The photoplay; a psychological study (1916)

MEMORY AND IMAGINATION were really at all three places at once. We see the joyous dance which, is of central dra- matic interest for twenty seconds, then for three seconds the wife in her luxurious bou- doir looking at the dial of the clock, for three seconds again the grieved parents eagerly listening for any sound on the stairs, and anew for twenty seconds the turbulent fes- tival. The frenzy reaches a climax, and in that moment we are suddenly again with his unhappy wife; it is only a flash, and the next instant we see the tears of the girl's poor mother. The three scenes proceed almost as if no one were interrupted at all. It is as if we saw one through another, as if three tones blended into one chord. There is no limit to the number of threads which may be interwoven. A complex in- trigue may demand cooperation at half a dozen spots, and we look now into one, now into another, and never have the impressiofi that they come one after another. The tem- poral element has disappeared, the one action irradiates in all directions. Of course, this can easily be exaggerated, and the result must be a certain restlessness. If the scene changes too often and no movement is carried 105