Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

130 CELLULOID out of Milestone's direction, are his introduction of good cutting into the scenes of attack, and his clever appreciation of the value of suspense in the German trench prior to the first French attack and in the final scene of Paul's death. These qualities do more to raise Milestone in my estimation than his handling of the scenes in which the " acting " takes precedence over cinematic treatment, as for example the opening sequences, the shell-hole incident and Paul's going on leave. In his arrangement of the French attack there is nothing between Milestone and cinema save the raw material of mass-movement, shells bursting and a machine-gun, whereas in other portions of the film we have always to reckon upon the " acting " abilities of Lewis Ayres, Louis Wolheim and the others of the cast. From a long shot over the battered waste of noman's-land, into that far distance of shells and smoke from which the French will emerge, we travel over the heads of the Germans and see every man waiting, rifle to shoulder, eyes glued to the sights. Suspense. The sound volume increases as the French burst through the smoke. We track over their heads. We cut to the German line. They are still waiting. A machine-gun is trained on the approaching attack. Backwards and forwards : French and German. Suspense. Suddenly the German line opens fire. From behind a machine-gun we see its sweeping curve of death. We cut to a pan shot of the French, we take the place of the swivelling gun, we follow its spreading hail of bullets from left to right across the screen. We return for a moment to the overhead tracking shot