FILMS AND THE STUDIOS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 514, 17 November 1928, Page 23

FILMS AND THE STUDIOS

:AMERA ANGLES— When Continental producers recovered sufficiently from the handicap of post-war reorganisation and began to offer their films in foreign markets, complacent English and American directors found themselves up against something “out of the box" An entirely new principle of cinema photography caused amazement and then admiration, on both sides of the Atlantic-. The “trick, 31 camera work, as it was called, grew immensely popular , with the result that the sincerest form of flattery became evident. “Variety ll was among the first films embracing trick shots and new photographic angles. “Sunrise' 1 was among the latest, the director, F. W. Murnau, being one of those who were brought to America specially for the purpose of applying the new principles there. In -each of these pictures a definite attempt to give personality to the camera and, therefore , the audience, was made. The so-called “tricks were calculated endeavours to place the camera at the normal angle of vision of a person watching or taking part in a scene or incident. x Now, because Mr. Anthony Asquith and other am.bitious young English producers have seen the fall of the straws and are moving in the same progressive direction, an English critic has seen fit to condemn the new methods on the grounds that the story's the thing. The same critic referred to “Sunrise’ 1 as a “veritable film triumph . . ■ with new phrases and a new philosophy of cinematography. 11 “Sunrise 11 was chock-full of “trick' 1 photography and “futuristic ■ ,1 direction. Without them the story—a simple, commonplace little tale—would have made a picture of a most mediocre and commonplace kind. Believers in the orthodox may have their arguments, but the fact remains that the new photography has given fresh life and artistry ho the cinema.