San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1924-03-09

lfolms--what ii is essentially; Would
you recognize it if you sas it?
There is lot of loose palaver
about art and the screen. Much o!
what is blatantly beralded as art
will not pass muster. Patron and
practitioner founder because they
cannot project definite goal for
serious cinematic effort And half.
baked criticism only further con-
POUNDS the fretted strivings Of pro-
Hank then to Albert levin, former
college professor and now scenarist
for Metro, discussing the, subject
with academic and practical equip
mcnt.
1T is" says levin. "a paradox
Of art that only by elimination Of
tic actual can the real be discovered.
The essential quality of the objec.
is elucidated when it is purified, dis
titled, idealized, conventionolized.
Modern art concerns itself pri-
marily with the actual at the ex-
pense of the essential. II is called
realism. Its true name is actualisin.
And for this reason the modern
school of realism falls short of being
great at its greatest.
Literature and other arts have
been seduced into devotion to tie
actual. What then shall we expect
from the motion picture. designed
in its very nature for the photog-
raphy of surfaces?
''The motion picture is the very
dedication of the realistic school. The
eye of the camera cannot select. It
sees everything and reveals nothing.
What the realistic novel seeks inef-
fectually to attain, the camera does
by nature.
"This is why in Iaotion pictures
glimmering of artistic achievement.
Not until it shears away its nat
ural proclivity to see too much and
express too little, will the movie do
anything vital or creative.
"The stupid eye Of the camera
merely reproduces. We must select
and eliminate for it. We must con-
vcntionalize our movements for it
as austerely as the dance does. We
must wear masks and move in de-
teImined patterns. I
eve must never photograph seen
cry or real houses. and we must stop
initiating the actual appurtenances
of clothes and furniture in our cos
tunes and sets. We must make CO.'S
tune and set express exclusively the
real mood and idea. :.
"'The cabinet Of Doctor Caligerp
is one of the pictures which are in
any authentic sense Jerks of art. be-
cause it succeeded in expressing a
fundamental and vital mood by keen
ing the camera away from a single
actual appearance.
Similarly the significance OF
Charles Chaplin lies in his creation
Of an ideal character whose express
sive pantomime combines with his
conventionalized clown clothes and
dance steps formally 10 express his
intuitive divination of vital hui
mainly, which could not for mo-
ment be considered actual but which |
is deeply real"
Quite a hue and cry is bring raised
about "cruelty to animals in motion |
pictures"
Efforts are being made to boycott |
producers against whom this charge |
is laid.
This presents not only serious |
threat against movie makers whose
money and reputation are identified |
with animals. b.s also contains the !
threat of eliminating virtually all
animals from films. which is Of
some concern to millions who delight
in this type Of entertainment.
Whenever such charges Of DELHI !
erates5 cruelty are substantiatcd |
against picture producers there is no
defense. even though the human
race with its established dependence
upon meat and wool and furs and
feathers, and its enslavement Of
lesser creatures for work. play and
vanity. is Of course monster of
cruelty. -.-
But these charges are being ac-
cepted without positive proof. And
that is the danger and the unfair
ness-that films may be debarrcd
merely. on, let us saw. well-meaning
or beliefs or hearsay
from interested groups in Holly
wood.
1 base this assertion upon digest