—and Film

Film and Reality." a selection of extracts from the significant films of the past, produced by Cavalcanti and purporting to show how the film has become an important realistic art-form, was screened at the recent AGM of the Debating Society.

But was the immense interest of the film due to the reinforcing of the theme by the individual parts or to the interest of those parts themselves? Cavalcanti assures us in the preface that he will not keep strictly to chronological order and then proceeds to be a slave to it! His choice of extracts was in general, good, as they illustrated points of technique which were quite important, but the commentator failed to make these points. The comparison between the two mutiny sequences contained the only important comment of this kind.

With the material at his disposal, one cannot help feeling that [unclear: Cavalcanti] could have pressed home his theme more vigorously, with more effective use of contrast, commentary and continuity. The sections on the newsreel and documentary, adequately put together, were not sufficiently contrasted with the exotic romantic type. Thus, the climax of the film, instead of being a revealing synthesis, was a tame ending to a not very artistically arranged series of absorbing extracts.