LA PUBLICITAT. 1/3/1931.

"BORDERLINE"

POOL: STUDIO CINAES.

The border, or rather the line of the border, whose
is it? It cannot be divided; it belongs to two states,
like "no-man's land", the ground between two enemy trenches.
In this biological ground - biological and moral, or biologi-
cal or moral - we have "BORDERLINE": a negro couple in a
white country, a couple that were separated, for she lived
with a white man. A white couple, irregular; the manageress
of a cafe and the barmaid, a pianist - elements of doubtful
ambient; public opinion, in the person of an old lady, who
is surprised only at what she does not see every day, whereas
what she sees every day should be enough. The drama between
the white couple and the negro couple. The whites are neuroses;
the negroes, nature. Nature turns to nature: Adah, the black
woman, who had lived with the white couple Astrid and Thorne,
abandons the latter to return to her husband, Pete. But
peace does not return; quite the reverse, for Thorne, exas-
perated by Adah's leaving him, and by the neurosis of Astrid,
kills the latter. Adah, as a consequence of all this, dis-
appears; and Pete, negro among whites, is expelled as unde-
sirable. Thorne, white, as much a neurotic as is Astrid, is
acquitted by the whites. But Pete, who is black, forgives.
Public opinion (the old lady) triumphs. But there remain -
the cafe, the manageress, the barmaid with the portrait of
Pete, and the curses of the patrons.

Such is "BORDERLINE". How has this story been realised?
We would say in short verse of three or four syllables. It
is difficult to explain a story in short verse, and if this
short verse consists almost exclusively of "Close-ups", still
more difficult, because the perspective of the action disap-
pears and we see only detail, always fragmentary.

But we would also say that, if these verses are short,
it is because they are made up of excellencies, because all
the straw has been eliminated, because only the perfect scenes
have been used, perfect in expression and perfect in the

2.

plastic. The producer (author of the story, director and camera-man), Kenneth Macpherson, is a painter, his father a portrait painter. This explains the criterion followed in this production; each scene is a picture and each character has the force of a portrait. The constant succession of "close-ups", the fascination of the faces, the apparent looseness of the plot, make the whole appear like a dream, a nightmare, accentuated by the dramatism of the characterisations - Astrid (Helga Doorn), Thorne (Gavin Arthur), the manageress (Bryher), the barmaid (Charlotte Arthur) - which contrasts with the sobriety of the negroes Pete (Paul Robeson) and Adah (Eslanda Robeson).

There remains to be noted that the film, with its wonderful photography, is the work of an amateur, produced under the auspices of that excellent English review "CLOSE-UP", the actors being practically all amateurs, directed by non-professionals. An encouragement for which we can never be too grateful. Nevertheless, it is not a miracle, but a work of art; and art means work, not improvisation.