The Cine Technician (1935-1937)

122 The Journal of the Association of Cine-Technicians Oec., ig36-jan., 1937 Recent Publications Successful Film Writing, by Seton Margrave. 6/ net. Mr. Margrave has certainly come to the rescue of the aspiring film writer. He has, in this little survey, listed out briefly but accurately all the points and pitfalls of screen story-writing. In contrast to so many other books aiming to teach "films," he does not beat about the bush, but states his views clearly and concisely. And very sane views they are. "In writing for films," lie says, "you write not for but with your audience." This is quite true, but the great difficulty of the film writer is to know what kind of an audience to write with. Eighteen and a half million people visit the cinema every week in Britain, so the answer is not easy to find. Mr. Margrave is a film critic, and has therefore the nearest contact with the .audience of any branch of the film trade. He has used this contact to create for himself an "Average Filmgoer" whom, he says, "is interested in himself and he would very much like the film writer to present that self in happier and more heroic circumstances than he finds in drab reality." The writer himself is compared with a motorist in heavy traffic. "The speed position of such a motorist is governed by the circumstances around him. . . . He will not diverge from his line. He will neither overtake nor be overtaken." This seems to me to be as apt a summing up as any I have heard. Again, while he is urging the writer to introduce his theme and characters as early as possible in the story, he quotes from Plutarch ; 'When Demosthenes was asked what was the first part of oratory, he answered, 'Action,' and what was the second, he answered, 'Action,' and what was the third, he still answered, 'Action'." If a film writer remembered only this, he would be a long way on the road to success. But Mr. Margrave really hits the nail on tlie head when he emphasises the importance to the writer of thinking in length. This is a quality so easily forgotten when one's story is becoming interesting. The finished scenario in the book shows the exact length of every scene. This should be of the greatest help to students. In planning his book, Mr. Margrave has selected one story, that of "The Ghost Goes West," and as well as his own chapters on film writing, he has reproduced first the original short story, then notes on the cinematic qualities of the story by Rene Clair. This is followed by the first film treatment and lastly comes the finished shooting script. This method certainly makes for clear explanations, and is an excellent one so long as the reader bears in mind that he cannot learn everything from the study of one story. For instance, Mr. Margrave states that it is impossible to introduce a new character into a film after the first half of its length. Generally speaking, this is true, especially in the case of mystery films. But even in "The Ghost Goes West," Miss Sheppcrton does not appear until the ninth reel, and in "The Great Ziegfeld" his second wife is not introduced until we are well into the second half. So one cannot say that it is impossible. This, however, is only a small point. Altogether I can safely say that all those who want to write for the films would be very well advised to read and digest tliis excellent book. Li:i(;ii Am.\n. Methuen, Film and Theatre, by AUardyce Nicoll. Harrap. 7/6 net. The author of this work was formerly Professor of English Language and Literature in the University of London (East London College) and is now Professor of History of Drama and Dramatic Criticism at Yale University. He is renowned as an authority' on the Theatre and in this book he gives a keen evaluation of the film and its connection with the spoken play. He traces its roots back even to Shakespeare's time, devoting a chapter to "Shakespeare and the Cinema," wherein he says : "... in the late sixteenth century the Elizabethan stage occupied a position by no means dissimilar to that taken in our own times by the cinema" ; "the public was a motley one and the stage commercial, by its profits attracting to it many men in no wise talented dramatically or otherwise eager to serve the theatre's cause. Amid such conditions Shakespeare's masterpieces were produced." In this book, as he explains, he has sought to present, in as simple and unelaborated a manner as possible, what appear to be the basic principles underlying artistic expression in the film ; and, secondly, to relate that form of expression to the familiar art of the stage. I can thoroughly recommend this book to all those interested in the aesthetics of the art of the film, but to those purely technically-minded it offers little or nothing. In the appendix is a bibliography which covers a wide scope of writings on the cinema and includes over a thousand titles — a truly remarkable list. Professor Nicoll's "British Drama" was probably one of the finest outlines of the history of the English drama that has ever been published and this, his latest work, will rank as of equal importance on the subject of the basic difference between the theatre and the film. LovAT Cave-Chinn. The Use and Misuse of Films (Encyclical Letter of His Holiness Pius XL), Catholic Truth Society. Films and the Labour Party. Paul Rotha. Labour Party, Transport House. These two pamphlets are significant reflections of that dissatisfaction with the social role of the commercial film industry which comes from different sources and despite its lack of recognition by the industry is, I believe, growing considerably. The rise of the Film Society movement in the last five years is another manifestation. The Roman Catholic Church, as is well known, seeks to express its dissatisfaction by influencing the industry in the direction of Catholic morality by the censorship power of boards of review, such as tlie Legion of Decency in America, which classifies as "desirable" or "undesirable" all films in the U.S.A. offered for public exhibition in the cinemas. The present Encyclical is the spearhead of a movement to extend this practice from the U.S..\. to the entire Catholic world. The attitude taken in the second pamphlet, on the other liand, is that neglect by the commercial film of the outlook of large sections of the population can only be met satisfactorily by the building up of a film movement outside the financial domination of commercial film interests, beginning with the exhibition of a])proved films and dc