Cinematographic annual : 1931 (1931)

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CINEMATIC TELEOLOGY 21 us to comprehend — that have suggested some of the hoaxes that have been perpetrated on pretentious admirers and critics of this school. In this catagory we place any egotistic play for sensationalism, extravagant efforts at novelty, paranoic expressions, abuse of those very legitimate ideas of simplicity of technique and impressionism in painting, crude childish drawings. In supplying examples of this form of art, we may recall such subjects as a cylinder with four ball-like appendages, entitled, "Torso of a Man". Some strange looking creature with a shock of red hair entirely covering the face, called, "The Portrait of a Lady", in which we search like in a picture puzzle, for a semblance of a face, and helplessly ask, "a portrait of who?" and the modern enthusiast answers, "why, that is left to the imagination, a portrait of your mother, your sweetheart, or your sister". All this can best be illustrated by looking at a drawing by your baby boy, who has expressed very directly with his childish outlines, and the aid of our imagination, an aeroplane dropping bombs on a peasant's house. Influence of Modern (Recondite) Art on the Drama Our modern impetuosity and impatience may suggest the question, "what has all this to do with our present subject?" It is designed to show that all forms of art have their parallel problems, and that the stage and screen is no exception. They have, likewise, indulged in abuses. The stage has had its run of such problem plays as "Maternity," "Damaged Goods," "Mrs. Warren's Profession," etc., which have drawn from Mr. Cheney the expression, "thus is the stage made to do for clinic and rostrum. We all went to see these plays and I think we considered them 'advanced'. But essentially the stage is more concerned with beauty than with morals. The theatre is the house of emotion, of passion, of ecstasy rather than the house of correction". We have also been sated with the sex question. We are going to continue to observe these extravagances until all the institutions which we have held so dear have become so cheap that they will no longer have any appeal. Then will come a reversion of affairs when all these values will be readjusted, chastity, virtue, simple beauty, cultural elegance will again be reversed and sought. We will have our own present-day Johnsons, Goldsmiths, and Addisons to bring back a little sweetness and beauty to our literature, our Sheridans and Garricks to dignify the stage, we already have our Grimaldi in our beloved Chaplin. In the matter of production, Recondite art has likewise invaded the pictures. We have witnessed strange ideas as regards settings, angles of vision, proportions and amazing elaboration, and the same extravagances are exhibited in the various other departments, literature, costuming, music, etc. Nevertheless, concurrent with such modernity, there are productions, now and then, that furnish all the demands of the conservatives. They come to us at a time, like such plays as Ibsen's, in his time, and seem to prove the possibility of answering a general demand