Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood continue a movement suggested by A. Again, whatever the action may be that runs through B, scene C must pick up the interest at the local spot where B ceases. So that the eye is danced about insensibly, but is never steeplechased. This has no reference to the story itself, but merely to the making of the pictures considered only as spots of colour and centres of pictorial interest. The eye should be led a gentle dance, swaying easily and comfortably from side to side of the picture, now fast, now slow, as the emotional needs of the story demand. The movement and chiaroscuro in a film picture might be considered as the rhythms and colour in music ; the plot and emotional expression might then be compared to the melody and accompaniment. And, as in the orchestra, all this complicated sway of motion and chiaroscuro has to be * conducted.* Give an orchestral score to a band of musicians and see what a hash they would make of the music ; so also, no matter how eminent a set of actors might be, the movies would result in a similar hash without the director. A further obstacle is presented by the fact that once any series of pictures is taken, developed, and printed it is fixed. So that this orchestrated pick-up, sway, and rhythm from scene to scene has to be visualized and concreted in the mind of the director before the camera is turned on to the actors. The director is not like a painter or a writer ; he can cut out a scene, but, short of rephotographing the whole, he cannot make any corrections within the scene itself. He cannot scratch out or paint over again. And a director found rephotographing many scenes would not long hold his position ; Hollywood has little time for obvious fumbling. Unluckily the public does not always judge things at their just value. The advertisements display the relative importances thus: [106]