The Cine Technician (1935-1937)

30 The Joitnnil of the Associatiou of Ci)ie-Technicians May, 1936 Recent Publications Plan for Cinema, by Dallas Bower. Dent. 7/6 net. The value of this book lies, not so much in its statements and opinions, interesting as these are, but in its being the first attempt by' a practised film technician to deal with the possible impact upon the present cinema of colour, stereoscopy and television. I shy away from the kind of film book that has increased recently, in which some enthusiast decides it is time the cinema had an aesthetic, and so analyses it into a book full of ingenious and minute definitions. Mr. Bower, although a little too discursive at times, keeps close to the background of his wide technical e.xperience ; and consequently gives us a book valuable to technicians even when we disagree with his arguments. My own chief disagreement centres on "the King Charles' head" of the book — editing. At times, Mr. Bower gives the impression that the most desirable feature of the three-dimensional colour film will be the almost total absence of cutting. He bases the alleged inevitability o'f this development on the impracticability of the quick cutting together of colour shots. He says, in effect, that the colour film will, for certain reasons, be difficult to cut ; therefore, he says, we must not cut. But surely what we must do, on the contrary, is to see how far we may overcome these difficulties, in order to preserve what seems to me the essential and peculiar property of the cinema — whether black-and-white and two-dimensional, or coloured and stereoscopic — the capacity for instantaneous transfer from scene to scene, the ability to leap from peak to dramatic peak — i.e., the cut. Compare the coming of sound. Many of Mr. Bower's arguments could have been used then. In fact, sound did temporarilv reduce the importance of the cut ; but as the inherent difficulties of sound have been overcome, the cut has regained its former importance, tliough with different application, of course. He points out, very truly, the peculiar appositeness of Russian quick cutting or montage to the social conditions in which it occurred — "Action is peculiarly amenable to a people in revolt" — and which it portrayed. But 1 fancy he has, unconsciously perhaps, made this true criticism the basis for a less discriminating criticism of cutting in general. Elsewhere he says, "The camera per se can only reproduce .... from where it happens to see has no meaning aesthetically. Essentially a selective in distinction to a creative process." But in the ultimate analysis, it is not the camera that sees — it is the director who sees, through the medium of the camera. And the vision of the film director is potentially as valid aesthetically as that of the painter or musician. And surely it is creation, rather than selection, when natural forms are arranged (as they normally are in the studio film) in deliberate groupings to be shot from some pre-conceived angle. He makes a point, when he says "The shot, then, is the raw material, like the word." But that does not make the individual shot selective ; the total work of the director is creative, and the making of the individual shot is part of that process of creation. On the possible future of a solid natural-colour cinema, the author is lively and provocative. He foresees a foursided (later a cylindrical) screen, which will present simultaneously viewpoints all round the subject shown, together with a revolving auditorium to complete the stereoscopic illusion. In some such way, he sees a future for the presentation of such vast projects as Thomas Hardy's "The Dynasts" or for Wagner's " The Ring," or rather of the work of their successors, the solid-cinema poets of the future. Sidney Cole. The Movies on Trial. Compiled and edited by William J. Perlman. Macmillan, 10 6 net. The Movies on Trial is a symposium of views and opinions of well-known (to America) public people, including a journalist, a judge, a minister, an actor, a poetess, an agricultural economist, a playwright, a stage producer, and a dramatic critic. It can be recommended to all technicians who want to understand the various tastes to be catered for by the Industry. The book appears to' convey two opinions : (1) That the movie business is not so black as it is painted ; and (2) That the movies are responsible for all the filth, etc., etc., etc., in fact worse than that ! Some of the opinions are unconsciously funny. The rexerend gentleman from his article has apparently seen nothing on the screen except "Rape, Seduction, etc., etc." While I am fully aware that such things are screened, in Paris and Port Said, I never have seen them on the public screen in such prominence as he states. If I have, I must have been unaware of the fact, either because my mind is so pure that I couldn't understand it anyway, or because my mind is so foul that what I saw seemed comparatively clean to me. All these moral reformists seem to forget that the first and foremost object of the Cinema is to entertain and not, as is their supposition, to "educate." It would appear that they want a State Censorship a la Nazi. Heaven protect the Film Trade ! "The movies' bad effect on children myth" is finally exploded by Ben Lindsey, a Judge of the Superior Court of Los Angeles, whose article is one of the best in the book. Never before have I realised that there were so many high-falutin' Puritanical maniacs, who would cleanse the world of that menace — "The Filthy Picture." Well, if "Bengal Lancer," Modern Times," "The Thin Man," "Henry the Eighth," "Sanders of the River," "Nell Gwyn," "Strike Me Pink," and all the thousands of others, are such, all I can say is . . . let's have more Filthy Pictures. "Observer." The Dufaycolor Process. Published by Ilford Ltd. (Price not stated). This is a short, attracti\-ely-bound booklet of forty pages with four colour plates. The latter are photographed on to Ilford Panchromatic process plates through tricolour filters from Dufaycolor originals. These are particularlv i^ileasing, and the colours appear very true to hfe. First of all, we are given a .simple, concise explanation of how the jirocess works, and this is followed by advice on the manipulation of the film ; loading the dark-sHdes, the difference between the two types of stock available — one roll-film and the other flat film, correct use of filters, calculation of exposures, etc., with special reference to the Ilford PhotoElectric Exposure Meter. Details of developing and the method of com])lcting the processing by reversal are clearly set out with full details of the solutions used. -^