Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

Record Details:

Title:
Celluloid : the film to-day
Date:
1931
Publisher:
London : Longmans, Green and Co.
Volume:
Celluloid : the film to-day
Leaf #:
00056
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
March 21, 2024
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26 CELLULOID les toits de Paris, the footsteps in The Virginian, the drum-beats in The King of Jazz, and yet we are incapable of perceiving the superiority of sound over speech. In view of this, I put forward the belief that the cinema as a whole, in all its magnificent bigness, is not progressing. That, with the exception of one or two sound experiments, the cinema has failed to justify its real existence as a medium of expression fit for the twentieth century since the enforced introduction of speech three years ago. In such matters as story-value and the general perfection of the technical attributes of the medium (such as moving camerawork and noiseless sound reproduction) I do not deny that advances have been made. As a means of education, also, the documentary and cultural film has been partially developed. But broadly speaking, the cinema as an instrument capable of affecting the minds of the masses throughout the world has failed not only to add the full advantages of sound to its power of expression, but has practically reached a state of stagnation through its crazy pursuit of speech. STORY SHORTAGE CRISIS Yet a further problem of the gravest significance with which the producers are faced to-day is the apparent lack of fresh film stories. The extreme seriousness of this coming crisis cannot be over-stated. On the surface, it may perhaps seem foolish to say that