Transcribe
Translate
Centauri, issue 4, Summer 1945
Page 14
More information
digital collection
archival collection guide
transcription tips
PRO AND CON STF MOVIES The idea of making a short from "--And He Built a Crooked House" still obsesses me, but I don't suppose there's much we can do about it. I don't think shorts that tell a fictional story are any too popular today, anyway. Judging from a trade magazine at which I get an occasional peek, more than half of all shorts are cartoons, and most of the remainder are called, euphemistically, "documentation" --- in other words, the American version of pure and simple propaganda. Speaking of the LA SFS and movies, though, I've often wondered why they never put on a little screenplay of their own... I've recently been reading Saki's "The Open Window" for the umpteenth time, and still think it would make a remarkingly entertaining film of perhaps three minutes' duration. The only prop they'd need would be the open window leading onto a lawn or some sort of greenery, and someone ought to be able to find something of the sort somewhere in California, or even manufacture one out of a few boards, for that matter. ----Harry Warner, Jr. * * * * * In its way, it is most regrettable that Mr. Warner is an oboeist. Much has been written, and much left unditto, concerning the unnatural effect that the vibrations of the double reeds must of necessity have on the brain of the player. It leaves one open for such unsupported charges as the one by H L Mencken about all oboeists being crazy. H L puts it entirely too strongly. While I disagree with what Mr. Warner has written, still! Quite contrariwise; it's just that lack of familiarity with his subject causes Mr. Warner to fall into some very common errors. Should I speak to you of one George Méliès? Pioneer movie maker of France, who circa 1895 filmed many of the Jules Verne juveniles, including "Trip to the Moon" and others? But mayhap it would be better to speak of "The Last Laugh" and "Broken Blossoms" --- the two films most praised by the critics during the period 1922-25, and the two biggest flops of the same period. Art is a funny thing. As Cocteau succintly said, "If an art form is not successful with the public, who is to judge which is wrong? The changed form must perforce not to be too good, or the boxoffice will pass adequate contrariwise judgement. Let us consider the zany neo-impressionism of the dream sequence in "Dumbo"; that superb whole which made up "Fantasia"; the mood painting in colour that made of "Bambi" the dream-dust it totalled. For the animated cartoon lies the future of the movie fantasy -- there, and in the montage work of the clever director.
Saving...
prev
next
PRO AND CON STF MOVIES The idea of making a short from "--And He Built a Crooked House" still obsesses me, but I don't suppose there's much we can do about it. I don't think shorts that tell a fictional story are any too popular today, anyway. Judging from a trade magazine at which I get an occasional peek, more than half of all shorts are cartoons, and most of the remainder are called, euphemistically, "documentation" --- in other words, the American version of pure and simple propaganda. Speaking of the LA SFS and movies, though, I've often wondered why they never put on a little screenplay of their own... I've recently been reading Saki's "The Open Window" for the umpteenth time, and still think it would make a remarkingly entertaining film of perhaps three minutes' duration. The only prop they'd need would be the open window leading onto a lawn or some sort of greenery, and someone ought to be able to find something of the sort somewhere in California, or even manufacture one out of a few boards, for that matter. ----Harry Warner, Jr. * * * * * In its way, it is most regrettable that Mr. Warner is an oboeist. Much has been written, and much left unditto, concerning the unnatural effect that the vibrations of the double reeds must of necessity have on the brain of the player. It leaves one open for such unsupported charges as the one by H L Mencken about all oboeists being crazy. H L puts it entirely too strongly. While I disagree with what Mr. Warner has written, still! Quite contrariwise; it's just that lack of familiarity with his subject causes Mr. Warner to fall into some very common errors. Should I speak to you of one George Méliès? Pioneer movie maker of France, who circa 1895 filmed many of the Jules Verne juveniles, including "Trip to the Moon" and others? But mayhap it would be better to speak of "The Last Laugh" and "Broken Blossoms" --- the two films most praised by the critics during the period 1922-25, and the two biggest flops of the same period. Art is a funny thing. As Cocteau succintly said, "If an art form is not successful with the public, who is to judge which is wrong? The changed form must perforce not to be too good, or the boxoffice will pass adequate contrariwise judgement. Let us consider the zany neo-impressionism of the dream sequence in "Dumbo"; that superb whole which made up "Fantasia"; the mood painting in colour that made of "Bambi" the dream-dust it totalled. For the animated cartoon lies the future of the movie fantasy -- there, and in the montage work of the clever director.
Hevelin Fanzines
sidebar
