Fearless Criticism

When we turn to critism proper, we find that Salient's genuine and fearless film criticism" never lacked assailants, Mr. Freeman's first effort was an assesment of the worth of Dead End. Altogether a memorable show," he says, and backs up his opinion by more than adequately illustrating his main points:

The appreciation of new technique was a positive contribution to the enjoyment of the film, but the "realistic" criterion was immediately attacked in the name of Romanticism, whitewashed till it became the principle of cleanliness—under the guise of Dorian Saker. His half-truths were successfully combated by R. W. Lithgow in the following issue. He thinks the film great for two reasons. "Firstly, Its characters are true to life—real: and secondly, it showed up evils of the present that should be rectified." Both social criteria.