower, with motor vehicles proved sufficiently flexible to accomm-
mirroring cinema’s own obsession odate horror and sci-fi, as well as
with movement and speed. madcap and melodramatic takes on
The itinerancy of the Depression cross-country races, rock tours, student
was captured in social dramas like road trips and midlife crises. Lone
The Grapes of Wrath (1940), but the drivers, parents and children, prisoners
road movie appeared in many other and escorts, buddies, hitchhikers, lost ABOVE: Reporter Clark Gable crosses
America with runaway heiress
guises during Hollywood’s Golden Age. animals, yuppie couples, and busloads Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra’s
In addition to screwballs such as of losers and misfits have hit the multi-Oscar-winning It Happened
One Night (1934).
It Happened One Night (1934) and cine-highway over the years, but not
Sullivan’s Travels (1941), there were also all have managed to find the road BELOW: In Federico Fellini's
Oscar-winning picaresque, La Strada
homeward-bound musicals like The to redemption. (1954), waif Giulietta Masina is sold
Wizard of Oz (1939), trucker tales such as Despite its American associations, by her mother to itinerant
strongman Anthony Quinn.
They Drive by Night (1940) and battlefront the road movie has also flourished
epics like A Walk in the Sun (1945). But worldwide. A_ typically European
noirish fugitive sagas such as Detour existentialism informed Federico
(1945) and Gun Crazy (1949) had the Fellini’s La Strada (1954) and Ingmar
biggest impact on the sub-genre, as Bergman’s Wild Strawberries (1957).
they caught the burgeoning mood But Jean-Luc Godard’s Pierrot le
of youthful rebellion in postwar fou (1965) revealed a debt to the US
America and anticipated counter- model that was also evident in Wim
culture landmarks like Bonnie and Clyde Wenders’s Alice in the Cities (1974)
(1967) and Easy Rider (1969). and Kings of the Road (1976). Australian
Though the road movie had long and Canadian outings like George
been a cinematic staple, the term itself Miller’s Mad Max trilogy and Bruce
was only first used in the New McDonald’s cult rock’n’road flicks
Hollywood era that started in the similarly transported iconic tropes to

173
 From Sweetback to Spike Lee

BELOw: Pam Grier, the star of Coffy Bottom: ‘Who's the cat that won't cop
IDEA N2 84 (1973) and Foxy Brown (1974), also out when there’s danger all about?’:

BLAXPLOITATION
headlined Quentin Tarantino's Richard Roundtree in Shaft (1971),
homage, Jackie Brown (1997). which owed much to Isaac Hayes’s score.

Fe Ee
After decades of marginalization, African-American cinema
began to find a mainstream audience in the 1970s thanks
to blaxploitation (‘black’ + ‘exploitation’) movies. Though
often lacking in finesse, these gave a voice to ghetto life and
opened Hollywood up to a whole new generation of radical
black film-makers and actors.

Impervious to the Harlem Renaissance, Song (1971), which broke with the
Hollywood proved reluctant to depict bourgeois black film tradition to enter
everyday black experience. Isolated the ghetto and celebrate assertive
items like King Vidor’s Hallelujah! (1929) masculinity and the separatist desire to
reinforced the stereotypes later dubbed stick it to the Man.
‘mammies’, ‘coons’, ‘Uncle Toms’, Impressed by Sweetback’s profit-
‘mulattos’ and ‘bucks’ by critic Donald ability, MGM backed Parks’s Shaft
Bogle. But while Hattie McDaniel could (1971); others followed suit after it had
win a Best Supporting Oscar for playing saved the studio from bankruptcy. But
a maid in Gone with the Wind (1939), while audiences revelled in the violent
black directors such as Oscar Micheaux criminality and the consumerist
and Spencer Williams were reduced to superficiality of the pimps, pushers,
shooting shoestring ‘race movies’ for gangsters and maverick cops in hits
afterhours screenings known as such as Super Fly (1972) and The Mack
‘midnight rambles’. The most prolific (1973) - which gained added kudos
black auteur (making nearly 50 features from their funky soundtracks - critics following Vietnam and Watergate in
between 1919 and 1948), Micheaux lamented the glamorization of ghetto landmarks such as Sidney Lumet’s Dog
sought to encourage betterment by life and the fact that the heroines of Day Afternoon (1975) and Martin
highlighting the aspiration and Cleopatra Jones (1973) and Foxy Brown Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).
diversity of the African-American (1974) were more male fantasies than Ultimately, blaxploitation led to
community. But distribution diffi- female role models. Moreover, the Hollywood embracing African-American
culties kept his tales of miscegenation majority of these increasingly cheap talent. But with iconic actors and
and lightskinned women passing for and formulaic pictures were being directors now concentrating on
white from being widely seen. It was churned out by white directors devoid mainstream fare, there is a danger
only in the 1950s that black stars like of socio-political insight. that, apart from the odd gangsta Saga,
Dorothy Dandridge and Sidney Poitier However, many saw blaxploitation the black community could again lose
began to emerge. as a necessary stage in the evolution of its cinematic voice. =
Much scorn has been poured on genuinely revolutionary black cinema.
the liberal melodramas Hollywood It certainly prompted 1970s film school
produced during the Civil Rights era, graduates like Charles Burnett, Larry
but they did much to challenge the Clark and Haile Gerima to launch their
Production Code’s prohibition of LA Rebellion, which in turn inspired
mixed-race relationships and encour the New Black Cinema of Spike Lee,
age independent black film-makers to John Singleton and Julie Dash in the
make themselves heard. However, the early 1990s. Yet blaxploitation didn’t
cosiness of Gordon Parks’s The Learning simply reflect African-American despair
Tree (1969) soon gave way to the tougher at a corrupt, racist system. It also
urban realism of Ossie Davis’s Cotton emboldened white film-makers to
Comes to Harlem (1970) and Melvin Van denounce the establishment and
Peebles’s Sweet Sweethack’s Baadasssss express the national sense of betrayal

174
 Never a dude like this one!
He’s got a plan to stick it to The Man!

Poster for Super Fly (1972), which

was criticizedfor its depiction of
VNR CHAU am aOR MenTmend
out-grossed by Curtis Mayfield’s
soundtrack album.

See
STARRING

RON O'NEAL
and hear
CURTIS
MAYFIELD
play his
AS PRIEST Super Fly
score! mm
Original soundtrack ava

- SHEILA FRAZIER
The SIG SHORE Production SUPER FLY’’Sstarring RON O'NEAL- CARL LEE - JULIUSy W.by HARRIS
PHILLIP FENTY- Produced
MAYFIELD - Screenpla
CHARLES McGREGOR - Music Composed and Arranged by CURTIS
Warner Bros.,a Warner Communication scompany [R] v2
by SIG SHORE -Directed by GORDON PARKS, JR. -from
72/319
 Actress Maria Schneider always felt
she had been violated by director
Bernardo Bertolucci while filming
Last Tango in Paris (1972) with
NYCaraCOLT SK CIET CLO

Accessibility seems to have made porn

more acceptable.’
What the Butler Saw and beyond

IDEA N2 85

PORNOGRAPHY
SR OR St Rr SS TREE
Such is the enduring social stigma attached to pornography ABoveE: Images of an erection and
unsimulated intercourse earned
BELOW: Ai No Corrida (1976) was
the first arthouse-hardcore hybrid
that it has largely been excluded from screen histories, even Lars von Trier’s Dogme 95 debut
The Idiots (1998) the notoriety
and director Nagisa Oshima fought
a four-year court battle after the
that boosted its critical and screenplay broke obscenity laws
though it can trace an unbroken line of independent commercial profile. in Japan.

production from nineteenth-century magic-lantern slides

to today’s multi-billion-dollar industry, with its own star
system, international festival circuit and awards.

Compared to the indecent images Sarno produced dozens of titillatingly

peddled by lanternists, the nude transgressive pictures for grindhouses
motion studies made by Eadweard (see Exploitation) nationwide. Titles
Muybridge and the saucy antics viewed such as Sin in the Suburbs (1964) and
in the Mutoscope (known in Britain as Carmen, Baby (1967) also sparked
the What the Butler Saw Machine) were softcore booms in Denmark, Sweden
decidedly tame. Yet Eugéne Pirou’s and Japan, and, as the Production Code
teasing collaborations with Louise was replaced by a ratings system, the
Willy prompted Louis Lumiére and Stateside success of these increasingly
Georges Méliés to make risqué one- hardcore imports paved the way for
reelers and companies in Central Artie and Jim Mitchell’s Behind the Green Torremolinos 73 (2003) satirizing the
Europe and South America were soon Door and Gerard Damiano’s Deep Throat industry, while Lars von Trier’s The
churning out ‘smokers’, nicknamed (both 1972), which made stars of Idiots (1998) and Catherine Breillat’s
after the smoking parlours of the Marilyn Chambers and Linda Lovelace Romance (1999) included uncensored
gentlemen’s clubs and brothels where respectively. They also popularized images of erections and intercourse.
they were shown. porno chic with male and female Yet, even as the line blurs between
Striptease and bathing scenes viewers alike, and encouraged greater mature representation and _ sex-
eventually gave way to the graphic sexual frankness in commercial ploitation, pornography continues to
depiction of sexual acts, which ranged features like Bernardo Bertolucci’s Last provoke controversy.
from the perfunctory in A. Wise Guy’s Tango in Paris (1972).
A Free Ride (1915) to the perverse in Yet porn’s big-screen phase proved
Gabriellino D’Annunzio’s Saffo and short-lived, as its generic scenarios and
Priapo (1922). But the imposition of stock shots migrated to video, which
censorship in Europe and America enabled it to become increasingly
confined such stag films to private explicit in catering for straight, gay
functions, educational screenings and and niche markets. Surviving a feminist
coin-operated booths. backlash, the operation of the National
Blue movies remained amateurish Obscenity Enforcement Unit, the Traci
and taboo for the next three decades. Lords scandal and the onset of AIDS in
But a combination of World War II, the the 1980s, the American porn
research of Alfred Kinsey and Masters business flourished to turn over $13
and Johnson into human sexual behavi- billion in 2007, with DVD sales
our, and the influx of erotic features being supplemented by on-demand
like Roger Vadim’s And God Created television channels, internet sites and
Woman (1956) did much to liberalize video-telephony.
attitudes to sex in puritanical America. Accessibility seems to have made
Inspired by Russ Meyer’s nudie- porn more acceptable, with acclaimed
cutie The Immoral Mr Teas (1959), Radley features like Paul Thomas Anderson's
Metzger, Doris Wishman and Joseph W. Boogie Nights (1997) and Pablo Berger’s

177
 Challenging the male gaze

IDEA N2 86

FEMINIST FILM THEORY

The audience for Hollywood features was predominantly

female into the 1950s, yet the studio front offices were
exclusively occupied by men. Feminist film theory posed a
radical challenge to this gender imbalance in the 1970s -
but has anything really changed?

Despite their different personalities, to exhibit in order to conform to the

silent stars like Lillian Gish, Gloria roles assigned by a_ patriarchal
Swanson, Greta Garbo and Clara Bow hierarchy appalled the critics who
all played independent characters, who emerged from the second feminist
were admired equally by women and wave. In the vanguard, Marjorie Rosen’s
men. Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Popcorn Venus (1973) and Molly Haskell’s
Joan Crawford and Katharine Hepburn From Reverence to Rape (1974) both
continued this trend in the talkies. But adopted a sociological-empirical app-
while Frances Marion, Anita Loos and roach to denounce the situation.
Dorothy Parker were respected However, British counterparts such as
screenwriters, and Hedda Hopper and Claire Johnston and Laura Mulvey drew
Louella Parsons were the two most on semiotics, Althusserian Marxism
powerful columnists in Hollywood, few and Lacanian psychoanalysis to show
women emulated June Mathis in that mainstream American cinema not
actually producing pictures. Indeed, only reflected societal attitudes, but
following the pioneering efforts of also helped reinforce them.
Alice Guy Blaché and Lois Weber, only In her seminal 1975 essay ‘Visual Dorothy Arzner depicted strong,
Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’, independent women in The Wild
directed sound features during the Party (1929), Christopher Strong
Mulvey stated that Hollywood pictures (1933) and Dance, Girl, Dance
studio era. were about men pursuing, investigating (1940).
The stereotyping of female char and penalizing women because their
acters and the docility they were forced differences threatened male characters,

178
 Isabelle Huppert in White Material
(2009), which adds race and
colonialism to Claire Denis’s
trademark themes of the body,
gender and sexuality.

me vi et cate Rice

‘Scholars began reclaiming 7

gaze ... forcing the abandonment
of male identification. ’

producers and viewers alike. Such question of female spectatorship by the emphasis on psychoanalytic theory
codes and conventions, therefore, left positing a notion of transsexual was replaced by discussion of such
women with only two spectating options: identification based on the pre-Oedipal previously neglected issues as class,
to accept the passivity of the female and phallic fantasy of omnipotence. race, age and sexual orientation
characters on screen, or to assume the In analysing King Vidor’s Duel in the - feminist film theory finally began to
male gaze for which such sensualized Sun (1946), Mulvey suggested that diversify and the results were reflected
idealism had been concocted. women could identify with Jennifer in the films of such global talents such
Stylistically influenced by Sergei Jones’s put-upon character by either as Margarethe von Trotta, Jane
Eisenstein, Bertolt Brecht and Jean-Luc masochistically sharing in her Campion, Kathryn Bigelow, Julie Dash,
Godard, a feminist counter-cinema suffering or assuming the male Ann Hui and Claire Denis. =
evolved around this time. However, perspective and objectifying her. But as
features like Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne genres such as the Western, film noir
Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 and horror were decried by texts citing
Bruxelles, Marguerite Duras’s India Song castration, fetishization and sadism,
(both 1975), Laura Mulvey and Peter scholars began reclaiming the gaze
Wollen’s Riddles of the Sphinx (1977) and through celebrations of vamps, femmes
Sally Potter’s The Golddiggers (1980) had fatales and the slasher movie’s Final
limited filmic influence. They did, Girl, whose survival feminizes the
however, spark an academic backlash audience by forcing the abandonment
that prompted Mulvey to address the of male identification. Moreover — as

79)
ABOVE: Star Wars (1977) launched a
franchise that has taken over $7
billion at the box office and
generated more than $12 billion in
merchandising.

RIGHT: Despite being the first

blockbuster, The Godfather (1972)
is widely regarded as the finest
American film of the post-studio era.
Big-budget, mass-market

Jennifer Jones in Duel in the

IDEA N2 87 Sun (1946), which established
new methods of marketing and

BLOCKBUSTERS distributing movies in the

United States.

The blockbuster era began in the 1970s and has now lasted
longer than either the silent phase of film-making or the
Golden Age of Hollywood. It has fostered several landmark
features, yet many lament the mainstream’s growing
reliance on pre-sold properties, high-concept storylines,
special effects, product placement, merchandising,
remakes and sequels. Others blame the blockbuster for
dumbing down cinema in the pursuit of a juvenile audience.
The nature of blockbusters is constantly providing facilities, finance and
evolving. Hollywood used to boost its marketing expertise. Initially, this gave
most prestigious pictures by road- stars capable of opening pictures
showing them at inflated ticket prices tremendous power, with remuneration
in big-city cinemas to create a buzz to match. But, as the increasingly
around them before consigning them fantastical action began to be driven
to smaller local venues where the more by plot than character, the
Majority of viewers saw their movies. emphasis fell on spectacular visuals
But when independent producer David that were predominantly computer-
O. Selznick released Duel in the Sun generated. Indeed, Hollywood became
(1946) nationwide in a blaze of less of a production centre as more films
publicity, a trend was established that were shot on location or in overseas Almost a genre in its own right, the
would be revived in the mid-1970s to studios promising reduced overheads. blockbuster is not unique to Hollywood.
counter the fiscal crisis provoked by The traditional release pattern was However, few national industries can
the collapse of the studio system. also revised. During the studio era, match the resources that enable it
Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather pictures had been given time to find an to continue creating the dazzling
(1972) was the first modern blockbuster. audience. However, by simultaneously audiovisual entertainments that
But Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) and releasing Jaws in 464 theatres on the dominate the global market. In
George Lucas’s Star Wars (1977) captured back of countless stories leaked from perpetuating the big-movie myth, the
the imagination of juvenile viewers, the set, Universal devised the front- studios have often been guilty of small
who would become New Hollywood’s loading and saturation strategy that thinking. But even if blockbusters have
key demographic. Not only would they has since become the norm for mak contributed to the infantilization of
see these ‘event movies’ several times ing blockbusters all-but critic-proof. cinema, they often have as much
(often in the new shopping mall Furthermore, by selling 25 million artistic integrity as more critically
multiplexes), they would also buy into tickets in 38 days, producers Richard acclaimed films. =
the tie-in novelizations, comic books, Zanuck and David Brown demonstrated
soundtrack albums, action figures, that summer launches could be just
video games, fast food products and as profitable as end-ofyear ones.
theme-park rides. Nowadays, the risk-averse studios put
But blockbusters didn’t just each big-budget feature through test
engender a new breed of fan. Since the screenings and focus groups to ensure
outlawing of vertical integration in the it achieves its widest appeal. Yet they
late 1940s, movies were progressively still invest heavily in glitzy premieres,
being developed as packages, with casts multi-platform advertising campaigns,
and crews being provided by single personal appearances, and profiles and
talent agencies and the studios merely interviews in the printed media.

