Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Star-dust in Hollywood the switch pressed. A terrific bang, a huge cloud of smoke which at once hid the hulk and rolled slowly over the water was the result. When this had cleared away not a fragment of the hulk remained. She had been blown to smithereens. In this case Art had far outdistanced Nature. If you think back over a movie play you will find that it is something like a suspension-bridge. It hangs together from a series of emotional high spots, and upon the strength of these high spots the continual interest of the whole drama depends. These high spots are not left to chance by directors, but must be designed with great care ; not only as scenes of emotional importance, but as purely pictorial drama. For, in spite of the talkies, the true appeal of * the pictures ' is still in its pictures. In other words, a wide gap lies between the work on the scenario that we have already described and the turning of the camera on the stars. When writer, continuity, gag-man, director, and stars have finished with the script it is still only the written word. The actors do not act in a vacuum. The two chief stars and the director do not go wandering over Hollywood hand in hand from house to house looking for a spot suitable for a passionate embrace. No. The man who has to invent, imitate, or even outdistance Nature needs not to be only an artist ; he must be an architect, with a sure sense of the possibilities of construction and a knowledge of costs. He must be well versed in the arts of dodging, faking, and all kinds of trick photography. To such qualities he must add unfailing invention and a sense of the drama latent in pure pictorial effects. The author has written, the continuity-man has hashed, the gag-man has interpolated, the director has reshaped, and the star has modified the text, but it is still a book full of type [178]