Celluloid : the film to-day (1931)

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23O CELLULOID straightforward records of people arriving at railway stations and boxing matches, Melies exploited the magical properties of the cinema by making fantastic films like A Trip to the Moon. But as the industry developed, this ability of the camera to distort and double-expose became lost in the eager pursuit of the more obvious. Occasionally tricks were employed to create sensations when a story might flag a little, but the production of fantastic films as a definite aim did not receive much encouragement. In fact, almost the only director who has attempted to use the cinema for achieving such remarkable effects is Fritz Lang, who has worked in Germany exclusively for the Decla-Bioskop Company, which later became incorporated with Ufa. He has to his credit eight extremely interesting productions, each of which has been more fascinating than the last. From the opening of his film career, Lang has consistently associated himself with the flower of the technical accomplishment of German studios, and this policy has played a large part in his success. In the realization of his pictures he has always selected the most skilled cameramen, the most creative architects, and the most attractive personalities to play his characters, whilst his scenarios have been adapted from stories by his wife, Thea Von Harbou, a well-known writer of sensational thrillers. With the production of each of his films, I have never failed to marvel at Lang's choice of theme, his flair for things on a big scale, and his remarkable fondness for ideas that, on account of their compelling imaginative qualities, are universal in their appeal.