181
From greasepaint to
prosthetic sculpting

IDEA N2 88
EFFECTS MAKE-UP
Jack Pierce spent four hours applying
The names of Cecil Holland, Jack Dawn and William Tuttle the cotton, collodion, gum and green
greasepaint to transform Boris
may not mean much to even the most fervent film fan. But Karloff into Frankenstein’s monster.

these pioneers of movie make-up devised the techniques

that refined classical Hollywood glamour and laid the
foundations for the special effects that are so crucial to the
modern blockbuster.

For much of cinema’s first two decades, Bud Westmore and Jack Pierce Temple’s appearances in blackface and
actors applied their own make-up and continued the horror tradition at Alec Guinness’s renditions of Fagin and
relied on trusted theatrical products Universal in the 1930s, with the latter’s Dr Godbole in David Lean’s Oliver Twist
and styles. Max Factor only introduced look for Boris Karloff in James Whale’s (1948) and A Passage to India (1984).
the first screen-specific greasepaint in Frankenstein (1931) transforming the As colour processes came _ to
1912, and another five years elapsed popular conception of Mary Shelley’s dominate cinematography worldwide,
before Selig opened the first studio monster. film makeup evolved to _ reflect
make-up department. In this initial However, a make-up artist’s first everyday trends. Furthermore, the
period, the primary purpose of make- duty was still to make a star seem demise of the Production Code meant
up was to make Caucasian performers naturally photogenic while’ in that everything from combat pictures
look natural on orthochromatic character. Many studied anatomy to to medical melodramas could become
monochrome film stocks insensitive ensure authenticity, among them more graphic. Yet, even though
to reds and yellows. However, the Maurice Seiderman, who created 37 techniques became increasingly soph-
switch to panchromatic stock and ageing designs for Orson Welles in isticated to produce convincing tones
incandescent tungsten lighting Citizen Kane (1941). But effects were also and textures, it took until 1981 for an
prompted Factor to develop Pancake required to attain physical accuracy in Academy Award category to be
cosmetics, which so reinforced photo- historical reconstructions and biopics. inaugurated, as the boom in sci-fi and
realism that they became the industry Moreover, at a time when non-white fantasy blockbusters and the vogue for
standard before the advent of colour performers had limited opportunities gory horror led new talents like Dick
necessitated further modification. in Hollywood, make-up also proved Smith, Stan Winston, Rick Baker, Rob
Actor Lon Chaney, aka ‘The Man of vital for ethnic characterizations. Bottin and Tom Savini to experiment
a Thousand Faces’, was the undisputed Eventually, however, the Oriental with lifecasting, prosthetic sculpting
master of silent make-up technique, effects created for acclaimed features and animatronics to create dynamic
using greasepaint, putty, mortician’s like Sidney Franklin’s The Good Earth effects that could withstand close-up
wax, resin, liquid elastic and fish skin (1937) and B franchises such as Charlie scrutiny.
to metamorphose into the Hunchback Chan and Mr Moto were recognized as Foam latex and gelatin are now
of Notre Dame (1923) and the Phantom being as politically unacceptable as Al complemented by CGI, so that Jim
of the Opera (1925). Make-up artists Jolson, Fred Astaire and _ Shirley Carrey’s face can morph in The Mask

182
 ABovE: Reiko Kruk based Klaus BELOW: Polish-born Max Factor
(1994) and Ralph Fiennes can assume Kinski’'s make-up in Werner Herzog’s created a heart-shaped pout for Clara
Lord Voldemort’s evil countenance in Nosferatu (1979) (shown her Bow that reinforced her image as
odentine look i silent cinema’s Tt Girl’.
the Harry Potter series. Indeed, with 2 original.
3-D finally threatening to become an
established facet of escapist film-
making, the proficiency of effects
make-up looks set to become more
significant than ever before. m
 mi
Py

Director Albert Lamorisse’s son

Pascal in The Red Balloon (1956),
a delightful film for children that
remains the only short to win an
Oscar (for Best Original Screenplay)
outside its category.
—

a e.

ee

ra

b a

. J

Ey
‘ - k
& .
.

Bs
a:

>
Cinema for life’s beginners

IDEA N2 89 BELOW: Between 1922 and 1944, Our Bottom: A birthday card produced by

KIDPICS Gang (aka The Little Rascals)

appeared in 220 slapstick shorts
aimed at younger audiences.
Rank for members ofits Saturday
matinee club.

Se
I
Films for children in the multimedia age have become
cinematic commercials for spin-off DVDs, video games, toys,
comics, fast foods and theme-park rides. But movie-makers
were slow to tap into this kidpic market, only beginning to
exploit it systematically after adults started staying at home
to watch television in the 1950s.
With moral guardians concerned Children’s Film Foundation in Britain
about the deleterious impact that specialized in semi-comic adventures
flickers and nickelodeon patrons might that saw plucky kids outfoxing dim-
have on impressionable minds, children witted crooks, while Germany, the
played little part in cinema’s first few Netherlands and Scandinavia estab-
decades. Indeed, even juvenile roles lished kidpic traditions that continue
were taken by grown-up stars like Mary to combine escapism with an
Pickford. In 1925, the Motion Picture unpatronizing exploration of the
Producers and Distributors Association everyday problems of growing up.
circulated 52 programmes of re-edited Hollywood, on the other hand, has
child-friendly titles. But the initiative invariably opted to entertain rather
lasted only a year, and the standard than enlighten. Moreover, by churning
matinee programme of cartoons, out hundreds of B Westerns, action
serials, B movies and slapstick shorts serials and sci-fi blockbusters for
was established. children, it has tended to cater for boys
Things began to change in the early rather than girls, who have had few
1930s with Mickey Mouse, whose screen role models since Shirley Temple
popularity was reinforced by a pact grew out of her Curly Top phase and
between Walt Disney and the Better Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin
Films Committee that led to the started falling in love rather than
formation of the Mickey Mouse Club, putting on shows.
with its oath, elected officials and Recognizing that younger audi- emphasis onto spectacle, special effects
charitable activities. However, Disney ences were being neglected, as and superheroes that many critics
was quick to see the club’s commercial teenagers were lured away by sensation- complained about the juvenilization of
as well as civic benefits and began alist exploitation, Disney responded American film and the strengthening
sponsoring tie-in toys, dinnerware, with a series of live-action features that links between cinema and con-
watches and comestibles, which ranged from true-life adventures such sumption. Deals with CGI pioneers
established a brand loyalty that as The Living Desert (1953) and animal Pixar and Japanimators Studio Ghibli
somewhat reduced the risk of Disney’s escapades such as The Incredible Journey have enabled Disney to retain its status.
first venture into children’s feature (1963) to cosy but visually innovative But with kidpics becoming increasingly
animation with Snow White and the Seven musical adaptations like Mary Poppins lucrative, rival conglomerates are
Dwarfs (1937). (1965). Yet, despite the introduction of always looking for hit franchises such
Around the same time, the G-rated movies (for General Audiences) as Harry Potter to hook the next
Moscow Children’s Film Studio began in 1968, few notable kidpics were made generation of movie-goers. =
producing fairytales that extolled the during the ensuing decade, as directors
virtues of collaboration and hard work revelled in their newfound freedom
without being excessively propagandist. to explore adult themes without
Soviet director Alexander Row’s Production Code constraint.
template was widely copied behind the However, Star Wars (1977) revitalized
Iron Curtain over the next 40 years. The the form and so decisively shifted the

185
Adolescent screen angst

BELOW: The Brat Pack came of age

IDEA N2 90 asove: Mickey Rooney looks
unimpressed as Love Finds Andy in John Hughes’s The Breakfast

TEENPICS Hardy (1938). Club (1985).

Teenagers saved Hollywood. When adult audiences began to

decline from 1947, producers realized that adolescents had
an appetite for sensation and spectacle, not to mention the
leisure and disposable income to indulge it. Consequently,
what had once been a mass medium suddenly became a
teenpic production line.
Until the late 1930s, film-makers made out teenpics across the genres for the
little effort to discriminate between drive-ins and double-feature houses. As
juvenile age groups. But, having in- a result, they were accused of Despite a more ironic approach in
vested so heavily in maturing child juvenilizing cinema, as most of the the Scream and American Pie series, the
stars like Judy Garland, Deanna Durbin films were riddled with artifice, clichés majority of teenpics centred on white
and Mickey Rooney, they began making and stereotypes, and provided con- suburbanites, who knew little of
features about school, family and dating servative and shallow solutions to poverty, violence, peer pressure,
that reflected the rising bobby sox pressing problems. Yet, alongside the substance abuse or family breakdown.
culture. However, the Production Code 1960s beach movies that sought to New Black Cinema outings like Boyz N
limited their scope, so the innocent sanitize rock’n’roll attitudes, the glut the Hood (1991) offered a more realistic
scrapes of the suburban middle-class of delinquency, hot-rod, biker and vision of inner-city America, but they
hero Andy Hardy were only marginally drug-trip pictures persuaded the also adopted a largely male perspective.
less egregious than the miscreancy of studios to embrace the lucrative Indeed, Hollywood fell far behind the
the Dead End Kids, who initially counterculture, with the result that Dutch, Germans and Scandinavians in
appeared in gangster pictures. the Code collapsed and a New discussing gynocentric issues and,
Postwar ephebiphobia saw teen- Hollywood emerged. when it responded, it merely imported
agers demonized in pictures such as This brief post-classical epoch was the mean-girl persona from TV shows
The Wild One (1953). But Rebel Without a soon deluged by a second wave of such as Beverly Hills, 90210. Thus, while
Cause and Blackboard Jungle (both 1955) teenpics that arrested another box- the studios continue to exploit
made greater attempts at under office slump by pandering to media- teenagers as their core audience, they
standing the teen psyche, with the savvy and insatiably consumerist still struggle to speak to them on their
latter even depicting a cross-racial Generation Xers. Initially enticed by own terms.
alliance against injustice. Yet while the nostalgia of films such as American
rock’n’roll brought a new edge to Graffiti (1973) and the sex-quest antics
teenpics, it wasn’t until the Production of Risky Business (1983), they particularly
Code was revised in 1956 that identified with John Hughes’s Brat
Hollywood finally began tackling Pack pictures, which provided cosy
taboos like angst, alienation, sexual correctives to the punishments being
identity, underage pregnancy and meted out for teenage transgression
domestic dysfunction. in slasher movies such as Halloween
Emulating American International (1978), which helped sustain the 1980s
Pictures, producers began churning video boom.

186
 ‘Rock’n’roll brought a new
edge to teenpics.’
Above: Vampire Edward Cullen
(Robert Pattinson) submits to the
Volturi in New Moon (2009), the
Rae AO)Aon TALE eeOF ee meOT
Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga.

s a terT: Red for danger: James Dean

- STATION » transformed the image of the
Divisig a oa American teenager in Nicholas Ray’s
: 7
Rebel Without a Cause (1955).

: iY as

ELeas
a ir

TT
a 2
ige
is 6 He
i: mm B

TES
James Acheson’s costumes helped
director Sam Raimi and actor Tobey
Maguire re-invent the Marvel Comics
hero in Spider-Man (2002) and its
2003 and 2007 sequels.
Familiarity breeds content

IDEA N2 91

SEQUELS

Sequels exist in many narrative forms, from novels to video

games. Homer’s great verse epic The Odyssey was a
progression of The Iliad, and even Shakespeare was not
averse to sequelizing his histories. In producing sequels,
therefore, cinema has merely adhered to the artistic adage
of ‘same again, but different’.
The sequel has a bad name. Indeed, it Many first-wave sequels were
has several bad names - prequel, cheaply produced in the hope of
threequel, midquel, interquel and making a quick buck. But the mega-
sidequel. Then there’s the parallel and franchise sequel became crucial to the
the distant sequel, as well as the reboot, media synergy strategy devised by
the stand-alone and the companion corporate Hollywood, as the more
piece. Each summer, critics bemoan successful sequels a blockbuster gen-
another outbreak of sequelitis and erated, the more opportunities there
denounce Hollywood for its creative were for tie-in merchandising. Con-
torpor and commercial timidity. sequently, storylines became more
Yet sequel isn’t always a synonym for open-ended to allow for continuations,
lazy repetition. while the studios started timing sequel
D.W. Griffith was one of the first to releases to coincide with the launch of
attempt a sequel when he concluded home-entertainment formats. More-
the narrative started in His Trust in His over, they also began pre-sequelizing
Trust Fulfilled (both 1911). But while pictures, with Pirates of the Caribbean: At
Hollywood produced occasional studio World’s End (2007) being in the pipeline top: Romantic icon Rudolph ABOVE: Charlie Yeung in Fallen
Valentino made hisfinal screen Angels (1995), Wong Kar-wai’s
era outings like The Son of the Sheik (1926) before Dead Man’s Chest (2006) had appearance in the silent sequel, The sequel-cum-companion piece to
and Edison, the Man (1940), the sequel even opened. Son of the Sheik (1926). Chungking Express (1994).
tended to coalesce into the film series, The cynicism of such horizontal
which featured recurring characters integration has led to accusations that
in self-contained storylines. It was effects-laden sequels are devoid of as Fritz Lang’s The Testament of Dr Mabuse
only in the 1970s that the sequel ideas and intelligence. But there’s (1933), Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy (1955-
became institutionalized. Francis Ford no reason why plots involving 59), Akira Kurosawa’s Sanjuro (1962)
Coppola’s The Godfather Part II (1974) was popular characters, situations and and Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels (1995).
uniquely a sequel and a prequel, not settings shouldn’t be innovative and In fact, Hong Kong, Japan, Bollywood
only continuing the story begun in challenging. In revitalizing Spider-Man and the various European industries
The Godfather (1972) but also filling in and Batman, for example, Sam Raimi are as reliant on sequels as Hollywood. =
backstory to the earlier film; it also and Christopher Nolan were able to
remains one of the few follow-ups to be play with audience expectations, while
as critically lauded as its predecessor. also exploring their own insights into
However, the Jaws spin-offs and the the superhero psyche.
glut of slasher movies that spawned ‘There’s also an element of
1980s franchises established a trend for snobbishness involved in naysaying
diminishing dramatic and box-office Naked Gun 33%: The Final Insult (1994) or
returns that inevitably prompted Shrek Forever After (2010), while ac-
a backlash. claiming such foreign-language sequels

189
What’s new?

Anne Heche and Janet Leigh perish in

the shower in the Gus Van Sant
(1998) and Alfred Hitchcock (1960)
versions of Psycho.

IDEA N2 92

REMAKES

As rights fees are rarely required for remakes, producers

readily emend both classic and obscure movies in the hope
of intriguing viewers already familiar with the original, as
well as those who know it only by reputation or are
completely oblivious of it. But risk aversion isn’t the only
motive for such makeovers.

Jean Renoir once suggested that frequently revisited; even when infamously slavish 1998 Psycho remake
directors often spend their entire studios began purchasing rights, they differing in several regards from Alfred
career remaking the same film. Yet usually acquired them in perpetuity to Hitchcock’s 1960 original. However,
while exploring recurring themes in a enable future remakes at no additional essential remakes are produced with
recognizably personal style is supposedly cost. Such pre-sold sources were only minor variations of plot,
the sole preserve of auteurs, artists and usually refurbished in the interests of characterization, dialogue, setting and
artisans alike have long produced fidelity or in a bid to update them for form. By contrast, revisionist remakes
remakes of their own works, among new generations. However, remakes strive to put an entirely new slant on
them Cecil B. DeMille, Yasujiro Ozu, have also been undertaken to pay the material, while unofficial or
Howard Hawks and Michael Haneke. homage to previous adaptations or ‘disguised’ remakes relocate the core
Critics have tended to look to render them superfluous. Many action and change the title to avoid
benignly upon such authorial remake directors seek to do justice toa direct overlap with the often-
repetition but the remaking of an promising premise that has initially uncredited original.
existing film by a different director is been mishandled or undervalued. Cross-generic remakes are often
invariably decried as evidence of Some relish utilizing improved sound, equally audacious in allowing story-
creative indolence and commercial colour or effects technology to enhance lines to be reimagined. In Hollywood’s
conservatism. Yet film-makers have the action’s audiovisual quality, while Golden Age, for example, various film
been recycling successful storylines others are adept at translating foreign styles were musicalized. Bollywood has
since cinema’s first decade, when a hits to novel settings to reach new and recently adopted this trend by inserting
lack of copyright legislation meant often wider audiences. musical numbers into revamps of
that remakes could abound. Literary No remake is a shot-forshot du- Reservoir Dogs (Kaante, 2002) and E.T.: The
works in the public domain were plication, with even Gus Van Sant’s Extra-Terrestrial (Koi... Mil Gaya, 2003).

190
 BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF.

IM ROTH MICHAEL PITT

DEVON GEARHART

POU M ela |ad

with SUSANNE LOTHAR - ULRICH MUHE - ARNO FRISCH - FRANK GIERING - STEFAN CLAPCZYNSKI and others

Director of Photography JURGEN JURGES - Editor ANDREAS PROCHASKA - Sound WALTER AMANN - Production Designer CHRISTOPH KANTER - Costume Designer LISY CHRISTL

OM Se SMU mae Cl tate else Men ot Cry?

(a a

Bousy]
a Oe ara
fing
anes
Bs
kone
a a

Film-makers have been recycling successful Cla

American remake of Funny Games ee
storylines since cinema’s first decade.’ ae
and for his 1997 Austrian

earlier.

