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not of heroes and villains, but of men and women, and all their passions, both good and bad, have been given them by God. They sin only in blindness, and the ignorant condemn their mistakes, but the wise pity them." Some highbrows found such moralizing objectionable. Similar forewords, however, were indispensable to the big silent productions of the period. In "A Woman of Paris" a foreword was necessary to set the tone for such a departure from the usual.
Theme, characters, and atmosphere were all very daring for the time. The film was realistic and made no concessions to sentiment or moral codes. Humanity itself was indicted. Virtue was not shown in any self-reward nor vice as a self-punishment. He comments on problems of life without attempting to solve them, on human frailties without attempting to reform them. His is no preacher's viewpoint but one of half-sympathetic, half-cynical psychological understanding. Pennsylvania banned the film as ". . . indecent, immoral, and deals with prostitution in Paris and indecent love affairs." But except, possibly, for one gay studio-party scene, there was nothing in it to compete with the permitted "jazz" films or De Mille orgies of the period.
Simplicity marked the presentation of action and the treatment of emotions. The heavy emotionalism, standard for that day, was avoided. For the first time on the screen a triangle plot was presented in a straightforward and casual manner. In the past that embarrassing reality of life was treated either in heavy melodramatic or in farcical style.
Even the sets were simple. In the opening scene, roofs and a lighted window are enough to suggest a small French town at night. The railroad station is created by light and shadow. Many other scenes are mere stylized corners.
Ever consistent on economy in expression and achiev