Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art) (1952)

Record Details:

Title:
Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art)
Date:
1952
Publisher:
London : Dennis Dobson Ltd.
Volume:
Theory of the film : (character and growth of a new art)
Leaf #:
0002
Language:
English
Collection:
Books
Format:
Books
Contributor:
Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
Date Added:
September 12, 2024
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Bela Balazs was the first film critic to run a column in a daily paper. That was thirty years ago, and until his recent death he was known throughout Europe as a leading theoretician of the film. In addition, his vast practical experience in every sphere of film production also made him an expert whose advice was constantly being sought on all matters connected with the film. His books have been translated into a dozen or so languages. Yet, until now, his work was never available in English. This book may be said to be the sum of thirty years of thought and practical work. It is both an historical review of the development of film art — a development which Balazs believes to be as yet scarce begun — and an attempt to establish its specific laws and draw the line which divides it from all other arts. Balazs analyzes with an incomparable wealth and brilliance of ideas every factor which goes into the making of a film or governs the effect it produces on the spectator. Nothing about the film escapes his examination, from its theoretical aesthetics to the technicalities of scenario-writing, the refinements of lighting and camera-angle, or from silence in the sound film as a mode of expression to the implications of associative montage.