BELOW: Rippling paranoia: Hitomi

Kuroki in Hideo Nakata’s J-horror
The connection between small- gem Dark Water (2002) (right) and
Jennifer Connelly in Walter Salles’s
screen spin-offs such as Bewitched (2005) 2005 Hollywood remake
and their source is often tenuous.
Whether revering or parodying, few TV
transfers have found box-office favour.
But, along with video and DVD,
television has contributed significantly
to remake culture since it has helped
familiarize viewers with cinema
history. This cine-literacy has made
remakes as diverse as Scarface (1983),
You’ve Got Mail (1998) and Let Me In (2010)
easier to finance and promote. Con-
sequently, film industries worldwide
will no doubt continue to plunder the
archives for remakeable properties. =
Far from increasing choice, venues
IUCR ea a
Preston, Lancashire, reinforced
Hollywood's dominance of the world
TT
Cinema’s supermarkets

IDEA N2 93

MULTIPLEXES
Opened in 1988 and boasting 25
screens, the Kinepolis in Brussels was
the world’s first megaplex.

If dream palaces were cinema’s cathedrals, multi-screen

venues are its superstores. It’s no coincidence that they’re
located in shopping malls or out-of-town retail parks, as
they also promise everything under one roof. But, whether
with three, 13 or 30 screens, multiplexes rarely offer as
much choice as patrons might expect.
The 1948 Paramount Decrees were could find their niche, the new venues they also put many smaller multiplexes
intended to open up the exhibition simply enabled greater numbers to see out of business, as well as the more
market by breaking Hollywood’s ubiquitous ‘event movies’, as the traditional city-centre venues. Multi-
monopoly over America’s movie theat- studios adopted the strategy of mass- screen theatres continue to spring up
res. However, they served only to disin- media advertising and _ saturation at a rapid rate across every continent,
centivize the increasingly impecunious booking. Thus, instead of allowing with many being wired for digital
studios and leave the new movie- publicity, reviews and word of mouth projection. The majority reinforce
theatre chains and independents with to accrue an audience, the emphasis Hollywood’s commercial dominance.
fewer films to screen. Consequently, shifted to making a splash on opening However, their capacity, comfort and
the drift to suburbia and competing weekend and exploiting box-office data convenience contributed significantly
leisure activities like television saw to sustain grosses until the release of to the rise in cinema attendances
ticket sales plunge by almost 50 per the video or DVD. during the most recent global
cent between 1946 and 1953. Despite In order to maximize returns, the economic downturn. m
the introduction of drive-ins, art studios began taking fewer risks with
cinemas, and revival and grindhouses content. The reliance on enticing
(see Exploitation), the weekly attend- younger viewers with sequels, remakes
ance of 30 million in 1960 had dropped and pre-sold spin-offs from TV shows,
to 18 million by the end of the decade. bestsellers, comic books and video
Multi-screen theatres had existed games prioritized spectacle over story.
since the 1930s. But with so many This resulted in more effects-laden
downtown sites, as well as second-run blockbusters being released at inflated
and neighbourhood operations, dis- prices in 3-D and such large-screen
appearing, exhibitors in the 1970s format as 7Omm and IMAx. In order to
made a concerted effort to twin and combat piracy, home-entertainment
triple screens in a bid to extend the run lead times were also reduced and even
of successful pictures. The practice bigger ‘megaplex’ venues were
coincided with the emergence of the constructed with stadium seating,
blockbuster and the Reaganite de- convenient parking and state-of-the-art
regulation policies that allowed the projection and sound systems to pack
conglomerates now controlling the in as many people as possible before
studios to restore circuits to their port- the arrival of the next must-see - which
folios. Consequently, a multiplex was often bundled with lesser titles
building boom followed that prompted from the same producer or distributor
audience figures to rise to 20 million ina cynical return to block booking.
in 1980, 25 million in 1995 and 30 Slashing transportation and
million in 2002. staffing costs and raking in 40 per cent
However, rather than creating of their profits from concession stands,
spaces in which indies and imports megaplexes made economic sense. But

193
 a) ee

Art installation as feature film:

video artists Douglas Gordon and

The VI revolution Philippe Pareno used 17 cameras to

shoot Zidane: A 21st Century
Portrait (2006).

IDEA N2 94

VIDEO

Even in an industry of rapidly changing technology, video's

moment came and went with remarkable speed. But, for
two decades at the end of the last century, videotape (VT)
and the videocassette recorder (VCR) transformed the
production, reception and study of commercial and art film.
Introduced in 1956, video was used conferencing to assess the special
primarily in television until Sony and effects for Jurassic Park while he was
Matsushita developed the Betamax and on location making Schindler’s List
Video Home System (VHS) cassettes (both 1993).
respectively in the 1970s. Having But video didn’t just impact on
thwarted Disney and Universal’s chal- Hollywood. Documentarists could
lenge that video contravened copyright shoot for longer using tape, with Jean-
law, Sony lost the format battle and, by Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville
1988, 60 per cent of American house- adopting stylized actuality techniques
holds owned a VHS machine. Around for personal projects such as France/tour/
the same time, combined video rental detour/deux/enfants (1977). In 1980, Wim
and sales figures doubled theatrical Wenders incorporated Tom Farrell’s
takings to $7.2 billion annually. video footage in his Nicholas Ray profile,
Independent production burgeoned Lightning over Water, while Michelangelo
to meet the demand for ‘straight-to- Antonioni experimented with video
video’ titles, although the resulting colour tones in The Oberwald Mystery
boom in pornography and splatter (1981). More recently, video also enabled
horror sparked controversy about the meteoric rise of Nollywood in Nigeria.
underage viewers being exposed to Video also featured prominently in
excessive sex and violence. Aesthetic Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies, and
debates also flared, as _ purists Videotape (1987), Oliver Stone’s Natural
complained that images captured on Born Killers and Atom Egoyan’s Exotica
magnetically coated tape lacked the (both 1994), while the ‘music video’ designed to be watched in their
density, detail, dimensionality and influenced the production numbers in entirety. Subsequently, Bruce Nauman,
dynamic range of those on celluloid. Flashdance (1983) and Dirty Dancing Bill Viola, Sadie Benning, Matthew
They also denounced the panning and (1987). Yet, as the video revolution Barney, Matthias Muller, Pascal Auger,
scanning of pictures to fit television prompted Hollywood to start producing Pipilotti Rist and Douglas Gordon
screens (see Television), and the fact high-concept spectacles like Top Gun melded video with performance,
that spectatorship was less controllable (1986) in order to rebrand the big- conceptual art and experimental film.
and concentrated in domestic en- screen blockbuster, a new breed of Digital video prompted videotape’s
vironments than in darkened auditoria. video artist was finding an appreciative gradual obsolescence from the mid-
Nevertheless, video significantly audience in the world’s art galleries 1990s. But many critics are concerned
facilitated scholarly study and it soon and museums that the malleability of digital imagery
proved equally valuable on film sets. Having emerged in the 1960s, Nam will foster a cinema that no longer
Several directors used video for June Paik, Peter Campus, Joan Jonas, presents recorded reality, but a
storyboards and rough cuts, while and Steina and Woody Vasulka were cosmeticized idealization. m
video assist monitors and instant among the first to exploit loops,
playback - made possible because video surveillance techniques, multiple
did not need processing like film - monitors, and the electronic distortion
reduced the need for expensive retakes. of sound and image to create videos
Steven Spielberg even used video and installations that weren’t always

194
BELOW LEFT: Having shot The Oberwald BELOW: Steven Soderbergh incorporated
Mystery (1981) on videotape to conduct handheld camcorder footage in his Palme
colour experiments, Michelangelo Antonioni d’0r-winning study of voyeurism, Sex, Lies,
transferred the results to a standard 35mm and Videotape (1989)
release print.
Ingmar Bergman swapped aset of
tin soldiers for his brother's magic
og MerimCaeewel were eee
enchantment as Bertil Guve gives a
slide show in Fanny and
Alexander (1982).
Bringing it all back home

IDEA N2 95

HOME ENTERTAINMENT

Far from being a modern phenomenon, home Jacques Demy made animated
and live-actions films as a boy, as
entertainment has been provided by moving images since widow Agnes Varda recalls in the
affectionate biopic, Jacquot de
Nantes (1991).
cinema’s prehistory. However, what was once a niche
novelty is now a crucial component of the global cine-
economy, providing among other things a welcome new
outlet for forgotten classics.
Optical toys like the thaumatrope, This new availability was expanded The same is true of the relationship
phenakistoscope and zoetrope (see two decades later by the advent of between films and the internet. A
Persistence of Vision) were the first to videocassettes, which permitted the website hyped The Blair Witch Project
find a home market in the mid- rental or purchase of films from all (1999) to a $240.5 million return on its
nineteenth century. Scale versions of periods and places. Initially, the makers’ $22,000 outlay, while the
public entertainments such as the industry opposed video on copyright script for Snakes on a Plane (2006) was
diorama were also produced, although grounds, but by 1995 the home market shaped by forum feedback. Broad-
Emile Reynaud reversed that trend by accounted for over half of Hollywood’s band has allowed animators and
converting the praxinoscope (a worldwide revenue. experimental film-makers to exhibit
variation on the zoetrope) to project Moreover, video enabled film- online, while sites such as YouTube
animated images before larger makers outside the mainstream to find afford showcases for amateur talents.
audiences at his Théatre Optique. an audience. In _ particular, the However, filesharing has seen an
None of these devices proved as exploitation genres acquired cult increase in illegal downloading and
popular domestically as the magic followings, with Quentin Tarantino the window between _ theatrical
lantern, which Ingmar Bergman famously furthering his screen presentation and release on disc has
recalled so fondly in Fanny and Alexander education as a video-store clerk. The consequently been drastically reduced.
(1982). Even so, it was rapidly surpassed boom had its controversies, however, Investment in 3-D spectaculars has
by the projector, as home movies with the graphic horrors nicknamed increased in a bid to combat piracy,
became a craze after the introduction ‘video nasties’ sparking a censorship with the result that, in 2009, theatrical
of safety film (1923) and 8mm (1932). debate in 1980s Britain, while purists takings ($9.87 billion) exceeded DVD
Jacques Demy, Bernardo Bertolucci, decried the techniques employed to sales ($8.73 billion) for the first time in
Francis Ford Coppola and Steven transfer widescreen pictures to tape. almost a decade. Home entertainment
Spielberg were among the many Image quality was also a concern, may be big business, but nothing beats
aspiring directors who crafted juvenilia as was perishability. But both issues the big-screen experience. m
for family and friends. But domestic were ameliorated by the launch of laser
cinema could never match the impact disc, DVD and Blu-ray. Outstripping
of television. VHS rentals for the first time in 2003,
Despite sharing the culpability for DVD has markedly altered home
the slump in American box-office presentation, with extras packages
takings from 1947, television quickly containing commentaries, ‘making of
became a Hollywood lifeline. In the documentaries, alternative versions,
mid-1950s, the studios began selling deleted scenes, trailers, bonus shorts,
their back catalogues for broadcast. galleries and biographical information.
Martin Scorsese cites shows like Million The disc for Greg Marcks’s 11:14 (2003)
Dollar Movie for acquainting him with also had an interactive element: the
classic films that had been barely seen link between films and games is
since their original release. growing increasingly strong.

197
 Challenging the studio system

IDEA N2 96

US INDEPENDENT CINEMA
[sae
Independent production has always played avital role in
America. But whereas such independence once served to
introduce innovation and iconoclasm to the mainstream,
in the blockbuster era it is increasingly marginalized.
It’s one of the great ironies of screen devised to appeal to the new juvenile
history that the mavericks whose market —- which were rooted in indie
Motion Picture Distributing and Sales genre flicks - came to dominate the
Company broke the cartel operated by industry and a backlash against
the Motion Picture Patents Company corporate gigantism in the late 1980s
established the infinitely more saw the emergence of new talents
restrictive system of vertical such as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley,
integration that enabled Hollywood to Steven Soderbergh and the Coen
dominate world cinema. Indeed, as brothers, who were sponsored by
early as 1919, D.W. Griffith, Mary fledgling companies like New Line,
Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks and Orion and Miramax, promoted by the
Charlie Chaplin felt compelled to form Sundance Film Festival and lauded at
United Artists to protect their creative the Independent Spirit Awards.
and commercial interests. Metro chief However, while many film-makers
Richard A. Rowland scornfully opined managed to debut successfully with
that ‘the lunatics have taken over the shoestring pictures that prioritized
asylum’, but both the majors and the character and plot over spectacle, few
minors not only accommodated succeeded in sustaining a career.
independent producers such as Despite critical support, breakout hits
Samuel Goldwyn, Joseph M. Schenck like Reservoir Dogs (1992) and The Blair
tor: Monochrome indie chic: John
Lurie, Eszter Balint and Richard and David O. Selznick during their Witch Project (1999) proved rare, and
Edson in Jim Jarmusch’s Stranger heyday, but they also allowed Poverty most indie features were restricted to
Than Paradise (1984).
Row to copycat their product for the arthouse venues, specialist festivals
ABOVE: Strike up the band: Joseph lower half of double bills. and cult video labels. Moreover, just as
Green and Jan Nowina-Przybylski’s
Yiddish cinema gem, Yiddle With However, the emphasis shifted the ‘race’ films of Noble Johnson,
His Fiddle (1936) firmly in favour of independent Oscar Micheaux and Spencer Williams
production following the Paramount and the Yiddish features of Sidney M.
Decrees of 1948. United Artists Goldin, Joseph Green and Edgar G.
flourished, with producers Walter Ulmer were once consigned to the
Wanger, Sam Spiegel and Walter indie fringes, so now are the vast
Mirisch, directors Stanley Kramer and majority of pictures made by women,
Otto Preminger, and actors such as Burt queer, African-American, diasporic
Lancaster and Kirk Douglas cutting and exilic film-makers.
their distribution deals. By 1958, 65 per Independence has always been a
cent of Hollywood features were being relative term but the gap between US
independently produced, with the mainstream and independent produc-
numbers being significantly increased tion is wider than it has ever been and
by prolific newcomers like Allied Artists it seems destined to grow wider still. m
and American International Pictures.
Exploitation helped American
cinema survive the onset of television
but the blockbusters that Hollywood

198
 ‘A backlash against corporate gigantism
in the late 1980s saw the emergence of
new talents.’

Heather Donohue in The Blair

Witch Project (1999), which started
an indie trend for ‘recovered footage’
emcee TETAS
 ‘Queer cinema now sustains its own festival
circuit and porn industry.’

| °
Pe

* Co

"

:
Ls i

a)
a)

Above: Gael Garcia Bernal in Bad ricHT: Alessandro Gassman on a

Education (2004), Pedro journey of self-discovery with Mehmet
Almodovar’s noirish exposé of Giinsiir in Ferzen Ozpetek’s
Franco-era religious schools. Hammam (1997).
 Out of the closet

IDEA N& 97

QUEER CINEMA
PE as
Homosexuality was illegal in many countries for much of Written by Christa Winsloe and
directed by Leontine Sagan, Girls in
cinema’s first century. Consequently, the representation of Uniform (1931) also had an
all-female cast.
openly gay or lesbian characters in mainstream films was
nigh-on impossible until the late 1960s launched a
revolution in the West not just in the way films were made
but also how they were interpreted.

The Production Code introduced in Gregg Araki’s The Living End and Tom in highlighting the androgynous
Hollywood in the 1930s forbade the Kalin’s Swoon (both 1992) were appeal of Greta Garbo and Marlene
depiction of any kind of ‘sex perversion’ accused of producing elitist, post- Dietrich and the homoerotic charm of
and, even when the rubric was modern ‘Homo Porno’ around white, Marlon Brando and Tom Cruise. They
amended in 1961, same-sex situations middle-class gay men. However, by celebrated the excess and suffering of
were only permissible if handled with eschewing a single aesthetic and Judy Garland and Carmen Miranda,
‘care, discretion and restraint’. Features encouraging multiplicity, New Queer proclaimed early female film director
like Girls in Uniform (or Mddchen in Cinema _ reflected the growing Dorothy Arzner an auteur, and
Uniform) (1931) and Victim (1961) were confidence of established and emerging accepted that, for all their faults,
consequently rare during the decades film-makers worldwide, including mainstream representations of gay,
of persecution and _ prosecution. Chantal Akerman, Barbara Hammer, lesbian, bisexual and _ transgender
Indeed, gay and lesbian themes were Su Friedrich, Monika Treut, Sadie characters were often as worthy
mostly confined to non-commercial Benning, Gus Van Sant, Derek Jarman, of inclusion in the canon as those
outings such as Kenneth Anger’s Pedro Almodovar, John Greyson and in independent, avant-garde, under-
Fireworks (1947) and Jack Smith’s Bruce LaBruce. ground or documentary films.
Flaming Creatures (1963). However, the New Queer Cinema also sparked an Queer cinema now sustains its own
collapse of the Code in 1968 and the academic revolution. Accommodating festival circuit and porn industry,
following year’s Stonewall riot saw a wide range of political and ideological while also enjoying crossover hits such
Hollywood tentatively promote positions, queer theory became an as The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the
naturalness and shared humanity in umbrella term for any ‘non-straight’ Desert (1994), Boys Don’t Cry (1999), Far
films like Midnight Cowboy (1969) and perspective. Consequently, theorists from Heaven (2002) and _ Brokeback
The Boys in the Band (1970). were able to re-examine Hollywood Mountain (2005). But lesbian, gay,
Yet in urging acceptance and history and acclaim the camp of so- bisexual and transgender (LGBT) films
upgrading gays and lesbians from called pansies like comedic actor are far from universally accepted, with
supports to leads, many of these Franklin Pangborn, while also melodramas like Deepa Mehta’s Fire
pictures succeeded only in reinforcing questioning the derangement of sissy (1996) sparking violent protests, while
platitudes. These became more psychos like Jame ‘Buffalo Bill’ Gumb many African and Asian nations outlaw
entrenched in the well-meaning but in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) and them altogether (see Censorship). =
often patronizing AIDS dramas that killer dykes like Beth Garner in Basic
began to appear in the mid-1980s. It Instinct (1992). They reassessed generic
was a reaction against such political convention and found queer subtexts
correctness and aggressive activism in vampire and monster movies, in
that provoked what critic B. Ruby Rich Hitchcock thrillers, and in all manner
dubbed ‘New Queer Cinema’. of musicals, screwballs and romcoms.
Disavowing positive images, but Queer theorists challenged the
politically assertive and committed to feminist theory of the gaze (see
revising and reappropriating stereo- Feminist Film Theory) and declared it
types, Todd Haynes’s Poison (1991), to be reciprocal rather than repressive

201
Middlebrow nostalgia?

Julian Sands and Helena Bonham

Carter in Merchant Ivory’s A Room
With a View (1985), which typified
British heritage cinema in the 1980s.

