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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE FILM
Of the film to-day, I find it hard to write, let alone to tell, for the unbalanced state of the whole industry, together with the sweeping tide of the noisy dialogue film, are movements which strangle at the outset any attempt at progress in the cinema. To find the proper film it is necessary first to brush aside the sweepings from America and England, dissect the films from France and Germany with an open eye for second-hand virtuosity, and regard the new Soviet pictures with reservation in case they may be resting on their past successes. Of the wedded synchronised sound and silent film, co-ordinated into a filmic whole, there is as yet no concrete example, though one waits in anticipation for Pudovkin's Life Is Beautiful. It is possible only to watch the dialogue film and utilise one's imaginative power. Of the true silent film but few examples come laggardly to England, often enough to be hidden away unseen. Occasionally a few of these may find their lonely way to the Film Society or the affectionate screen of what is at the moment of writing London's only loyalist, the Avenue Pavilion.
Of the feeling prevalent on the continent it is difficult to say, for news is rare of the silent film, and words and static photographs are inadequate to realise the intensity of film technique. The dynamic theme, the relation and inter-relation of thought expressed in moving images, is too elusive to be captured in print. It is, perhaps, only possible to sum up by disconnected statements of ideas, reactions, and observations.
The predominant characteristic of the proper film to-day is the growing tendency to find filmic expression by means of climatic effect. This process of image construction is the basis of Soviet continuity, and has spread with rapidity into the minds of the more advanced German and French directors. There seems, moreover, to be a distinct striving after some form of arithmetic or geometric progression in the arrangement of visual images during mounting, in the relation and inter-relation of film strips. There is also a tendency to shorten the approach to a scene by the elimination of the long shot and the increased use of the close up. The psychological effects made possible by the introduction of varied cutting by the Soviets is in the process of being carried to an advanced stage. Cross-cutting and inter-cutting are being utilised more as a method of insistence on the main object than as the old-fashioned even distribution of dramatic suspense of the 'last-minute-rescue'
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