New-York tribune., 1918-11-17
William Nigli and
Z'Enfant Terrible

|
only nobody would know 1t.
"Rut IL Mr. Roosevelt had been
trained to express himself correctly
before the motion picture camera what
ne was saying would register and, with
the main points of his thought car
ried through In titles, his whole
speech could be followed on the screen
with perfect understanding and enjoy
ment.
"or to take that most visual Of pub
lie speakers, Billy Sunday. II he
would make exactly the gesture that
went with each tone of his voice bv
putting what he was saying into
printed words, movie of Billy Sunday
would accomplish almost as much as
personal appearance
Everything shows before the motion
picture camera-the tiredness behind
the laugh, the little sneer behind the
smile, the unbelief behind the eye.
Whatever the mind is thinking is ex-
pressed in motion picture photography.
II takes art to make it show perfectly
what one Is feeling, but it takes more
to make 1t not show. Naturalism, real
ism. with restraint and balance-these
are the gifts of the motion picture to
the people who intelligently work for it.
And stage directing, as well as act
ing, owes lot to the movie. No more
Will Hamlet soliloquize with his hand
stuck in where William Hart's pistol
would be. No more is An actor taugh.
to pivot on the ball Of the foot while
performing the simple act of turning
around. He is encouraged to turn
around in whatever way Is most nat
ural. The grace OF Nature is asked for
not the grace Of bunkum. The moving
picture has strongly affected th.uu
technique Of story writing. A dx1
writer can no longer camoufiac<
story in words. The public
tco trained to 'show-me' al
mind by the movies.
ALSO the movie, through
title that links its scenes,
oped taste for direct wr
sentences, few words. In
directed some years ago /
telling in one title FIVE char
book we were getting our
Particularly Ia the NOV
influencing the form of the
more is the long, methodid
the popular division of matel
story is told now in long
short, loosely connected or almJ
tirely disconnected scenes.
And, as for playwriting, here the
innuence OF the motion picture is para
mount A good play now begins when
the curtain rises
| "A motion picture can begin an
where. A play now realizes that it can
do the same. No longer do the butler
and the maid commence the evenings
entertainment with discursive resume
OF the experiences and temperament of
the master. Servants in plays now do
what a servant does. The art of the
modern drama is action.
"A good play could run for ten acts
and not become monotonous. The ma
Jority of plays should run only ten
minutes.
"In the fields of painting and sculpt-
ure the influence of the movies has
been overwhelming, because the movies
have forced modern art and artists to
give up the aim of representing nature
IN their work. It has made them real
lie that the representative element
the element Of likeness-is not the
| purpose Of work of art The still
camera emphasized this for them. but
the moving picture made it irrefutable,
because the movies can show the ex
ternal world, not only effectively, but
livings in all its movements. One onlv
needs to note that all modern art has
relinquished any attempt to compete
with the movies in this field and has
been forced to search for other harmo-
MES, other beauties.
"A new field has been opened to music
in the original scores written to inter
pret the emotion of a screen drama. A
good movie is really musical in its con-
struction--its continuity 10 linecr. This
relationship between motto. picture
and musical score Is now but at the
commencement Of its development.
ain fact, when one stops to take a
good look at the matter, it is clear
that since the arrival of the movie
this renfant terrible of the arts-not
one in its whole family will ever be the
! same"