IDEA N2 98

HERITAGE FILMS

Heritage film is a divisive and often derisive term. debates have turned around the extent
Although scholars reserve it for the lavish costume dramas to which heritage pictures shape
popular understanding of the past by
released since the mid-1980s, it can be applied with equal promoting national myths, eulogizing
validity to cinema’s first attempts at literary adaptation, heroes and drawing allegorical
parallels with contemporary events.
historical reconstruction and biography, as they share a Whether adapting ancient texts,
superficial sophistication designed to achieve a degree of literary masterpieces or penny dread-
fuls, post-World War II costume films
socio-cultural respectability. exhibited a greater complexity and
scope and were often used to showcase
The most immediate preoccupation of Such titles set the template for new technologies. In biopics, the
the earliest film-makers was record- period re-enactment. But whether subject’s flaws became as important
ing the present. But once Alfred Clark celebrating or subverting the social, as his or her achievements, and the
made The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots cultural or political heritage they growing emphasis on psychological
(1895), they quickly sought to emulate depicted, features as different as Ernst realism in widescreen epics like David
art, literature, theatre and waxworks Lubitsch’s silent 1920s German Lean’s Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
by recreating the past. Film d’Art, the Kosttimfilme (costume films), the 1930s anticipated the naturalism of New
Italian superspectacle, and D.W. Griffith’s Hollywood biopics starring George Hollywood, as well as the meta-
The Birth of a Nation (1915) and Intolerance Arliss and Paul Muni, and the Gains- historical reportage of Roberto
(1916) all tackled literary or historical borough bodice-rippers of the 1940s in Rossellini’s The Rise to Power of Louis XIV
topics and helped transform the scale the UK reflected the sensibilities of the (1966) and the anachronistic icono-
and ambition of cinema, as well as earn- place and time in which they were clasm of Hans-Jiirgen Syberberg’s
ing it a new, more educated audience. made. Indeed, subsequent critical Hitler: A Film from Germany (1978).

202
 ABOvE: Jean de Florette (1986) won BELOW: Gabriel Axel’s Karen Blixen
French film a new international adaptation Babette’s Feast (1987) is
audience by contrasting its period one of many heritage titles to win the
trappings with the slick visuals of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film.
contemporary cinéma du look style.

In many ways, 1980s-and-later for its elitist Laura Ashley pictorialism

heritage cinema was a reaction against and for sanitizing the satirical
such departures from narrative intentions of its source material.
classicism. Yet it also shifted the Merchant Ivory’s output was _ partic-
storytelling focus from technique to ularly castigated for supposedly
mise en scene, as meticulously re- peddling uncritical nostalgia to middle-
searched costumes, props, décor, aged, middle-class middlebrows at the
manners and rituals imbued adapt- height of Thatcherite social upheaval.
ations of Austen, Dickens, Dumas, Zola, The period picture is no longer so
James, Forster and others with contentious or ubiquitous. But, with
enhanced levels of coded significance. CGI offering it a chance to further
Handsome international outings reinvent itself, it enters the post-
such as Jean de Florette (1986), Like Water heritage era as knowing and self-
for Chocolate (1992), The Age of Innocence, reflexive as ever. @
The Piano and Farewell My Concubine (all
1993) found appreciative audiences,
who were otherwise alienated by the
muscular antics of the mainstream’s
action heroes. But, despite saving the
domestic industry by using authentic
locations to chronicle the rites of
passage of independent women, gay
men and lower-class aspirants, British
heritage cinema was widely ridiculed

203
‘Cinematographers have had to relearn
lighting strategies.’

An Oo)Uetcoe m PUP mame een EL

night and Michael Mann wanted to
SOO MERCH Nae eee
light, he became the first director to
use high-definition video cameras in
mE elm Tedes
 Cheaper, more versatile, better?

A Steadicam rig and a high-

IDEA N2 99 definition digital camera captured

DIGITAL VIDEO
the sweep of history in one 96-minute
take in Aleksandr Sokurov’s Russian
Ark (2002).

NRE ra Sser Se re ne ee
Digital video encodes images electronically rather than
photochemically. Despite storing information in binary
units on tapes, discs, hard drives or flash memory cards,
digital cameras rely on roughly the same optical principles
as their analogue forebears. Thus, with new software packages
constantly improving the efficacy of applications from
storyboarding to viewing, digitization represents one of the
most radical technical transformations in cinema history.

Initially employed in the computer once selected film stock to achieve a

generation of animated images and certain look, directors of photography
special effects, digital technology now choose a camera according to the
became an on-set option with the light-sensitivity of its CMOS or CCD
introduction of Sony’s HDCAM in 1998. sensor and the graininess created by its
George Lucas’s Star Wars: Episode II - electronic noise levels.
Attack of the Clones (2002) became the Some people dislike the plasticity
first blockbuster to be shot on 24-frame of digital imagery and blame non- Exhibitors are increasingly willing
high-definition digital video (DV) and linear editing systems that allow to screen digital movies, which can
sealed the revolution that Lucas had instant access to any frame for the either be dispatched as a disc or
first predicted in the mid-1970s. The increased incidence of cuts and close- computer file or be delivered via an
critical acclaim for Aleksandr Sokurov’s ups. Yet random-access systems such internet or satellite link. In 2005, the
one-take Russian Ark (2002) and the as Avid, Lightworks and Final Cut Pro major US studios launched the Digital
Oscar success of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog give editors greater control over the Cinema Initiatives to encourage a
Millionaire (2008) confirmed DV’s selection and assembly of images, and theatrical switchover. But, at the
aesthetic acceptance. thus, save time and money. Digital time of writing, 80 per cent of the
Numerous different kinds of formats are also used for sound editing 6,000 venues boasting a 2K, 4K or 6K
camera have been employed on and colour timing. Moreover, as they projector are in North America. So,
mainstream features, including the are non-degrading, they also play a while directors worldwide are experi-
Panavision Genesis, Arriflex D-20, part in the restoration and storage of menting with new technology and
Silicon Imaging SI-2K and the Red One. classic pictures. techniques, their audiences may have
Their portability has seen an increase Hollywood has been accused of to wait some time to sample the full
in handheld imagery and rapid action, converting to digital primarily for digital experience. =
tendencies which haven’t always met economic reasons. However, arthouse
with critical approval. But their ease of movements like Dogme 95 and
use has enabled directors to speed up Mumblecore have also exploited its
production and keep down costs. potential to produce _ stylistically
Revealing enough of an image’s innovative features on tight budgets.
brightness and resolution to determine Indeed, more independents than ever
its quality, instant playback facilities are making films and getting them
have proved similarly beneficial. But viewed, either online or through
cinematographers have had to relearn a variety of home-entertainment
lighting strategies, as the limited formats. Moreover, the fact that it is
dynamic range of most high-end digital cheaper to burn discs than strike prints
formats means that they either enables them to show their work at
emphasize shadow or _ diminish domestic cinemas and international
brighter lights. Thus, whereas they festivals.

205
 From screen to screen

Ler: Star Wars fans were divided Above: Even auteurs dabble with CGI:
over the switch from the original Revolutionary France was digitally
puppet Yoda to the CGI version of recreated for Eric Rohmer’s The
the prequels. Lady and the Duke (2001).

IDEA N2 100

COMPUTER-GENERATED IMAGERY
CEa aS e nc See aor
Computers allowed Yoda to impart wisdom in the Star Wars technique dubbed ‘bullet time’. CGI
prequels and a rogues’ gallery to inhabit Sin City. With could also lend greater authenticity to
models and miniatures, and even
technologies rapidly becoming more sophisticated, enabled a body double to complete the
there’s no predicting where the digital revolution will late Oliver Reed’s scenes in Ridley
Scott’s Gladiator (2000).
lead next. But, though computer-generated imagery (CGI) Despite the advances made in films
has fundamentally changed Hollywood, most features like Tron Legacy (2010), the creation of
realistic virtual humans, or syn-
produced worldwide are still effects-free. thespians, has yet to be perfected. But,
in the meantime, CGI has had a marked
John Whitney pioneered the use of revolution than animation, which has effect on film acting. Performers often
computers in film-making with undergone a _ dimensional trans- work before blank green screens while
abstract animations such as Lapis formation since Pixar's Toy Story (1995), others don motion-capture suits that
(1963-66); his son, John Jr, helped although the standard graphic style enable artists to fashion mythical
devise the landmark effects in Michael has also benefited from computer beings such as Gollum in the Lord of the
Crichton’s Westworld (1973). However, embellishment. Moreover, digitization Rings trilogy. Many critics lament the
computers were still insufficiently forced Hollywood to rethink its prioritizing of spectacle over character
powerful to create cine-credible images, blockbuster strategy in order to exploit and plot. But SFX can now open
and Hollywood took stock after the CGI to the full in sci-fi, fantasy and pictures as effectively as marquee
critical and commercial failure of Tron comic-book narratives. names and the studios are happy to
(1982) and The Last Starfighter (1984), The switch also made fiscal sense, Save on superstar salaries by casting
which contained the first CGI character as it was much cheaper for a single unknowns in their event movies.
and photorealistic effects respectively. operator to create an alternative reality With _ technicians supplanting
But the attendance slump of the late than to pay for expensive sets or auteurs, the prospect of an interactive
1980s persuaded the studios to commit unpredictable location shoots. The cost form of virtual entertainment replac-
to computerized techniques to prise of hiring and costuming extras could ing the traditional contemplative form
younger viewers away from their PCs also be reduced by swelling crowd becomes increasingly likely. Novelty
and games consoles, and the success of scenes with ‘artificially intelligent’ sells tickets and tie-in merchandise.
James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment bystanders programmed to repeat Thus, while cinema has always adopted
Day and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast appropriate actions in random sequen- a cautious approach to new technology,
(both 1991) heralded a momentous ces. Stunts could also be made safer by a box-office crisis may well prompt
aesthetic and economic shift that some utilizing digitized stand-ins, while set- Hollywood to take what could prove to
compared to the coming of sound. pieces like the rooftop shootout in The be an irrevocable step. =
No aspect of film-making has been Matrix (1999) could be enhanced by the
more radically altered by the CGI temporal and spatial manipulation ofa

206
OTA COTO OM UTETA era omeMTTTes aT
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Cameron also spent $50 million on
500 effects shots for Titanic (clye 7
 Glossary
Actualités Cel Distanciation
French term for early topical shorts, which A transparent celluloid sheet used by animators Also known as alienation, this is a dramatic
quickly came to refer to any factual film. to overlay the moving elements ofa shot upon technique devised by Bertolt Brecht to distance
static backdrops. Each cel contained an the audience from the action and prevent easy
Anamorphic lens individual stage of an action and saved the time association with the characters.
A lens that ‘squeezes’ a magnified image into a and expense of redrawing frames in full. Several
35mm frame. The image is ‘unsqueezed’ during cels could be layered to give the impression of Dolly
projection to achieve a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. image depth. A mobile platform supporting the camera and
operator during a travelling or dolly shot. A
Animatronics Cheat shots ‘dolly in’ glides towards a subject, while a ‘dolly
Remote controlled or computer-programmed A shot that imperceptibly mismatches a figure or out’ retreats from it.
models used in the creation of special effects. prop’s position within the mise en scene between
cuts. This breach of continuity enables directors Double exposures
Anime to shift visual emphasis. The superimposition of one image upon another by
A style of Japanese animation inspired by manga exposing a piece of film twice, in either a camera
comics. Pioneered by Osamu Tezuka in the 1960s, CinemaScope or an optical printer. In addition to suggesting
‘Japanimation’ went global in the mid-1980s. Trade name for the anamorphic process spectres and interiority, double exposures were
developed by Henri Chrétien. With an aspect also key to dissolving between scenes.
Backlot ratio of 2.35:1, it was used in The Robe (1953) and
The area behind a studio complex where full-size was key to the evolution of widescreen cinema. Dutch angles
or scale exteriors are struck and stored. Most A camera angle devised by the German
Hollywood majors had a variety of sets that could City symphonies Expressionists that assumes a diagonal axis to
be re-dressed to suit any time or place. Avant-garde actualités like Walter Ruttmann’s suggest physical or psychological dislocation, as
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (1927) that sought in Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949).
Big Five to combine the sights (and ultimately sounds) of
Nickname for MGM, Paramount, Warner Bros, a metropolis with the rhythms of everyday life. Edit point
Twentieth Century-Fox and RKO - the Hollywood The point at which a film’s action cuts from one
studios that were vertically integrated until 1948. Crane shot to another.
A large mobile camera mount fitted with a long
Bipacking arm or boom that accommodates the camera and Establishing shot
A colour process in which two celluloid strips crew on a platform that can be raised above the A shot at the start ofa sequence that sets the
sensitive to different colours pass in direct contact action or swooped down towards it. scene by establishing location, time and
through a camera or optical printer to achieve ambience, as well as sometimes the spatial
simultaneous exposure. Credit crawl relationships between the characters.
The closing or end credits identifying the
Blue- and green-screens contributions of the cast and crew, as well as any Event movie
These neutral colour screens are used as a acknowledgements and copyright details. A big-budget blockbuster that has been hyped as
backdrop for performers illuminated by white a major socio-cultural, cinematic event.
light acting out scenes that will be composited in Cut-ins
post-production with computer-generated A brief shot (usually a close-up) that emphasizes a Eyeline matches
characters and environments. specific detail within the mise en scéne, such as A match shot crucial to continuity editing that
an expression, gesture or prop. cross-cuts from a medium or close-up shot ofa
Bounce lighting character to the subject of their offscreen gaze.
The technique of using offset reflectors or Czech Film Miracle
surfaces within the mise en scéne to direct light An alternative name for the Czech New Wave Flat lighting
precisely on to a subject. (1962-68) that saw directors challenge the The even, front lighting of subjects to produce low
Soviet-imposed tenets of Socialist Realism. contrasts and no shadows or key lit areas so that
Breakaways
multiple moving cameras can be used without
Stunt props made from lightweight materials Digital tracing modifying the lighting design between shots.
like balsa wood that break convincingly on A computerized variation on the animation
impact without harming the performer. technique of rotoscoping. Freeze frame
The repetition of a single frame to give the
Bullet time Diorama impression of ‘frozen’ action.
The technique of shooting with a ring of An optical entertainment premiered in Paris in
synchronized cameras to allow footage to be 1822 that used magic lanterns and shutters to Glass shot
manipulated in post-production to create the illuminate scenes within a vast translucent This process used in the 1920s and ’30s spared
illusion of three-dimensionality. painting enveloping a revolving viewing dais. the expense of constructing scale sets by

