The cinema as a graphic art : on a theory of representation in the cinema (1959)

THE CINEMA AS A GRAPHIC ART Fig. 74. — Robert Paul, one of tr first camera-man inventors, 1896. reels began to appear, and finally the ' play ' cinema was established. In searc of subjects the cinema turned to the theatre, and primarily to the contemporar stage. Who was responsible for the guidance of these early cinema enterprises Who was the owner of the first cinema factory ? There is an interesting description of the early business leaders in the cinem industry in an article, by the director G. V. Alexandrov, devoted to the America] cinema. Where did the people come from who at that time were the controllers or owners 0 the ' Hollywood Film World ' ? At the dawn of cinematography adventurers of all kinds abandoned their fairgrounds' roundabouts, maisons de joie, and show booths, and began to ' work ' with success in the field of cinematographic activity. Their pictures brought them great returns, and the; became capitalists, the controllers of American cinematography.1 Of the director in the present-day sense of the word there was no though at that time. In the chase after profit journalist types who had worked in th» sphere of gutter detective activity, and hangers-on from the lower fringes of th< theatre easily found their way to the production of cinema pictures, exploiting the few camera-men necessary in the capacity of sole * specialists '. Films wen produced largely by poorly qualified photographers, who were far from bein£ artists and had taken up * living photography ' because it provided a new sourq of income. In the best case these men were of the Georges Melies, Robert Pau and Dickson type, and in the worst were photographers who had not found roorr for themselves in so-called ' art ' photography. 1 G. V. Alexandrov, " American Film Production ", article in the journal Proletariat, Kino, Nos. 15-16, 1932. 146