The photoplay; a psychological study (1916)

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THE FUNCTION OF THE PHOTOPLAY mines, to courtrooms and hospitals, to castles and palaces in any land on earth. Yet a stronger power of the photoplay probably lies in its own dramatic qualities. The rhythm of the play is marked by unnatural rapidity. As the words are absent which, in the drama as in life, fill the gaps between the actions, the ges- tures and deeds themselves can follow one an- other much more quickly. Happenings which would fill an hour on the stage' can hardly fill more than twenty minutes on the screen. This heightens the feeling of vitality in the speC' tator. He feels as if he were passing through life with a sharper accent which stirs his per- sonal energies. The usual make-up of the photoplay must strengthen this effect inas- much as the wordlessness of the picture drama favors a certain simplification of the social conflicts. The subtler shades of the motives naturally demand speech. The later plays of Ibsen could hardly be transformed into photoplays. Where words are missing the characters tend to become stereotyped and the motives to be deprived of their com- plexity. The plot of the photoplay is usually based on the fundamental emotions w'hich are IS 219