208
 shooting scenes through glass sheets on which
Jump cut Negative space
scenery had been painted.
A consciously abrupt breach of temporal and/or The space around and between subjects in an
spatial continuity that defies narrative logic and artistic composition.
Go motion draws attention to a film’s constructed nature.
A computer technique introduced in the late
New Hollywood
1970s to move models slightly during the
Kino Eye Name given to the post-classical period of studio
shooting of stop-motion animation sequences to Term coined by the Soviet film-maker Dziga film-making that lasted from the mid-1960s to the
create more authentic movements by blurring the Vertov to define both his attitude to the camera 1980s and constituted an American new wave.
staccato effect of frame-by-frame photography. as an observational and intellectual tool and his
use of montage to create filmic truth in his Kino New talkies
Graphic matching Pravda newsreels. Produced in the 1970s by avant-gardists, these
A technique used in continuity editing to
independent features drew on critical theory and
contrast compositional elements between Lifecasting political art cinema to deconstruct the
juxtaposed shots, either to highlight similarities The use of casting or moulding techniques to conventions of traditional screen narrative.
between the images or to make metaphorical create three-dimensional copies ofliving forms.
comparisons between them.
Nouvelle Vague
Looping The new wave in French film that occurred
Green-screen See Blue- and green-screens. Term for the process of dubbing or automated between 1959 and 1963 and promoted auteur
dialogue replacement (ADR), which sees theory in seeking to regenerate screen storytelling.
Grindhouses performers re-record lines in post-production.
Slang term for American cinemas specializing in
Nudie cutie
exploitation movies, many of which were Matte Nickname for the softcore ‘sexploitation’
converted burlesque theatres. A masking device used to obscure part ofa film pictures produced in the 1960s for grindhouses.
frame during shooting or optical printing so that
Ice-box foreground and background images can be Oater
Nickname given to the soundproofed booths in accurately composited into a single image or Also known as a horse opera and a sagebrush
which cameras were confined during the early matte shot. saga, this was a B-movie Western.
sound era to prevent the whirr of the motor from
being picked up by the primitive microphones. Medium shot One-reeler
The most widely used shot in cinema, it usually A film lasting for one reel that ran for 10-12
Image capture depicts a human figure from the waist up. minutes depending upon the projection speed.
The technique of uploading images from a digital
camera or scanner so they can be computer- Midnite matinees Optical printer
modified. Late-night screenings of usually genre, A special effects device comprising one or more
exploitation or cult films. projectors locked in sync with a camera to
IMAX re-photograph film to make composite images.
A giant screen process, which was developed in Midnight rambles
Canada in the 1960s to project images up to ten Late-night screenings exclusively for black Over-the-shoulder shot
times the size of 35mm and three times that of audiences at a time when segregation dictated A camera angle used in shot-reverse-shot
70mm systems with peerless definition. American movie-going habits. dialogue passages to present one character from
over the shoulder of the other interlocutor.
Indie Motion capture
Abbreviation for independent films. The process of recording movement with sensors Panning and scanning
attached to a performer’s body and using the The method of cropping the sides of widescreen
Intermittent movement captured data to animate 2-D or 3-D digital models. images so that the key action can fit into the ‘safe
The stop-go action that ensures each frame of area’ ofa standard television screen.
film is momentarily held stationary before a Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
camera or projector lens to allow light to pass Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers Paramount Decrees
through it. The movement is achieved through a and Distributors of America, this non-profit body A decision passed in 1948 by the US Supreme
Maltese cross gear connected to a series of has overseen the US ratings system since 1968. Court that barred studios from owning their own
sprocket wheels, which pull the celluloid strip movie theatres and ended the monopolistic
through the mechanism, while a Latham loop Multi-plane photography Hollywood practice of vertical integration.
relieves tension and prevents tearing. A technique used in animation to increase shot
depth and perspective. Glass sheets are positioned Patent and Trust Wars
Intertitles at different distances from the camera’s lens so Disputes that arose in 1897 and 1908 respectively,
A printed caption inserted into the action of that cels bearing moving elements can be as Thomas Edison sought to coerce rivals into
usually silent films. photographed against static backdrops. accepting his ownership of the principal

209
 film-making patents and the hegemony of his Safe area Technicolor
Motion Picture Patents Company over the The area of an image that can be seen on a Trade name for the colour film process patented
nascent American film industry. standard television set with an aspect ratio of in 1915. Two-colour Technicolor was used on
1.33:1 or 4:3. silent features like The Ten Commandments (1923),
Pillow shot but the three-colour process introduced in 1932
A poetic digression (usually a still life) that was Saturation style produced much richer hues. However, it was
employed by the Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu The practice of accompanying each scene ina expensive and was initially only used on prestige
to allow viewers to contemplate the significance film with background music. pictures like The Wizard of Oz (1939).
of the preceding scene.
Screwball comedy Topicals
Post-production A fast-talking form of romantic comedy devised The name given to the earliest newsreels, which
The phase in the film-making process that in the 1930s that usually involved a free-spirited were also known as ‘animated newspapers’.
follows principal photography and usually female and a hapless male.
involves editing, scoring, sound mixing and the Tradition of Quality
creation of non-physical special effects. Shot-reverse-shot Term coined by Francois Truffaut to denounce
A continuity editing technique often employed in the verbose style of scriptwriting prevalent in
Poverty Row dialogue sequences that relies on eyeline matches postwar French film.
Nickname for the minor Hollywood studios to alternate the perspective of the speakers.
located around Gower Street that churned out B Treatment
movies, serials and shorts during the golden age Slow motion A short story that comes in the screenwriting
of the studio system. Achieved by filming faster than the standard rate process between the outline and the first draft.
of 24 frames per second, this is the trick effect of
Prestige picture slowing down the action for comic, dramatic or Two-shot
Trade term for a feature with lavish production analytical purpose. A shot that contains two characters in the same
values and serious content that was designed less frame so their reactions to an event or statement
to storm the box office than assuage the critics. Socko can be directly contrasted.
Name given to the frantic style of physical
Problem pictures knockabout in slapstick comedy and animation. Undercranking
A cycle of social realist dramas produced in Operating a hand-cranked camera at a slower
postwar Hollywood that tackled such previously Soundstage than-normal speed.
taboo topics as poverty, racism, marginalization, A large soundproofed room on astudio lot used
delinquency, corruption and injustice. for the filming of motion pictures. Vertical integration
The practice of uniting the means of production,
Programmers Squibs distribution and exhibition in a single company
Another name for second features or B movies. A miniature explosive device, often fitted with a that was adopted by the Big Five Hollywood
remote electronic trigger, used in the creation of studios before being deemed contrary to
Prosthetic sculpting pyrotechnic effects. anti-trust laws by the US Supreme Court in 1948.
The technique of shaping silicon rubber moulds
to create special make-up effects. Stop-motion White telephone films
The frame-by-frame animation technique of Nickname given to glossy comedies and dramas
Push-in making incremental changes to a puppet, model produced in Italy in the 1930s, characterized by
A slow travelling shot that moves the camera or clay figure to create the illusion of movement. their chic production design and resolute refusal
towards the subject on a dolly.
to comment on the realities of life.
Storyboard
Rack focus A series of sketches created in consultation with Widescreen
The technique of abruptly shifting focus during a the director to illustrate the angle, distance and A film format that exceeds the Academy aspect
shot to draw the audience’s attention to a new content of the various shots in an action sequence. ratio of 1.33:1 or 4:3
element within the mise en scéne.

Substitution splicing Wipe

Roadshowing The technique used in early film-making of A scene transition like a fade, dissolve or iris, in
The strategy used to create pre-release buzz for stopping shooting so that objects could be which an image is replaced by another gradually
prestige pictures by screening them with reserved manipulated or removed to complete an illusion
moving across the frame.
seating and inflated prices at big theatres. when the camera started rolling again.
Wire fu
Rotoscoping Synthespian A technique employed in Hong Kong martial arts
The technique of tracing live-action images to A computer-generated character that can either movies that uses wires and pulleys to enhance
render them in animated form. be an original creation or resemble a real person. the athletic spectacle of kung fu sequences.

210
Further reading
Abel, Richard (editor). The Encyclopedia of Early Furniss, Maureen. The Animation Bible: A Guide to Sitney, P. Adams. Visionary Film: The American
Cinema (Routledge, 2004) Everything from Flipbooks to Flash (Laurence Avant-Garde, 1943-2000 (3/e, Oxford University
King, 2008) Press, 2002)
Altman, Rick. Silent Film Sound (2/e, Columbia
University Press, 2007) Gomery, Douglas. The Hollywood Studio System Thornham, Sue. Passionate Detachments: An
(BEI, 2005) Introduction to Feminist Film Theory (Hodder, 1997)
Andrew, J.D. The Major Film Theories: An Introduction
(Oxford University Press, 1976) Gomery, Douglas. Shared Pleasures: A History of Usai, Paolo Cherchi. Silent Cinema: An Introduction
Movie Presentation in the United States (University of (2/e, BFI, 2000)
Barnouw, Eric. Documentary: A History of the Wisconsin Press, 1992)
Non-Fiction Film (3/e, Oxford University Press, 1993) Wakeman, John (editor). World Film Directors: Vol. 1
Hall, Ben M. The Best Remaining Seats (C.N. Potter, 1961) 1890-1945, Vol. 2 1945-1985 (H.W. Wilson, 1988)
Bendazzi, Giannalberto. Cartoons: One Hundred
Years of Cinema Animation (John Libbey, 1994) Hill, John and Pamela Church Gibson (editors).
The Oxford Guide to Film Studies (Oxford University
Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies and Press, 1998) Film Institutes and Museums
Bucks: An Interpretive History of Blacks in American
Films (4/e, Continuum, 2001) Katz, Ephraim. The Film Encyclopedia: The Complete American Film Institute, Los Angeles
Guide to Film and the Film Industry (6/e, Collins, 2008) www.afi.com
Bordwell, David. On the History of Film Style
(Harvard, 1997) King, Geoff. American Independent Cinema (I.B. British Film Institute, London
Tauris, 2005) www.bfi.org.uk
Bordwell, David. Narration in the Fiction Film
(Routledge, 1985) Klinger, Barbara. Beyond the Multiplex: Cinema, New Cinématheéque Francaise, Paris
Technologies, and the Home (University of California www.cinematheque.fr
Bordwell, David, Janet Staiger and Kristin Press, 2006)
Thompson. The Classical Hollywood Cinema: Film Style Museo Nazionale del Cinema, Turin
and Mode of Production to 1960 (Routledge, 1988) Leyda, Jay. Kino (3/e, Princeton University www.museonazionaledelcinema.it
Press, 1983)
Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Art: Deutsche Kinemathek, Berlin
An Introduction (9/e, McGraw-Hill, 2010) Mannoni, Laurent. The Great Art of Light and www.filmmuseum-berlin.de
Shadow: Archaeology of the Cinema (University of
Bordwell, David and Kristin Thompson. Film Exeter Press, 2000) Nederlands Filmmuseum, Amsterdam
History: An Introduction (McGraw-Hill, 2009) www.filmmuseum.nl
Mast, Gerald and Bruce Kawin. A Short History of
Braudy, Leo and Marshall Cohen (editors). Film the Movies (10/e, Longman, 2010) Film Museum, Vienna
Theory and Criticism (9/e, Oxford University Press, www.filmmuseum.at
2009) Monaco, James. How to Read a Film: Movies, Media,
and Beyond (4/e, Oxford University Press, 2009) London Film Museum, London
Brownlow, Kevin. The Parade’s Gone By (Knopf, 1968) www.londonfilmmuseum.com
Pramaggiore, Maria and Tom Wallis. Film: A
Burch, Noél. Life to Those Shadows (University of Critical Introduction (3/e, Laurence King, 2011) National Media Museum, Bradford
California Press, 1992) www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk
Nelmes, Jill. An Introduction to Film Studies (3/e,
Coe, Brian. The History of Movie Photography (Ash & Routledge, 2003) Museum of the Moving Image, New York
Grant, 1981) www.inovingimage.us
Nowell-Smith, Geoffrey (editor). The Oxford History
Cook, David A. A Narrative History of Film (4/e, of World Cinema (Oxford University Press, 1997) The Hollywood Museum, Los Angeles
Norton, 2004) www.thehollywoodmuseum.com
Rickitt, Richard. Special Effects: The History and
Cook, Pam (editor). The Cinema Book (3/e, BFI, 2007) Technique (Aurum, 2006) Australian Centre for the Moving Image,
Melbourne
Cousins, Mark and Kevin Macdonald (editors). Salt, Barry. Film Style and Technology (2/e, www.acmi.net.au
Imagining Reality (Faber, 2006) Starword, 2009)

Dyer, Richard. Now You See It: Studies on Lesbian and Schatz, Thomas. The Genius of the System: Hollywood
Gay Film (2/e, Routledge, 2002) Filmmaking in the Studio Era (2/e, Faber, 1998)

