Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

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38 It's a good New Year that begins with two such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Robin Hood. These two, although, as different as any films could well be, mark each an epoch in the development of film art, and indicate very clearly the two paths along which films are tending to diverge. Robin /food is the furthest point yet reached in what may be termed the " ballet " side of screen production; that is to say no other film has yet been made in which line, rhythmic movement and posture, both of masses and individuals, have been so completely harmonised or reduced to such a fine art. Robin Hood is the perfect pantomime. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, on the other hand, is the first complete expression of thought in terms of celluloid. Both are perfect children of the screen, but whereas Robin Hood would have made almost as beautiful a ballet, an opera, or a romance, the story as told in Caligari could not have been told in any other medium. It is this fact that makes The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari unique in the history of the screen. Every lover of the screen should make a point of seeing The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, if only for the ^sake of realising what a future lies in front of producers when they dare to take their courage in both hands, discard the twoa-penny type of plot, and explore the wonderful possibilities of line, and perspective, and the translation of sheer thought into visual images. Caligari was made by Robert Wiene, a theatrical producer of the Potsdam Art (|jroup, who turned to the kinema for the first time in this film, because neither the spoken drama nor the canvas and brush seemed to him a suitable vehicle for his phantasy. If his experience of the studio was limited, his knowledge Leatri'ce Joy as the Manchu heroine of "Java l-Icad," is responsible for much of the film's fidelity to the Heri/csheimcr Story Rict\ire s and Pichjre $ver Our Honours List Under this heading we propose each month to deal with current releases of outstanding merit. Only those pictures that are an addition to the art of the silver-sheet will be included in our Honours List. All critical picturegoers will find this new feature of absorbing interest. JANUARY 1924 of the use and value of lighting was immense, and he enrolled under his banner a group of enthusiastic painters, actors and electricians, each of whom was a master of his craft. Caligari has all the enthusiasm and freshness of the amateur combined with the polished ease of the skilled professional. Having no respect for film conventions Wiene discarded the customary studio scenery, and let exteriors well alone; he made his backgrounds with painted " flats." and got his wonderful illusions of depth and distance by the clever use of converging lines and painted light. Notice, first of all, how throughout the light is always used to emphasise the main person in the scene; it is rarely, if ever. used naturally. That is to say it does not appear to come from any recognised source of light — a window, a fireplace, or a lamp. Wiene says " Let there be light " — and there is light, pretty well anywhere he chooses. You will understand the effect of this when you see the scene in which " Caligari " is discovered by the madman in his study at the asylum. The scene has a wonderful appearance of depth, and all the emphasis is laid upon the solitary figure of the " Doctor " at the far end of the room. It is an illusion due entirely to the skilful manipulation of painted light and of converging line. You will notice the same thing in the staircase scenes in the Town Hall, in the prison cell, and in the bedroom of the madman's fiancee. It has been the dream of producers since the beginning of time to evolve a satisfactory stereoscopic film. Wiene. in his first attempt, has outdone them all. He used no special camera, no marvellous lens, no expensive machinery. But by the simple use of queer and unusual angles, cleverly arranged lines and cubes, and revolutionary ideas of light and shade he achieved, if not an actual stereoscopic film, at least a very close approximation to it. In almost any scene you care to choose the actors appear to be moving in actual depth, and not merely passing across a flat surface. It is not the habit of the Germans to "' star " their players. Every figure in Caligari is of equal importance, and there is not an extra in the cast who does not play with the sincerity and ability of a lead. But the figures that will haunt your dreams for weeks are the " Caligari " of Werner Krauss and the sinister somnambulist of Conrad Yeidt. Caligari will not be everybody's film. For the discriminating it is a film to observe and treasure. Robin Hood is a feast of pictorial beauty. There is hardly a scene, which, framed and isolated would not make an artistic addition to the pictures on anybody's walls. The only sad thing about Robin Hood is that it is over so soon. and that there is so much beauty to see and so little time to see it in. But that is Fairbanks' idea ; the keynote of the whole film is movement, rhythmic movement, movement that carries us