Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

Page scan 000108 from Celluloid : the film to-day

Record Details:

Title:
Celluloid : the film to-day
Date:
1931
Publisher:
London : Longmans, Green and Co.
Volume:
Celluloid : the film to-day
Leaf #:
000108
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:
June 20, 2024
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72 CELLULOID THE CREATIVE CINEMA In allowing ourselves to admire the past achievements of the cinema, however, we must never permit our interest in the great silent films to obscure the bigness of the future. Sooner or later, each one of us will realize that the cinematic medium is an integral part of our lives, that it is the vital means of expression to-day, and that the film is the dominant factor in the tremendous electrical revolution of the third and fourth decades of the twentieth century. The film takes its place at the front of the great move for freedom of thought and rationalism of ideas which characterizes the youth of to-day — this sudden demand for functionalism after the ornateness of the Edwardians. Just as houses grow like ships and windows expand to the sunlight and air, just as space and utility are the keynotes of modern architecture, just as the speed of the age is typified in racing-'planes and speed-cars, so the film is the expression of our lives. I realize that critics who monotonously attend tradeshow after trade-show of the perpetual story-film cannot be expected to visualize this ten thousand times more important aspect of the cinema, but then their writing is only meant for the casual film fan who regards the film as a sentimental entertainment and adores the meringue decoration of the theatres to-day. But the real meaning of cinema — the proper uses to which it should be put — must eventually become