211
 Index Brahm, John 122
Brakhage, Stan 91, 91
Crainquebille (1923) 25
Crichton, Michael 206
Eldorado (1921) 22, 81, 81
Electric Theater, Los Angeles 34
Brando, Marlon 53, 67, 71, 130, 130, 176 Cries and Whispers (1973) 22, 23, 137 11:14 (2003) 197
Page numbers in bold refer to pictures Bray, John 117 criticism 69, 70, 155, 160 Empire magazine 69, 155
The Breakfast Club (1985) 186 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) 140 epics 38, 50, 58, 125, 142, 143, 169, 202
Academy ratio 134, 135, 170 Breathless (A bout de souffle) (1960) 160 Cruz, Penelope 70 Epstein, Jean 80, 81
Adaptation (2002) 125 Breillat, Catherine 177 Curtis, Tony 97 The Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots (1895) 19, 202
The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913) 47 Bresson, Robert 64, 87, 125 Cyclo (1995) 168 experimental cinema 8, 31, 91, 93, 114, 152,
The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) 119 Broadway (1929) 26 Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) 99 173, 194, 197
Ai No Corrida (1976) 177 Broken Blossoms (1919) 170 exploitation 16, 69, 91, 110, 144-5, 177, 197-8
Alice in the Cities (1974) 173 Broncho Billy Westerns (1910-16) 112 Dahl, John 133 see also blaxploitation
All About Eve (1950) 22, 125 Bronson, Charles 20, 62 Dali, Salvador 88, 122 Expressionism 31, 73, 76, 78, 81, 88, 109, 137,
Almodévar, Pedro 200 Browning, Tod 78 d’Almeida, J.C. 138 156
American International Pictures (AIP) 145, Bugs Bunny 117 Damiano, Gerard 177
186, 198 Bullitt (1968) 28, 50 A Daring Daylight Burglary (1903) 28 Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004) 165
American Pie series 186 Bunuel, Luis 88, 103 Dark Water (2002 and 2005) 191 Fairall, Harry K. 138
Anderson, Gilbert M. 112 Burton, Tim 78 Davies, Terence 106 Fairbanks, Douglas 50
Anderson, Lindsay 166 Buscemi, Steve 122 Davis, Bette 53 Faithful Heart (1923) 81
Anderson, Wes 118 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) 22 Davis, Ossie 174 Falconetti, Renée 20
animation 60, 114, 116, 117-8, 122, 206 see Bwana Devil (1952) 138 Davis, Peter 104 Fallen Angels (1995) 189
also cartoons Dawn, Norman 44, 74 Famous Players Film Company 37, 59, 146
Anschiitz, Ottomar 12, 16 The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) 78, 79 Day for Night (1973) 161 fan magazines 52, 53, 68-9, 146
Antichrist (2009) 163 Cabiria (1914) 26, 37 Daybreak (Le jour se leve) (1939) 106 Fanny and Alexander (1982) 196, 197
Antonioni, Michelangelo 22, 137, 156, 194, 195 Cahiers du Cinéma magazine 68, 69, 81, 154, de Havilland, Olivia 53 Fantastic Mr Fox (2009) 118, 119
Applause (1929) 26 155, 160 De la Serna, Rodrigo 172 Fantomas (1920) 47, 47
Apu Trilogy (1955-59) 121, 189 Cairo Central Station (1958) 121 De Niro, Robert 57, 124, 131 Fassbinder, Rainer Werner 39, 39
Araki, Gregg 201 Cameron, James 122, 139, 206, 207 De Palma, Brian 25, 32, 32-3, 84, 85, 170 Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) 89
Arbuckle, Fatty 49, 53 Campion, Jane 179 De Santis, Giuseppe 121 feature films 38, 38-9, 47, 81, 130, 137, 143, 194
artificial lighting 76, 77, 78, 109, 126 Cannes Film Festival 152 De Sica, Vittorio 25, 67, 87 Fejos, Pal 26
Arzner, Dorothy 178, 178, 201 Cannibal Holocaust (1980) 25 De Toth, André 138, 138 Fellini, Federico 173, 173
Ashby, Hal 162 Canutt, Yakima 47, 50, 51 Dead of Night (1945) 114 feminist film theory 81, 178-9, 201
The Assassination of the Duc de Guise (1908) 37 Capra, Frank 87, 104, 122, 160, 173 Dean, James 67, 187 Feuillade, Louis 47, 47, 109
Astruc, Alexandre 160 Carbutt, John 12, 149 Death in Venice (1971) 64 Feyder, Jacques 25
Atlantic (1929) 98 Carné, Marcel 106, 107 Decasia (2002) 149 The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938) 47
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery Carrey, Jim 49, 182-3 Deep Throat (1972) 177 film and film strip 8, 12, 15, 38, 134, 149-50,
(1997) 49 Carrie (1976) 32, 33 Delluc, Louis 64, 81, 150 ao7
auteur theory 81, 91, 106, 155, 155, 156, cartoons 49, 59, 64, 88, 112, 114, 133, 185 see Delon, Alain 126 film festivals 114, 152, 198, 201, 205
160-1 also animation DeMille, Cecil B. 98, 160 film noir 73, 76, 90, 106, 109, 122, 125-6
avant-garde films 33, 80, 81, 91, 95, 138 Cascio, Salvatore 67 Demy, Jacques 136, 137, 197 film schools 82, 104
Avatar (2009) 28, 139 Castle, William 144-5 Denis, Claire 179 films d’art 37, 38, 56, 64, 202 see also heritage
The Aviator (2005) 73 Cat People (1942) 110 Denizot, Vincenzo 25 films
Axel, Gabriel 203 censorship 12, 16, 59, 103, 144, 177, 197, 201 Deodato, Ruggero 25 Finis terrae (1929) 80, 81
Certified Copy (2010) 103 Depardieu, Gérard 99 The Finishing Touch (1928) 48
B movies 40, 59, 67, 110-1, 126, 138, 185 Chabrol, Claude 150, 161 Deren, Maya 90, 91 Finney, Albert 166
Babette’s Feast (1987) 203 Chahine, Youssef 121 The Desperate Hours (1955) 157 Fitzhamon, Lewin 18
Bad Education (2004) 200 Chaney, Lon 182 Destiny (1921) 78 Flaherty, Robert 164, 165-6
Ball, Lucille 133 Chaplin, Charlie 48, 49, 67, 92, 114, 114 Devdas (2002) 53 Flash Gordon (1936) 47, 47
Band of Outsiders (1964) 106 chase sequences 28, 29, 30, 44, 47, 49-50, 159 Dial M for Murder (1954) 138 flashbacks 22, 122, 123
Bardot, Brigitte 153 Cherkasov, Nikolai 143 Diary ofa Country Priest (1951) 125 Fleming, Victor 38, 137
Barry Lyndon (1976) 171 child stars 67, 87, 185-6 Dickson, William Kennedy Laurie 12-3, 134, 138 Flying Down to Rio (1933) 74
Barthelmess, Richard 67, 130 Chomon, Segundo de 19, 37 Dietrich, Marlene 170 Fonda, Henry 62
Bartlett, Scott 91 Cinderella (1899) 19, 22, 44 digital video 194, 197, 204, 205 Forbidden Games (1952) 67
Barton Fink (1991) 42 Cine Arte magazine 68 Direct Cinema 100, 165 Ford, Harrison 29, 76
Batman (1989) 78 Cinema Paradiso (1988) 67 Disney, Walt 117, 128, 185 Ford, John 51, 63, 104, 158, 159-60, 166
Battleship Potemkin (1925) 84, 84, 85, 87 Cinéma Vérité 26, 100, 121, 165 Disney films 67, 74, 96, 117, 137, 185, 204, 206 Foreman, Carl 128
Bazin, André 54, 84, 88, 106, 155, 156, 162 CinemaScope 134, 135 Dmytryk, Edward 126 42nd Street (1933) 27
Beauty and the Beast (1991) 206 Cinémathéque Frangaise 150, 151 documentaries 16, 31, 84, 100, 104, 114, 156, Foster, Jodie 67
Behind the Green Door (1972) 177 Cinématographe 11, 15, 26 165, 173
Ben-Hur (1925 and 1959) 50, 118, 142, 143 The 400 Blows (1959) 22, 22, 67, 74
Cinématon (1978-2009) 39 Dogville (2003) 109 Fox, William 35, 56
Bergman, Ingmar 22, 23, 137, 148, 173, 196, 197 Citizen Kane (1941) 22, 25, 74, 100, 122, 156, Don Juan (1926) 96, 96
Berkeley, Busby 27 Foxy Brown (1974) 174
170, 182 Don Winslowof the Navy (1942) 47 Frankenstein (1931) 182, 182
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1931 and 1980) 39, 39 Clair, René 106, 108, 114 Donat, Robert 16
Berri, Claude 64 Fred Ott’s Sneeze (1894) 12, 21
Clark, Alfred 202 Donen, Stanley 26, 122
Bertolucci, Bernardo 176, 177 Free Cinema 100, 121, 166
Cleaner (2007) 86 Donner, Richard 64
Bicycle Thieves (1948) 87, 120 The French Connection (1971) 28
Clément, René 67 Donohue, Heather 199
Bigelow, Kathryn 70, 179 Freund, Karl 43
Cleo from 5 to 7 (1962) 25 Double Indemnity (1944) 122, 125, 125, 126
The Big Combo (1955) 127 Friedman, David F. 145
Cleopatra (1963) 58, 59, 143 Douglas, Kirk 53
The Big Parade (1925) 134 Friese-Greene, William 15, 16, 138
Cleopatra Jones (1973) 174 Dovzhenko, Alexander 84, 86, 87, 104
Biograph Studios 28, 30, 35 From Reverence to Rape (1974) 178
Clerc, Francois 15 DrJekyll and Mr Hyde (1932) 92
The Birds (1963) 21, 147 Funny Games (1997 and 2007) 191
close-ups 20, 21, 45 Dracula (1931) 78
The Birth ofa Nation (1915) 37, 104, 202 co-production 133, 140 dream palaces 35, 37-8, 40, 41, 146, 193 Gabin, Jean 106, 107
Bitter Rice (1949) 121 Cocteau, Jean 88 Dreams That Money Can Buy (1946) 88 Gable, Clark 53, 54, 173
The Black Pirate (1926) 137 Cohen, Herman 145 Dressed to Kill (1980) 25 Gallipoli (1981) 22
Blackboard Jungle (1955) 186 Coen, Joel and Ethan 42 Dreyer, Carl Theodor 20, 160 Gance, Abel 81, 134, 135, 162, 170
the blacklist 56, 60, 126, 128-9 Cohl, Emile 117
Blackton, J. Stuart 19, 112, 118
dubbing 92, 96, 97 Garcia Bernal, Gael 172, 200
Cohn, Harry 56 Duck Soup (1923) 49
Blade Runner (1982) 76 Colbert, Claudette 173 Garland, Judy 66, 67, 137, 185
Duel (1971) 133
Blair, Linda 67 Collateral (2002) 204 Gassman, Alessandro 200
Duel in the Sun (1946) 179, 181, 181
The Blair Witch Project (1999) 197, 199 colour 136, 137, 170, 182
genre 16, 60, 63, 87, 112, 145, 161
Dulac, Germaine 25, 81, 88, 100 Getino, Octavio 169
blaxploitation 174, 175 Columbia 47, 56, 59-60, 112, 146 Dupont, E.A. 22, 98 The Ghost (2010) 27
Blazing the Overland Trail (1956) 47 computer-generated imagery (CGI) 25, 74, Durbin, Deanna 67, 185 Gilliam, Terry 89
block booking 58, 59, 114 117-8, 126, 137, 182-3, 205-6
blockbusters 16, 28, 37, 44, 50, 54, 59, 180, Duval, Benoit 15 Girls in Uniform (Madchen in Uniform) (1931)
Contempt (Le Mépris) (1963) 140 Duvivier, Julien 106
181, 193 201, 201
continuity editing 28, 30-1, 60, 84 Dziga Vertov 84, 100, 101, 104, 165
Blood of a Poet (1930) 88 Coogan, Jackie 67 Gish, Lilian 67, 130, 170
Blood of the Condor (1969) 168 Cooper, Gary 128 Gladiator (2000) 143, 206
Blow-Up (1966) 22 Earth (1930) 84, 86 Godard, Jean-Luc 43, 84, 93, 106, 140, 150,
Coppola, Francis Ford 84, 130, 181, 189 Eastman, George 12, 134, 149
Bollywood 53, 53, 54, 67, 96, 190-1 Coraline (2009) 118 160, 161, 173, 194
Bonham Carter, Helena 202 Eastwood, Clint 99 The Godfather trilogy (1972-90) 122, 130, 180,
Corman, Roger 111, 144, 145 Easy Rider (1969) 170, 171
Bound for Glory (1976) 162 Cotton Comers to Harlem (1970) 174 181, 189
Bow, Clara 183 Edison, Thomas 11, 12-3, 16, 35, 38, 47, 53,
The Count of Monte Cristo (1907) 54 Goebbels, Joseph 104
Bowman, William J. 26 114, 134
Courant, Gérard 39 Goldwyn, Samuel 56
Boyle, Danny 123, 205 Eisenstein, Sergei 31, 82, 84, 84, 87, 93, 104, Gone with the Wind (1939) 38, 39, 50, 54, 137, 174
The Cow (1969) 169 134, 143
Gong Li 82

212
 Gordon, Douglas 194 It Happened One Night (1934) 173, 173 Leigh, Vivien 54, 130 160, 162
Goretta, Claude 166 TheItalian Job (1969) 28, 29 Lelouch, Claude 170 Mitchell, Artie and Jim 177
Grandma’s Reading Glasses (1900) 21, 21, 25 It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) 122 Leone, Sergio 20, 62
Grant, Peter 109 Miyazaki, Hayao 116, 117
Ivan the Terrible (1944) 143, 143 The Leopard (1963) 65 Mizoguchi, Kenji 159, 162
The Great Train Robbery (1903) 28, 30, 44, 50 Ivan’s Childhood (1962) 83 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 99 models 117-8, 119
Greed (1924) 38, 38, 137 Iwerks, Ub 117 Levine, Ted 25 Money (LArgent) (1928) 26, 81, 170
Green, Joseph 198 Levres de Sang (1975) 110 monochrome 72, 73, 170
Grey Gardens (1975) 165 Jackie Brown (1997) 174 Lewis, Herschell Gordon 145
Grier, Pam 174
Monroe, Marilyn 52
Jackson, Peter 44, 44 Lewis, Jerry 49 montage 22, 25, 31, 82, 84, 85, 88, 91, 100
Grierson, John 165-6 Jacquot de Nantes (1991) 197 Lewis, Joseph H. 127 Montgomery, Robert 25, 25
Griffith, D.W. 13, 19, 32, 37-8, 98, 104, 160, 189 James Bond films 28, 50 Lewton, Val 110, 110 Moore, Fred 117
cinematography 21, 22, 26, 28, 30, 44, 84, 170 Jancs6, Miklés 162 LHerbier, Marcel 22, 81, 81, 170 Moore, Michael 165, 165
Guazzoni, Enrico 37, 108, 109 Jarmusch, Jim 198 Linder, Max 21, 48, 49 Morgan, Michéle 107
Guerin, José Luis 24, 25 Jasset, Victorin 109, 112 The Living End (1992) 201 Morrison, Bill 149
Guitry, Sacha 125 Jaws (1975) 95, 95, 181, 189 Lloyd, Harold 26, 49-50 Moscow Children’s Film Studio 185
Gtiney, Yilmaz 102, 103 The Jazz Singer (1927) 92, 92, 100 The Loafer (1912) 32 Mother (1927) 84, 87
Giinstir, Mehmet 200 Jean de Florette (1986) 203 The Locket (1946) 122 Mother and Son (1997) 83
Guy Blaché, Alice 35, 178 Jennings, Humphrey 166 Lola Montes (1955) 156 Mother India (1957) 143, 143
Guzman, Luis 86 Jet Li50 The Long Day Closes (1992) 106 Mothlight (1963) 91, 91
Jones, Jennifer 179, 181 Look Back in Anger (1959) 166 Motion Picture Patents Company 38, 43, 54,
Hale’s Tours 35 Jones, Tommy Lee 77 The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03) 44, 44, 206 198
Hammam (1997) 200 Jonze, Spike 125 The Lost Weekend (1945) 126 The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) 172
Hammid, Alexander 90 Joyless Street (1925) 109 The Lost World (1925) 74, 75, 118 The ‘?’ Motorist (1906) 19
The Hand (1965) 118 Judith of Bethulia (1913) 38 Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938) 186 Mottershaw, Frank 28
handheld camera 26, 31, 81, 162, 163, 165, Juleset Jim (1961) 162, 163 Loy, Myrna 53 Movie magazine 69, 155, 161
195, 205 Jutzi, Phil 39 Lubitsch, Ernst 25, 78, 98, 202 movie moguls 35, 56, 57
Haneke, Michael 73, 191 Lucas, George 22, 47, 181, 205 Movietone News 100, 101, 114
Happy Hooligan series 112 Kael, Pauline 155, 161 Lumiere, Louis 15-6, 28, 35, 49, 138, 150, Mulan (1998) 96
Harry Potter series 64, 64, 112, 113, 183 Kalin, Tom 201 159, 177 multiplexes 59, 192, 193
Harryhausen, Ray 118 Karina, Anna 160 Lumiére brothers 11-3, 15, 134 Mulvey, Laura 178-9
Haskell, Molly 178 Karloff, Boris 43, 182, 182 Lupino, Ida 178 The Mummy (1932) 43
Hawks, Howard 63 Kazan, Elia 57, 130 Lydecker, Howard and Theodore 47 Murder, My Sweet (1944) 125-6
Haynes, Todd 201 Keaton, Buster 49-50, 51 Lynch, David 93 Murnau, F.W. 25-6, 30, 78, 81, 98, 162
The Hazards of Helen (1914-17) 112 Keitel, Harvey 122 The Music Box (1932) 115
He Who Gets Slapped (1924) 22 Keystone Kops 28, 49 Mackley, Arthur 32 musical scores 37, 95-6, 143, 162, 174, 175
Hearts and Minds (1974) 104 Khan, Mehboob 143, 143 MacMurray, Fred 125 The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) 159
Heche, Anne 190 Kiarostami, Abbas 103, 158, 159 Madsen, Harald 49 Muybridge, Eadweard 8, 10, 11-2, 15-6, 177
Henry V (1989) 99 The Kid (1921) 67 Maggiorani, Lamberto 87, 120 My Fair Lady (1964) 96, 97
Hepburn, Audrey 96, 97 The Kid Brother (1927) 26 magic lanterns 8, 8, 22, 177, 196, 197 Myers, Mike 49
Hepworth, Cecil 19, 30 kidpics 184, 185 Magnani, Anna 121
heritage films 64, 143, 202-3 see also films d’art The Killers (1946) 122 The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) 22 Nakati, Hideo 191
Hero (2002) 50 kinetoscope 12, 12-3, 13, 15-6 make-up 182-3 The Naked City (1948) 125
Hidden Fortress (1958) 22 The King and I (1956) 96 The Maltese Falcon (1941) 126 Nanook of the North (1922) 164, 165
High Noon (1952) 128, 128 King Kong (1933) 95, 97, 118 Mamoulian, Rouben 26 Napoleon (1927) 81, 135, 162, 170
Hill, George Roy 22 Kings of the Road (1976) 173 A Man and a Woman (1966) 170 narrative avant-garde see Impressionism
His New Job (1915) 114 Kino Glaz (1924) 101 Mankiewicz, Joseph L. 22, 59, 143 Neorealism 81, 87, 106, 109, 120, 121, 126,
His Trust and His Trust Fulfilled (1911) 189 Kino-Pravda newsreels 100, 101, 104 Mann, Delbert 133 143, 166
Hitchcock, Alfred 63, 63, 70, 84, 95, 147 Kiss (1963) 91 Mann, Michael 204 New Hollywood 56, 76, 173, 181, 186, 202
cinematography 21, 22, 25, 32, 44, 76, 122, Kiss Me Kate (1953) 138 Man Ray 88, 91 New Moon (2009) 187
162, 170 Koster, Henry 134, 135 The March of Time (1939-51) 100 New Wave 82, 121, 166 see also Nouvelle Vague
Hitler: A Film from Germany (1978) 202 Krasker, Robert 44 Marcks, Greg 197 Newman, Alfred 95, 95
Holland brothers 12, 12 Kubrick, Stanley 33, 33, 171 Marey, EtienneJules 11D2, 15 newsreels 16, 100, 104, 114, 133, 165
Hollywood 40, 53-4, 56, 60, 87, 128-9, 140 see Kuchar, George and Mike 91 Marius trilogy (1931-36) 106 Nick Carter (1908) 112
also New Hollywood Kuleshov, Lev 21, 82, 84 Marty (1955) 133 nickelodeons 16, 34, 35, 38, 40, 53, 56, 59, 146
home entertainment 21, 59, 103, 189, 193, Kurosawa, Akira 22, 64, 122, 126 Marx Brothers 49, 49 Night and Fog (1955) 33
197, 205 Mary Poppins (1964) 74, 75 Nixon, Marni 96, 97
Hopkins, Anthony 96, 97 La Grande Illusion (1937) 106, 152, 156 The Mask (1994) 182-3 No Country for Old Men (2007) 77
Hopper, Dennis 171 La Ronde (1950) 156 The Masque of Red Death (1964) 111 Nolan, Christopher 31, 189
horror films 63, 73, 78, 110, 114, 143, 182, La Sortie des Usines Lumiere (1895) 15 match shots 23, 25, 28, 30, 32-3, 84 Normand, Mabel 34, 49
186, 197 La Strada (1954) 173, 173 Matches; An Appeal (1899) 118 Nosferatu (1922 and 1979) 78, 183
The Hour of the Furnaces (1968) 169 La vie est a nous (1936) 106 Mathis, June 178 Nouvelle Vague 26, 76, 81, 100, 106, 109, 121,
House of Wax (1953) 138, 138 The Lacemaker (1977) 166 The Matrix (1999) 206 154, 165
The House on 92nd Street (1945) 100 The Lady and the Duke (2001) 206 A Matter of Life and Death (1946) 73, 73 Nowina-Przybylski, Jan 198
House UnAmerican Activities Committee The Lady from Shanghai (1947) 125 Mayer, Louis B. 35, 56, 57, 128
(HUAC) 56, 60, 126, 128-9 Lady in the Lake (1947) 25, 25 Maysles, Albert and David 165, 165 The Oberwald Mystery (1981) 194, 195
How it Feels to Be Run Over (1900) 19 Lady Windermere’s Fan (1926) 25 McCay, Winsor 117 Oboler, Arch 138
Hughes, Howard 102, 129 Laemmle, Carl 35, 53, 56, 140 McDaniel, Hattie 174 O'Brien, Willis 74, 118
Hughes, John 186, 186 LAge d'or (1930) 88 McGregor, Ewan 27 October (1927) 84, 87
Huppert, Isabelle 166, 179 Lamorisse, Albert and Pascal 184 Meerson, Lazare 106, 108, 109 offscreen space 15, 28, 37, 158, 159
Hurd, Earl 117 Lancaster, Burt 53 Mehrjui, Dariush 169 Olivier, Laurence 96, 97
Huston, John 126 Lang, Fritz 22, 78, 78 Melbourne Cooper, Arthur 117-8 On the Town (1949) 26
Hutton, Betty 46 Langlois, Henri 150 Méliés, Georges 8, 15-6, 38, 109, 146, 177 On the Waterfront (1954) 128, 130
lantern slides 8, 9, 177 cinematography 19, 22, 30, 44, 156 Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) 20, 62
I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) 144, 145 LArrivée d’un train en Gare de La Ciotat (1895) Melville, Jean-Pierre 126 The One-Man Band (1900) 19, 44
The Idiots (1998) 177, 177 15-6, 16, 138, 159 Memento (2000) 31 Ophiils, Max 156, 159, 162
IMAX 134, 135, 138, 193 LArroseur arrosé (1895) 15, 15, 28, 49 Menken, Marie 91 optical toys 11, 16, 117, 197
The Immoral Mr Teas (1959) 177 The Last Laugh (1924) 25-6, 81, 98, 162 Merchant Ivory 64, 202, 203 Oscars 70, 71, 73
Impressionism 25, 31, 44, 76, 81, 84, 88, 170 The Last Seduction (1994) 133 Meshes of the Afternoon (1943) 90 Oshima, Nagisa 177
in-camera effects 44, 45 see also process shots The Last Starfighter (1984) 206 Messalina (1922) 108 Osment, Haley Joel 67
In the Cityof Sylvia (2007) 24, 25 Last Tango in Paris (1972) 176, 177 Method acting 53, 130 O’Sullivan, Maureen 113
In the Mood for Love (2006) 136, 137 The Last Tycoon (1976) 57 Metropolis (1926) 22, 44, 78, 118, 119 Our Gang series 185
Ince, Ralph 32 Last Year in Marienbad (1961) 25, 122, 123 Metzger, Radley 177 Out 1: Noli me tangere (1971) 39
Ince, Thomas 43, 54 LAtalante (1934) 106, 106 Meyer, Russ 177 Outof the Past (1947) 125
independent cinema 38, 54, 59, 129, 194, Latham Loop 12, 38 MGM 40, 56, 57, 59-60, 63, 73, 109, 117 The Outlaw (1943) 102
198, 205 Laura (1944) 126 Micheaux, Oscar 174 Ozpetek, Ferzen 200
Indiana Jones films 28, 29, 47 Laurel and Hardy 22, 48, 49, 115 Mickey Mouse 117, 185 Ozu, Yasujiro 32, 159
Inglourious Basterds (2009) 149 Lawrence, Florence 35, 53, 68 Miéville, Anne-Marie 194
The Inhuman Woman (1924) 80, 81 Le Crime de Monsieur Lange (1935) 106 Mighty Mouse 119 Pabst, G.W. 30, 78, 109
The Innocents (1961) 65 Le Samourai (1967) 126 Mildred Pierce (1945) 125 Pagnol, Marcel 106
intertitles 22, 98, 98, 122 The Learning Tree (1969) 174 Mills, Hayley 67 Painlevé, Jean 88
Intolerance (1916) 26, 36, 37, 82, 109, 202 Léaud, Jean-Pierre 22, 22, 67, 161 Minnelli, Vincente 63, 137 Pais (1946) 100
The Invisible Man (1933) 74 Lee, Ang 140 Mirror (1974) 83 Pal, George 118
It Came from Outer Space (1953) 138 Leigh, Janet 190 mise en scene 37, 76, 84, 88, 109, 134, 156, Pantages Theater, Los Angeles 71

