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36 VISUAL CULTURE
of the man's face, we see it twitch as if startled and then strips of light and shadow, light and shadow flit across it in quickening rhythm. Then tears gather in the eyes and that ends the scene. We are expected to know what happened and to-day we do know, but when I first saw this film in Berlin, I did not at once understand the end of this scene. Soon, however, everyone knew what had happened: the train had started and it was the lamps in its compartment which had thrown their light on the man's face as they glided past ever faster and faster.
Another example. A man is sitting in a dark room in gloomy meditation. The spectator knows from the previous scene that a woman is in the next room. We see a close-up of the man's face. Suddenly a light falls on it from one side. The man raises his head and looks towards the light with an expression of hopeful expectation. Then the light fades from his face and with it the expression of hope. He lowers his head in disappointment. Complete darkness falls slowly. It is the last shot of a tragic scene. No more is needed. What happened here? Every picture-goer knows and understands this language now. What happened was that the door of the next room opened for a moment, the woman came to the threshold of the lighted room, hesitated, but turned back and closed the door for ever. Even this 'for ever' could be felt in the slow and complete darkening of the picture. Precisely the fact that no more was shown stimulated our imagination and induced the right mood in us. Therein lay its subtlety.
WHY ARE OLD FILMS FUNNY?
To-day we understand not only the situation presented in a picture but every shade of its significance and symbolic implications. The rapidity of our evolution towards this new understanding can be measured by looking at old films. We laugh aloud, especially at the grimmest tragedies, and can scarcely believe that such antics could be taken seriously a mere twenty years ago. What is the reason for this? Other old works of art do not appear funny to us and we rarely feel like laughing even at the most naive and primitive art.