Theory of Film

The author attempts essentially to answer the controversal question of whether or not photography is an art. He starts with the premise that film is a form of art, but that its achievement is satisfying aesthetically only if it is built from the specific properties of the film medium. The author is fully aware that the properties of a medium elude concise definition; he states quite simply that the affinities which seem to be characteristic of film are its recording and revealing functions, its ability to catch reality in its flux and not to arrange its elements into a pattern reminiscent of painting or theater. He thus considers films that screen the past or the unreal counter to the film's basic aesthetic principles. The book is not a technical writing on film. The author concerns himself with editing devices, modes of lighting, and the effects of the close-up only to the extent to which the application of such cinematic devices to material renders reality as we commonly perceive it. He inquires into specific areas and elements of films and problems of film composition. He concludes the book with an analysis of the two main film types - the story and the non-story. A book for the student of the arts. (Kirkus Reviews)