213
 Paradise Theatre, Chicago 41 Richardson, Tony 166 special effects 16, 19, 37, 72, 118, 182-3, 206 The Trip (1967) 144, 145
Paradjanov, Sergei 103 Richter, Hans 88 see also in-camera effects; process shots A Trip to the Moon (1902) 19, 19, 30, 38, 137
Paramount Decrees 40, 59-60, 129, 140, 144, Riefenstahl, Leni 104, 105 Spellbound (1945) 88, 122 Triumph of the Will (1935) 104, 105
193, 198 Rin Tin Tin 53 Spider-Man series (2002-07) 188 Trnka, Jiri 117, 118
Paramount Pictures 40, 56, 59-60, 98, 109, The Rise to Power of Lowis XIV (1966) 202 Spielberg, Steven 47, 95, 95, 114, 133, 181, 194 Tron (1982) and Tron Legacy (2010) 206
134, 146, 170 Rivette, Jacques 39, 161 Spirited Away (2001) 116, 117 Truffaut, Francois 22, 43, 84, 106, 112, 154,
Pareno, Philippe 194 RKO 40, 59-60, 60, 73-4, 100, 110, 129 Stage Fright (1950) 122 160-1, 161
Paris, Texas (1984) 172 road movies 112, 172, 173 Stagecoach (1939) 50, 51 Trumbo, Dalton 128
Paris, je t'aime (2006) 114, 115 The Robe (1953) 134, 135 Staiola, Enzo 87, 120 Turner, Otis 98
Park, Nick 117, 118, 118 Robert, Etienne-Gaspard 8 Stanton, Harry Dean 172 Turpin, Ben 114
Parks, Gordon 174 Robinson Crusoe (1913) 98 the star system 21, 52, 53, 87 Tuttle, Frank 22
Paronnaud, Vincent 116 Robinson Crusoe (1947) 138 Star Trek series 112, 132 Turturro, John 42
Parrott, James 115 RoboCop (1987) 118 Star Wars series 22, 28, 47, 118, 180, 181, 185, Twentieth Century-Fox 40, 59-60, 73, 100,
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) 20 Rohmer, Eric 206 205, 206 101, 112, 114, 134
Pastrone, Giovanni 26, 37, 109 Rollin, Jean 110 Starewicz, Ladislaw 117-8 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) 93
Pathé 15, 35, 100, 100, 138, 140 Roman Holiday (1953) 141 Steadicam 26, 162, 205 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) 33, 33, 44
Pattinson, Robert 187 Romance (1999) 177 Steamboat Bill Jr. (1928) 51 typage 86, 87
Paul, R.W. 12-3, 19, 26, 98 Rome, Open City (1945) 121 Steiner, Max 95
Peckinpah, Sam 85 A Room with a View (1985) 202 Stewart, James 32, 53 Umberto D (1952) 121
Peeping Tom (1960) 159 Rooney, Mickey 67, 186 Stiller, Mauritz 109 The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964) 136
Pépé le Moko (1937) 106, 146 Rosen, Marjorie 178 Stone, Oliver 84 Un Chien andalou (1928) 88, 88
The Perils of Pauline (1947) 46 Rossellini, Roberto 100, 121, 143, 202 stop-motion technique 19, 44, 74, 117-8, 118 United Artists 35, 59, 60, 198
Persepolis (2007) 116, 117 Roundtree, Richard 174 Storm over Asia (1928) 84 Universal 56, 59-60, 63, 67, 73, 110, 146, 181
persistence of vision 11-2 The Rules of the Game (1939) 106 The Story ofa Cheat (1936) 125 The Untouchables (1987) 85
Persona (1966) 148 Russell, Jane 102 The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) 38, 38
Pickford, Mary 67, 185 Russian Ark (2002) 205, 205 Stranger Than Paradise (1984) 198 Valentino, Rudolph 189
Pierrot le fou (1965) 173 A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) 130, 130 Van Peebles, Melvin 174
Pirates of the Caribbean series 189 safety film 149-50, 197 Strike (1925) 84, 87 Van Sant, Gus 190, 190
Pirou, Eugéne 177 Sagan, Leontine 201 Stroheim, Erich von 38, 38, 137, 160 Vanderbeek, Stan 91
Pixar 117, 185, 206 Salles, Walter 172, 191 Studio Ghibli 116, 185 Vanishing Point (1971) 50
Planet of the Apes (1968) 44 Sallie Gardner at a Gallop (1878) 10 the studio system 54, 59-60, 82, 87 Varda, Agnes 25, 197
Play Time (1967) 156 Sands, Julian 202 stunts and stuntmen 47, 50, 51, 206 Variety (1925) 22
Pleasantville (1998) 72, 73 Sanjinés, Jorge 168 Sturges, Preston 122 Vertigo (1958) 170, 170
Poetic Realism 76, 81, 106, 107, 126, 166 Sarno, Joseph W. 177 subtitles 92, 98-9 video 91, 194, 195
point-of-view (POV) shots 21, 24, 25-6 Sarris, Andrew 155, 155, 161 Suleiman, Elia 168 Vidor, King 134, 179
Poison (1991) 201 Satrapi, Marjane 116 Super Fly (1972) 174, 175 Vietnam! Vietnam! (1971) 104
Poitier, Sidney 53 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960) 166, Superman (1978) 64 Vigo, Jean 88, 89, 106, 106
Polyvision 134, 135 166 Surrealism 19, 81, 88, 90 Visconti, Luchino 64, 65
Popcorn Venus (1973) 178 Schenstrom, Carl 49 Suspicion (1941) 76 voice-over 100, 124, 125, 146
pornography 8, 138, 145, 177, 194 Schneider, Maria 176 Svankmajer, Jan 88, 117-8 Von Sternberg, Josef 160, 170
Port of Shadows (1938) 106, 107 Schifftan process 44, 118 Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song (1974) 174 Von Trier, Lars 109, 162, 163,177, 177
Porter, Edwin S. 19, 28, 30, 44, 50 Schulberg, Budd 128 Swoon (1992) 201 von Trotta, Margarethe 179
Powell, Michael 159 Scorsese, Martin 45, 73, 124, 197 Syberberg, Hans-Jtirgen 202
The Power and the Glory (1933) 122 Scott, Ridley 206 Wallace and Gromit series 117-8, 118
The Power of Love (1922) 138 Scream series 186 Tait, Charles 38 Warhol, Andy 91
APractical Joke (1898) 28 Scrooge (1901) 98 The Tale of the Fox (1930) 118 Warner, Jack L. 56, 128
pre-sold sources 64, 65, 190 The Searchers (1956) 158, 159 Tally, Thomas 34 Warners 40, 59-60, 63, 73, 92, 109, 114, 117
Premiere magazine 68 The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928) 88 Tarantino, Quentin 82, 111, 122, 122, 145, Way Down East (1920) 130
Preminger, Otto 126 The Second-in-Command (1915) 26 149, 174, 197 We Are the Lambeth Boys (1959) 167
Price, Vincent 111 Sedgwick, Edward 47 Tarkovsky, Andrei 83 Weber, Lois 178
process shots 74, 75, 81 see also in-camera effects Selig Polyscope 35, 54, 182 Tarzan series (1932-48) 44, 113 Weir, Peter 22
Production Code (1934) 56, 59-60, 93, 103, Selpin, Herbert 103 A Taste of Honey (1961) 166 Weissmuller, Johnny 113
126, 145, 177, 201 Selznick, David 0.54 Tati, Jacques 49, 93, 156 Welles, Orson 22, 25, 26, 37, 93, 122, 156, 162,
projection 8, 11, 15-6, 44, 137, 149, 193 Sennett, Mack 28, 28, 49-50 Taxi Driver (1976) 124, 174 182
propaganda 16, 87, 100, 104, 105, 165 sequels 54, 64, 188, 189, 193 Taylor, William Desmond 53 Wellman, William 134
Psycho (1960 and 1998) 190, 190 serials 46, 47, 47, 53, 109 Technicolor 74, 137, 149
Pudovkin, Vsevolod 82, 84, 87, 87, 93, 104
Wenders, Wim 172, 173, 194
series 64, 104, 109-10, 112, 113, 189 see also teenpics 125, 185-6 Westworld (1973) 206
sequels television 21-2, 47, 60, 73, 100, 112, 133, 140 The Wheel (La Roue) (1923) 81
Queen Elizabeth (1912) 37, 37, 38, 56 Seventh Heaven (1927) 73 see also home entertainment
The QuestofLife (1916) 146 White, Pearl 46, 47
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989) 194, 195 Temple, Shirley 66, 67, 185 White Material (2009) 179
Quinn, Anthony 173 Shaft (1971) 174, 174 The Ten Commandments (1956) 74, 74, 143 The White Ribbon (2009) 73, 73
Quirk, James 68-9 Shanghai Express (1932) 87 Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) 206 Whitney, John 91, 206
Quo Vadis? (1913) 37-38 Shields, Brooke 67 Terrytoon 119 Wiene, Robert 78
Shirin (2008) 158, 159 Tezuka, Osamu 117 The Wild Bunch (1969) 85
Radcliffe, Daniel 113 Shoeshine (1946) 25, 67 Thalberg, Irving G. 57 The Wild One (1953) 186
Raging Bull (1980) 45, 131 shorts 49, 91, 114, 118, 165-6, 185 That Fatal Sneeze (1907) 18 Wild Strawberries (1957) 173
Rai, Aishwarya 53 Shub, Esther 100 Théatre Optique 11, 12, 117 Wilder, Billy 122, 126
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) 29 Sight and Sound magazine 68, 69, 155, 166 Thicker Than Water (1935) 22 Williams, John 95, 95
Raimi, Sam 188, 189 The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 25 The ThiefofBaghdad (1940) 74 Williams Process 74
Raise the Red Lantern (1991) 82 Sin City (2005) 126 The Thin Man series (1934-47) 112, 112 Wings (1927) 50, 134
Rashomon (1950) 122 Singin’ in the Rain (1952) 96, 122 Third Cinema 104, 121, 125, 140, 165, 169
Raw Deal (1948) 125 Wishman, Doris 177
Siodmak, Robert 122 The Third Man (1949) 21, 28, 44, 94
Ray, Nicholas 137, 187 The Wizard of Oz (1939) 66, 73, 137, 137
Sirk, Douglas 63, 63 The 39 Steps (1935) 22, 23
Ray, Satyajit 121 Wonder Man (1954) 74
Sjostrém, Victor 22, 109, 160 This Gun for Hire (1942) 22
realism 88, 109, 117, 156 see also Neorealism: Wong, Anna May 87
slapstick 19, 28, 44, 48, 49-50, 117 This Sporting Life (1963) 166
Poetic Realism; Socialist Realism; Wong Kar-wai 136, 137, 189
Slumdog Millionaire (2008) 123, 205 The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) 74
Surrealism Wuthering Heights (1938) 156
The Smiling Madame Beudet (1922) 25, 81 3-D 16, 25, 138, 139, 193, 197
Rear Window (1954) 32, 32 Smith, G.A. 21, 21, 25, 28
Wyler, William 141, 143, 156, 157
Rebel Without a Cause (1954) 137, 186, 187 The Three-Sided Mirror (1927) 81
Smith, Harry 138 Tigris (1913) 25
The Red Balloon (1956) 184 Yamanaka, Sadao 103
Snakes on a Plane (2006) 145, 197 The Time That Remains (2009) 168
Red Desert (1964) 137, 156 Yeung, Charlie 189
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) 117, 185 Titanic (1997) 207
Reed, Carol 21 Socialist Realism 84, 87, 104, 106, 166
Yiddle With His Fiddle (1936) 198
Reid, Wallace 53 Toland, Gregg 156, 170 Yol (1982) 102
Soderbergh, Steven 194, 195 Tom and Jerry 49, 117
Reiniger, Lotte 119 The Young and the Damned (Los Olvidados) 88
Sokurov, Aleksandr 83, 205, 205 Tom Jones (1963) 166
Reisz, Karel 166 Solanas, Fernando 169 Young, Sean 76
remakes 54, 64, 190-1, 193 tom thumb (1958) 118
Solntseva, Yuliya 86, 100 Tornatore, Giuseppe 67
Renoir, Jean 37, 93, 98, 106, 152, 156, 190. Zanuck, Darryl F. 56
The Son of the Sheik (1926) 189, 189 Touch ofEvil (1958) 26
Republic 47, 110 The Song of Songs (1933) 26 Zero for Conduct (1933) 88, 89
Rescued by Rover (1905) 30 Toy Story (1995) 206 Zhang Yimou 50, 82
sound 92-3, 95-6, 100, 114 tracking shots 25-6, 26, 27, 37, 156, 170
Reservoir Dogs (1992) 122 Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait (2006) 194
The Sound of Music (1965) 17 trailers 146, 147
Resnais, Alain 25, 33, 81, 122, 123 Zigomar (1911) 112
Sous les toits de Paris (1930) 108 Tran Anh Hung 168
Return to Reason (1923) 88, 91 Spacek, Sissy 32 Zinneman, Fred 128
Reynaud, Emile 8, 11, 12, 117, 197 Trauner, Alexandre 106, 109 zoom 22, 44, 74, 170, 171
Spartacus (1960) 96, 97 trick films 18, 19, 35, 38, 44 Zukor, Adolph 35, 37-8, 54, 56, 59

