Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

THE CREATIVE CINEMA 77 the Russian cinematographer Eisenstein has pointed out, there is no essential difference between the physical movement expressed by the cutting of a film and the movement of the intellectual process within that film, save that the former produces a physiological effect and the latter creates a psychological effect on the audience. In Hell's Angels there is a memorable sequence of some magnificently daring flying which bears hardly any relation to the story of the film, but every nerve in our bodies is tingling with the physical excitement of watching the swooping aeroplanes and hearing their whining engines. Intellectually we remain unmoved, but physically we are greatly stimulated. On the other hand, to take an old example, the famous harvesting scene in The General Line, we are engaged in following the intellectual process of the theme while its significance is being strengthened for us by the physical emotions aroused by the swinging movements of the scythes, the length that the shots are being held on the screen, the decreasing intensity of light, and, had the film been synchronized, by the sound of the wind and rain of the oncoming storm. In other words, the material on the screen and its method of presentation is used to create a physical sensation in the audience which assists the acceptance of the film's intellectual theme, whereas in Hell's Angels the flying is employed merely for its own sake as a sensation and not for any deeper purpose. Most American pictures which are not adapted from stage plays are constructed along the lines of the scene in Hell's Angels, because the comparatively small