Evening star., 1940-09-01

his heights and takes his hurdle.
alone, with only himself to please
not always simple task If enc Il
aspiring, Of course-but assured
complete freedom. The illustrator
need consider his author and. hi!
taste, as well as the reading public
but the last comparatively little
artistically. The maker of moving
pictures, however, must adjust him.
self to his colleagues in the fields OF
literature and drama and cooper
ate with them to the fullest ex-
tent, adapting the factual to the re-
quirements of creative expression
Herein lies, as one should see with
half an eye, the difference between
the newsreel and the film drama
when the latter (as is not today un-
usual Is work of art. Both are
photographically transcribed The
one is as it may be in actuality, the
other artistically designed. To take
simile from music, one newsreel
Is tune played frankly on single
instrument; the dramatiZed film
well done, like the production of a
piece of music by a full orchestra.
1t may even be the same tune or
chestrated, but what a difference!
Also, it should be borne in mind
that the medium of motion pictures
Is photography. The painter may
eliminate from, add to or change
that which is seen. But the photog
rapher, or the artist working with
photography as a medium, is limited
to the use of such material as he
may lay his hand on-granting, to
be sure. all the magic trickery now
available in this field.
Qualities Shown.
To return now, briefly, to the
paintings which have been inspired
by this novel experiment. What
have the artists done? Thomas
Benton has painted a scene in which
the seanen of the IS. S. Glencairn, -
ashore for the first time in months,
express their utter contempt for the
captain of rival tramp steamer,
about to leave the London docks.
James Chaplin has presented the
death scene of a seaman, with chest
broken by the weight of water which
swept over him in a storm at sea.
George Biddle's canvas is a full
length portrait of Norwegian sea-
man, standing against the rail of
his boat, leaning on a spar. George
Schreiber, on the other hand, has
depicted a group of four seamen,
gaping in amazement at the sky,
from which a bomb has just fallen.
Ernest Flene did a portrait of husky
John Wayne, featured as Ole, lean
ing against the gunwale of his ship
on moonlight night. Robert
Phillip is one of the two who made
double contribution, painting por-
traits of Thomas Mitchell and Ian
Hunter, both within a period of
two weeks. Luis Quintanilla, a
Spaniard by birth and mural painter
by profession, reproduced a group
in his characteristic style of "bum-
boat" women in the Caribbean
sequence. Raphael Soyer chose as
his theme the comic figure of a
seaman on shore leave saluting
three maidens of questionable age,
after too much inbibing. George
Schneider was the other artist who
did two canvases instead of one,
for after completing the scene show
ing the shock of aerial bombing on
the faces of four crewmen, he took
time off to do a life-size portrait
of John Ford, under whose direction
the film was produced. Grant
Wood, the last of the group, chose
as his theme a scene in a lime
house pub, where several of the sea-
men are having their fill of British
ale. He alone of the group began
his painting in Hollywood, but COM
pleted 1t at his home in Iowa.
To an extent, these are all strong
paintings, but what do they profit
either art or the public? Mere rep
resentation is without significance
A painting that has no message of
beauty, of things spiritual but un-
seen, is not a work or art, but a
report. What can as well be said
in words as in painting is outside
this field. If Eugene O'Neill's
characters and Interpretation of
life are to be "immortalized," it
must be by those with a sense of
x1yIaf fvy,r,, Nrf a 1;fx, x,11~r ri, -
motion picture has place of it's
own in the field of art, and the
sooner it is recognized the greater
will be its triumph, provided it is
not tampered with from the outside.
ALI art which has attained great
ness has come as natural ex-
preston of inherent impulse,
emotion or inspiration, and so it
will always be. This applies to the
making Of moving pictures, as well
as those painted on canvas and very