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Picture credits
Grateful acknowledgement is extended for the use of the
Bros.; p188 Spider-Man, Marvel/Sony Pictures; p189 The Son of Courtesy of akg-images: p71 26th Academy Awards.
following images. Every effort has been made to trace all
the Sheik, United Artists; Fallen Angels, Jet Tone Productions;
copyright holders. The publisher apologizes for any
P190 Psycho (1998), Universal; Psycho (1960), Paramount; p191 Courtesy of Alamy: p55 Hollywood sign © Eric Ju.
unintentional omission or error and will be pleased to insert
Funny Games poster (1997), Vega Film; Funny Games poster
the appropriate acknowledgement in any subsequent edition
(2007), Dreamachine; pp194-5 Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, Courtesy of Alexander Ballinger: p68 Cahiers du Cinéma
of the book.
Canal+; The Oberwald Mystery, RAI; p198 Stranger Than Paradise, No.180; Premiére No. 318; p155 The American Cinema cover
Cinethesia-Grokenberger/ZDF; Yiddle with His Fiddle, art, with thanks to Derek Kendall.
Green-Film; p199 The Blair Witch Project, Artisan Films; p200
Bad Education, Canal+/TVE; Hamam, Sorpasso Film; p201 Courtesy of Artificial Eye: P103 Certified Copy.
Madchen in Uniform, Deutsche Film/Limot; p202 A Room with a
Courtesy of The Kobal Collection: p13 Kinetoscope parlour; View, Merchant Ivory/Goldcrest; p203
p16 LArrivée d’un train en Gare de la Ciotat, Lumiére; p17 The Courtesy of Bloomsbury Publishing: p64 J.K. Rowling, Harry
Jean de Florette, Renn-Films/A2/RAI2; p205 Russian Ark, Fora Potter and the Philosopher's Stone cover image, with thanks to
Sound of Music, Paramount; p20 Once Upon a Time in the West, Film/Hermitage Bridge Studio; p206 Yoda, Lucasfilm]
Paramount/Rafran; p21 Grandma’s Reading Glass; p25 Lady in the
Bloomsbury Publishing, The Christopher Little Literary
Twentieth Century-Fox; p207 Titanic, Twentieth Century-Fox/ Agency and Derek Kendall.
Lake, MGM; p27 The Ghost, RP Films; 42nd Street, Warner Bros.: Paramount.
p28 Keystone Kops, Keystone Film Company; p29 The Italian Job,
Courtesy of Chicago Architectural Photographing Company
Paramount; Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lucasfilm Ltd/Paramount; Courtesy of The Ronald Grant Archive: p2 Cinema Paradiso, Collection, The Theatre Historical Society of America: p41
p34 Nickelodeon; p35 Hale’s Tours; p38 The Story of the Kelly Cristaldi Film; p12 Kinetoscope line drawing; p15 LArroseur The Paradise Theatre, Chicago.
Gang, J&N Tait/Johnson and Gibson; p43 Boris Karloff, arrosé, Lumiere; p13 Black Maria; p31 Memento, Newmarket
Universal; p44 The Third Man, London Films; The Lord of the Capital Group; p32 Rear Window, Paramount Pictures; p32 Courtesy of The Cinema Store (www.thecinemastore.co.ukn):
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, New Line/Saul Zaentz/Wing Carrie, Twentieth Century-Fox Corporation; p36 Intolerance; p69 Film magazines, with thanks to Graham at The Cinema
Nut; p47 Fantémas, Gaumont; p48 The Finishing Touch, Hal P38 Gone with the Wind, Selznick/MGM Pictures; p42 Barton Store and Derek Kendall.
Roach/MGM; p49 Duck Soup poster, Paramount; Austin Powers: Fink, Working Title Films; p45 Raging Bull, MGM Pictures; p46
International Man ofMystery, New Line; p50 Hero, Beijing New The Perils of Pauline; p47 Flash Gordon, Universal Pictures; p48 Courtesy of The Cinema Theatre Association: p192 Warner
Picture/Elite Group; p52 Movie Stars Parade; p53 Devdas, Damfx; Charles Chaplin and Max Linder; p51 Steamboat Bill Jr.; p53 Village Cinema, Preston, Cinema Theatre Association Archive.
p54 Gone with the Wind, Selznick/MGM; p57 The Last Tycoon Rinty of the Desert poster; p56 Darryl F. Zanuck; p58 Warner
poster, Paramount; p58 Cleopatra, Twentieth Century-Fox; p61 Bros. logo; p58 Universal logo; p58 Paramount logo; p59 Courtesy of the Cinémathéque Frangaise: p150 Claude
Paramount Pictures Bronson Gate, Paramount; p62 Once Upon Columbia logo; p59 MGM logo; p59 Twentieth Century-Fox Chabrol and Jean-Luc Godard; p151 Cinémathéque Francaise
a Time in the West, Paramount/Rafran; p63 All That Heaven Allows logo; p60 Aerial photograph RKO and Paramount Studios; exterior.
poster, Universal; p66 The Wizard of Oz, MGM; p72 Pleasantville, p65 The Leopard, Titanus; p67 Cinema Paradiso, Cristaldi Film;
New Line; p73 Seventh Heaven, Fox Films; p74 The Lost World, p71 Marlon Brando; p76 Blade Runner, Warner Bros.; p76 Courtesy of David Parkinson: p147 Cigarette Cards.
First National; The Ten Commandments, Paramount; p75 Mary Suspicion, Warner Bros.; p79 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari poster;
Poppins, Walt Disney Pictures; p77 No Country for Old Men, p82 Raise the Red Lantern, Era International; p84 Battleship Courtesy of Empire Magazine: Empire Magazine cover Art,
Paramount/Miramax; p78 Batman, Warner Bros./DC Comics; Potemkin; p97 King Kong; p98 Robinson Crusoe titles; p100 June 2010, with thanks to Ian Freer.
p80 LInhumaine, Cinégraphic-Paris; p80 Finis terrae, Société Pathé News logo; p104 The Birth ofa Nation poster; p106 The
Générale de Films; p81 Eldorado, Gaumont Serie Pax; p83 Long Day Closes, BFI; p110 Cat People poster; p113 Harry Potter Courtesy of the Estate of Stan Brakhage and Fred Camper
Ivan’s Childhood, Mosfilm; Mother and Son, Sverny Fond/O-Film; and the Philosopher’s Stone, Warner Bros.; p115 The Music Box, Hal (www.fredcamper.com): p91 Mothlight.
p85 The Wild Bunch, Warner 7 Arts; p86 Earth, Vufku-Kino- Roach/MGM; p117 Mighty Mouse, Twentieth Century-Fox
Ukrain/Amkino; p86 Cleaner, Nu Image/Anonymous Content; Corporation; p126 Le Samourai, Compagnie Industrielle et Courtesy of The Kinepolis Group: p193 Kinepolis, Brussels.
p87 Mother, Mehzrabpom, Moscow; p87 Shanghai Express, Commerciale Cinématographique (CICC); p130 A Streetcar
Paramount; p89 Zéro de Conduite, Jacques-Louis Nounez/ Named Desire, Warner Bros.; p130 Way Down East; p131 Raging Courtesy of Ocho y Medio (www.ochoymedio.com): p68
Gaumont; Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas poster, Universal; p92 Bull, MGM Pictures; p138 House of Wax poster; p139 Avatar, CineArte, Numero 11; Cahiers du Cinéma No. 41 in Spanish,
The Jazz Singer poster, Warner Bros.; p93 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk Twentieth Century-Fox Corporation; p142 Ben Hur, MGM; with thanks to Jesus Robles.
with Me, Lynch-Frost/CIBY 2000; p94 Anton Karas scoring The p143 Mother India poster; p161 Day for Night, Les Films du
Third Man, London Films; p95 Jaws poster, Universal; Steven Carrosse; p166 The Lacemaker, Action Films; p174 Jackie Brown, Courtesy of The Reel Poster Gallery (www.reelposter.com):
Spielberg and John Williams, Universal; p96 Don Juan, Warner Miramax Films; p178 Dorothy Arzner; p185 Our Gang; p186 p63 Psycho (1960) poster; p152 Cannes Film Festival 1953
Bros; p97 My Fair Lady, Warner Bros.; Spartacus, Bryna/ The Breakfast Club, Universal Pictures; p187 New Moon, Summit poster.
Universal; p100 Pathé news crew, Pathé; p101 Fox Movietone Entertainment; p191 Dark Water (2005), Touchstone Pictures;
news van; Kino Glaz poster; p102 Yol, Guney Film/Cactus Film; Dark Water (2002), Toho Company. Screengrabs: p16 The Magic Box, with thanks and
p105 Triumph ofthe Will, NSDAP; p106 LAtalante, Nounez/ acknowledgement to The Festival Film Production; p18 That
Gaumont; p108 Sous les toits de Paris, Tobis; Messalina; p109 Courtesy of BFI Stills Collection: p19 The ?’ Motorist; A Trip to Fatal Sneeze, with thanks and acknowledgement to Hepworth;
Dogville, Zentropa Entertainment; p110 Leévres de Sang poster, the Moon; p20 The Passion of Joan of Arc, Artificial Eye; p24 In the p22 The 400 Blows, with thanks and acknowledgement to Les
Nordia Film; p111 The Masque of the Red Death, A.I.P.; p112 The City of Sylvia, Eddie Saeta S.A.; p38 Greed, MGM Pictures; p51 Films du Carrosse; p23 Cries and Whispers, with thanks and
Thin Man poster, MGM; p113 Tarzan Escapes, MGM; p114 His Stagecoach, Warner Bros.; p57 Louis B. Mayer and MGM stars, acknowledgement to Cinematograph AB/Svenska
New Job, Essanay; p115 Paris, je t'aime, Victoires International/ MGM Pictures; p65 The Innocents, Twentieth Century-Fox Filminstitutet; The 39 Steps, with thanks and
Canal+; p116 Persepolis, 2.4.7. Films; Spirited Away, Studio Corporation; p66 The Poor Little Rich Girl poster; p68 Sight and acknowledgement to Gaumont British Picture Corporation;
Ghibli; p119 Fantastic Mr Fox, Twentieth Century-Fox Film; Sound Vol.18 Issue 9; p73 A Matter of Life and Death, Columbia p26 Touch of Evil, with thanks and acknowledgement to
p120 Bicycle Thieves, Produzione De Sica; p121 Rome, Open City, Picture Industries; p73 The White Ribbon, X-Filme Creative Pool; Universal International Pictures; p30 Rescued by Rover, with
Excelsa/Mayer-Burstyn; Bitter Rice poster, Lux/De Laurentiis; p74 The Ten Commandments, Paramount Pictures; p78 Dracula, thanks and acknowledgement to Hepworth; p33 2001:A Space
p122 Reservoir Dogs, Live Entertainment; p123 Slumdog Universal Pictures; p86 Earth, Mosfilm; p88 Un Chien andalou, Odyssey, with thanks and acknowledgement to MGM; p39
Millionaire, Film 4/Celador Films/Pathé International; Last Year Contemporary Films; p90 Meshes of the Afternoon; p92 DrJekyll Berlin Alexanderplatz, with thanks and acknowledgement to
at Marienbad, Terra/Tamara/Cormoran/Georges Pierre; p124 and Mr Hyde, Paramount Pictures; p102 The Outlaw, RKO/ Bavaria Media GMBH; p85 The Untouchables, with thanks and
Taxi Driver, Columbia; p125 Diary ofa Country Priest, U.G.C; George Hurrell; p107 Quai des brumes, Studio Canal; p117 The acknowledgement to Paramount Pictures Corporation; p99
Double Indemnity, Paramount; p128 High Noon, Stanley Kramer/ Adventures of Prince Achmed; p118 The Wrong Trousers, Aardman Letters from Iwo Jima, with thanks and acknowledgement to
United Artists; p129 The Hollywood Ten; p132 Star Trek, Animations; p119 Metropolis; p127 The Big Combo, Allied Artists Warner Bros.; p146 Pépé le Moko, with thanks and
Paramount Television; p133 I Love Lucy, CBS-TV; p135 The Robe Pictures Corporation/Security Pictures Inc./Theodora acknowledgement to Studio Canal; p148 Persona, with thanks
Cinemascope Ratio, Twentieth Century-Fox; p139 3-D Productions; pp134-5 Napoleon;p135 BFI IMAX; p136 In the and acknowledgement to Svensk Filmindustri; p149
audience; p141 Roman Holiday, Paramount; p143 Ivan the Mood for Love, Block 2 Pictures/Jet Tone Productions; p136 Les Inglourious Basterds, with thanks and acknowledgement to
Terrible, Mosfilm; p144 I Was a Teenage Werewolf poster, A.LP.; Parapluies de Cherbourg, Parc Film/Madeleine Films/Beta Film; Universal; p165 Grey Gardens, with thanks and
The Trip poster, A.I.P.; p145 Snakes on a Plane, New Line/James p137 The Wizard of Oz, MGM Pictures; p140 Crouching Tiger, acknowledgement to Maysles Films Inc.; p170 Vertigo, with
Dittiger; p147 Alfred Hitchcock, Universal; p153 Brigitte Hidden Dragon, Good Machine International; p149 Decasia; thanks and acknowledgement to Universal Studios; p171
Bardot at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, Bob Hawkins; p156 p154 Cahiers du Cinéma No.31; p156 Red Desert, Film Duemila/ Barry Lyndon, with thanks and acknowledgement to Warner
Play Time, Specta; p157 The Desperate Hours, Paramount; p158 Federiz/Francoriz Productions; p159 Peeping Tom, Michael Bros.; p195 Sex, Lies, and Videotape, with thanks and
Shirin, BFI; p158 The Searchers, Warner Bros.; p160, A bout de Powell (Theatre); p162 Lars Von Trier; p163 Antichrist, Zentropa acknowledgement to Outlaw Productions (I)/Virgin; p196
souffle poster, SNC; Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard, Georges Entertainments; p163 Jules etJim, Les Films du Carrosse; p171 Fanny and Alexander, with thanks and acknowledgement to
Pierre; p164 Nanook of the North, Flaherty; p165 Bowling for Easy Rider, Columbia Pictures; p172 Paris, Texas, Road Movies Cinematograph AB/Svenska Filminstitutet; p197 Jacquot de
Columbine, Alliance Atlantis/Dog Eat Dog/United Broadcasting; Film Produktion; p173 La Strada, Ponti-De Laurentiis Nantes, with thanks and acknowledgement to Canal+.
p166 Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Woodfall/British Lion; Cinematografica; p177 Ai No Corrida, Oshima Productions;
p167 We Are the Lambeth Boys, Graphic Film; p168 Cyclo; The p184 The Red Balloon, Films Montsouris; p203 Babette’s Feast,
Time That Remains, Canal+; Antonio das Mortes, Glauber Rocha/ Panorama Film A/S; p204 Collateral, Paramount Pictures; p205
Mapa; p169 The Cow, Iranian Ministry of Culture; p172 The Russian Ark, Fora Film/Hermitage Bridge Studio; p206 The Lady
Motorcycle Diaries, Film Four/South Fork/Senator Film; p173 It and the Duke, Pathé Image/Compagnie Eric Rohmer.
Happened One Night, Columbia; p174 Shaft, MGM; p175 Super
Fly poster, Warner Bros.; p176 Last Tango in Paris, Pea; p177 The ~ Courtesy of The Bill Douglas Centre: p8 Enamelled toy magic
Idiots, Zentropa Entertainments; p179 White Material, Canal+; lantern; p9 Alice in Wonderland magic lantern slides; p11
p180 Star Wars, Lucasfilm/Twentieth Century-Fox; The Phenakistoscope and magic disks; Musée Grevin poster; p14
Godfather, Paramount; p181 Duel in the Sun, Selznick/RKO|Lacy, Cinématographe Lumiere poster; LArroseur arrosé poster; p34
Madison; p182 Jack Pierce and Boris Karloff, Universal; p183 Mabel Normand; p37 Queen Elizabeth; p40 Odeon organ;
Nosferatu, Gaumont; Max Factor and Clara Bow, Culver; p186 p185 Rank Saturday show card.
Love Finds Andy Hardy, MGM; p187 Rebel Without a Cause, Warner

215
LAURENCE KING

Published in 2012 by Acknowledgements

Laurence King Publishing Ltd
My involvement with this book is entirely due to
361-373 City Road
Alexander Ballinger. We were going to write it
London EC1V 1LR
together but, after we had collaborated on a list
e-mail: enquiries@laurenceking.com of headwords, Alex was forced to withdraw. However,
www.laurenceking.com few can match his knowledge of and enthusiasm
for cinema and he continued to provide
encouragement and insight as well as doing a
Text © 2012 David Parkinson magnificent job in researching the illustrations.
This book was designed and produced by
Many thanks are owed to Philip Cooper and
Laurence King Publishing Ltd, London.
Sophie Wise at Laurence King Publishing, who
The right of David Parkinson to be identified as respectively developed the project and edited it,
the author of the work has been asserted by him with the contributions of Robert Shore and Jon
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Allan and the expert guidance of Laurence King.
Patents Act of 1988.
I should also take this opportunity to thank
All rights reserved. No part of this publication everyone at Empire and Radio Times for keeping me
may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or gainfully employed while I was working on the
by any means, electronic or mechanical, including manuscript, as well as my family back on
photocopy, recording or any information storage Merseyside, Marie Wright, Mike Nottage, Kim
and retrieval system, without prior permission Thompson, Nick Dawson, Anna Lea, Adam Smith,
in writing from the publisher. Justin Hopper, Graeme Hobbs, Moira Rhodes, Jason
Freeman, Judith Paskin, Chris Chambers, Abigail
A catalogue record for this book is available from
Ballinger, Andrew Lockett and Laura Morris for
the British Library.
keeping either me or my laptop going throughout.
ISBN: 978-1-85669-793-4
However, I am most indebted to Siobhan
Design: TwoSheds Design Lancaster and she knows why.
Picture research: Alexander Ballinger
David Parkinson
Senior editor: Sophie Wise
Printed in China Oxford, March 2011

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ISBN 978-1-85669-793-4

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