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THE AMERICAN FILM
arguments to the limits of boredom, losing thereby any subtlety or meaning that they might convey. Typical of this was the painful gold colouring in Greed, which very nearly wrecked the film, and the superfluous cherry blossom in The Wedding March. Both these attempts at atmospheric emphasis lost their effect by their redundancy. Instead of becoming suggestive they became irritating. Quite certainly they were Victorian.
Stroheim's best work is to be seen in small pieces. There are many sequences in his films that stand out alone for their extreme beauty and sympathetic feeling. This in itself suggests the lack of unity and central purpose of the Stroheim film. Frequently it is declared that he is hampered in his realisation by lack of money, but in consideration of the extraordinary licence allowed him in the past, this argument for his failure is hardly convincing. If Stroheim is the filmic genius he is said to be, then he will express his purpose under the limited conditions of film-making.
Admittedly, this awkward predicament of having to spend money in order to keep up appearances is regrettable, but Stroheim has no one to blame save himself. If it were possible to see Stroheim in small, separate sequences, it would then be correct to call him a superbly talented experimentalist. One of the most beautiful sequences realised in the history of the cinema was the short hospital scene in The Wedding March, exquisite alike in feeling, acting, simplicity, and lighting. Photographically, it was magnificent, the range of tones shimmering from deep velvety blacks to dazzling gauzed whites with perfect gradation. But the fact remains that if Stroheim suddenly dropped his pose, became serious, ceased his expensive bluffing campaign, and made a film of normal length, with a normal amount of money and in a normal space of time, producers would believe that they had been cheated out of their money, and the film would be regarded as a joke, whilst actually it would be a masterpiece.
It is said that Erich von Stroheim has led a stormy life in Hollywood trying to combat commercialism with artistic temperament. Perhaps it would be more truthful to say that Stroheim has commercialised his artistic temperament. No producing centre in the world save Hollywood would have accepted Stroheim's whimsical fancies. His ideas are always made to look as if they are conceived on a great scale, calling for vast financial resources, and naturally
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