The film till now : a survey of the cinema (1930)

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THE VARIOUS FORMS OF CINEMA story-interest, is to be found chiefly in topical news-reels, both sound and silent, as distinct from the Dziga-Vertov theories and Walther Ruttmann's Berlin. For this purpose, the advent of the sound film has increased the appeal beyond measure. British Movietone News, Paramount News, Fox Movietone News, etc., are all excellent uses of good camerawork and sound reproduction. To be mentioned also in this group are the numerous reconstruction films of war events, a feature of British production some years ago (Zeebrugge, Mons, The Somme, The Battles of Falkland and Coronel Islands, *Qy Ships, etc.). (b) The representation of past fact, without the introduction of fictional story-interest, is an attempt to put on record the actual happenings of some past event. Karl Dreyer's film La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc can well be cited as an example of this extremely difficult accomplishment, as well as Czerepy's production of the life of Frederick the Great, Federicus Rex. (k) The Decorative Film and Art Film, as Distinct from the CineFiction Film This form of cinema is now almost obsolete, for the cost of production is inevitably greater than the returns from such a picture, if it is to be well done. No firm which has to satisfy its shareholders can afford to produce an art film for the sheer prestige of having done so. Nevertheless, some notable and splendid examples of purely decorative films exist, most of them having been made during the early and middle periods of the German cinema. Perhaps the greatest picture of this kind is the first part of The Nibelungen Saga, Siegfried, made by Fritz Lang in 1923. No expense was spared on this magnificent film, which stands practically alone as an example of simplified decoration. On a smaller scale, Paul Leni's Waxworks deserves mention if only for the fine architecture, but it is to be understood that this type of cinema is more related to the theatre than to the film. A number of small , one and two reel art films have been made from time to time, but most of them, like Robert Florey's Loves of Zero, are insignificant. Fairbanks' The Thief of Bagdad, although negligible after the greatness of Destiny, may be ranked as a pseudo-art film. (/) The Cine-Fiction Film This form of cinema naturally constitutes the bulk of the world's film output and may be subdivided into three sections: 67