CINEMATIC EXPRESSIVITY 255 Chapter 15 KRISTIN THOMPSON THE INTERNATIONAL EXPLORATION OF CINEMATIC EXPRESSIVITY IT HAS COMMONLY BEEN ASSUMED that during the 1910s, cinematic techniques developed in the directions of clarity and expressivity. This change occurred mainly in the USA, Italy, and Scandinavia. In most histories, the notions of clarity and expressivity are combined. Here I would like to distinguish between these two concepts and try to suggest how and when expressivity rose to be a common goal of filmmakers. I am assuming that many techniques of early cinema were introduced in order to assure narrative clarity. A cut-in could reveal a vital detail of a scene that would not be visible in the more distant establishing view. Cutting back and forth between two or more spaces implied strongly that the separate actions were occurring simultaneously. Eyeline matches showed that nearby spaces were visible to the characters. Shot/reverse shots established that people were face to face. As we are now well aware, by 1917, these techniques were firmly in place in the Hollywood filmmaking establishment. Indeed, the influence of these techniques quickly spread around much of the globe. I suspect that by around 1912, enough of these techniques were in place that many filmmakers were able to tell stories clearly. At about this time, some directors went further, exploring the expressive possibilities of the medium. I am using the term 'expressivity' broadly and simply here, to mean those functions of cinematic devices that go beyond presenting basic narrative information and add some quality to the scene that would not be strictly necessary to our comprehension of it. In many cases such expressive devices were included in order to deepen the spectator's emotional involvement in the action. Increased suspense during a chase, deeper sympathy for a character m distress, awe over the sudden revelation of a spectacular setting - such tactics could push the spectator beyond comprehension to fascination. Traditional historians have typically assumed that the growing sophistication of the cinema in this period lay in its move from a theatre-based art form to a more independent, 'cinematic' art. For years, this led to an emphasis on those techniques which most seemed to separate cinema from the stage — primarily editing and camera movement. Those films which employed distant framings, a static camera, painted sets, and/or long takes were considered to be backward. Thus, D. W. Griffith became the hero of the tale of editing's evolution, Cabiria was the landmark film for popularizing camera movement, and the Swedes were valued for taking the camera out into nature. Figures 15.1-IS.S Ingeborg Holm In fact, the exploration of expressivity encompassed a great many techniques, including long takes, distant framings, and the static camera. These devices may have superficially seemed the same as techniques used in earlier films, but they gained functions in the 1910s that made -^m^rtrofTileTTew expressive repertoire of filmmaking: One example should clarify what I mean by expressivity. In many cases, the most celebrated stylistic innovations of the early cinema were designed to make objects, characters, gestures, and other aspects of the mise-en-scene more clearly visible. These included closer 256 KRISTIN THOMPSON CINEMATIC EXPRESSIVITY 257 framings and cut-ins. Yet by the early teens, some films actually contain devices designed to make the action less visible. Victor Sjostrom's 1913 masterpiece lngeborg Holm contains a deccp tively simple shot that uses such a tactic. The heroine has been reduced to poverty and is living . with her family in a poorhouse. Her son is leaving with his new foster mother, and lngeborg • goes into the yard before the door to see him off. The action is staged in depth in a single take, without a cut-in to any of the characters; lngeborg's back remains turned to the camera during most of the shot; no camera movements or intertitles are employed. The boy repeat-, edly turns to embrace her, unable to tear himself away, while the guard at the rear opens the gate for me pW(FigriS.l).' Finally, lngeborg ducks inside the door of the poorhouse while the boy is not looking (Fig. IS.2). Turning back, he sees that she is gone (Fig. 15.3) and resignedly turns to go (Fig. IS.4). Once they have gone and the gate is closed, lngeborg rc-emerges; the guard moves to catch her as she begins to faint (Fig. IS.5). It is easy to imagine how this scene would have been staged only a few years earlier. The poorhouse would probably have been a painted drop or flats, seen straight-on facing the door. It would have occupied most of the back wall, with the gate visible, also frontally, at the side and a painted cityscape or landscape glimpsed beyond it. The characters would have emerged from the door toward the front, and the action would have moved back and forth in a shallow space, with their faces visible. Despite its lack of 'progressive' techniques, the shot in lngeborg Holm uses deep staging and setting in a way which distinguishes it considerably from earlier usage. Logically, it would seem that hiding a central character's facial expressions would detract from narrative clarity. Yet by putting Ingeborg's back to us, Sjostrom displays an awareness that a de-emphasis on her facial expression could actually enhance our sense of her anguish and the poignancy of the moment. Similarly, the facade of the poorhouse is less clearly visible than it would be if filmed straight-on. The perspective of the set as filmed, however, emphasizes the gateway as the backdrop of the action and also allows the pair to exit quickly to the left outside the gate, placing the emphasis in the final portion of the shot on Ingeborg's breakdown. The oblique, off-center view of the doorway also makes it a more startling moment when lngeborg suddenly ducks inside. Clearly, Sjostrom has felt confident enough of his story-telling abilities to exchange a certain amount of redundant clarity for enhanced expressivity. Similar explorations of the expressive possibilities of the cinema were going on in many countries simultaneously during the 1910s. I think that relatively few of these explorations involved direct influence. Similar impulses to use depth or to move the camera or to shoot into mirrors seem to have surfaced independently within different national cinemas. It is particularly significant that this process was occurring largely during the First World War. Although in the key early years, especially 1913 and 1914, films were still circulating freely, by the middle of the war some markets were largely cut off. In particular, Scandinavia, Germany, and Russia had far less access to French and Italian films, which had dominated world markets before the war. By 1916, Hollywood films were becoming dominant in many parts of the world, such as South America, Australasia, the United Kingdom, and some parts of Western Europe. As domestic industries developed, distinctive styles were able to flourish briefly. A vivid demonstration of one such distinctive national style can be seen in 1910s Russian films. The characteristic slowly paced melodramatic plots, the emphasis on virtuosic acting, and the tragic endings all indicate a cinema in which expressivity far outstrips simple narrative clarity. The war, coming just at a time when continuity guidelines were becoming well established, discouraged the sort of international uniformity that might otherwise have developed. Instead, the disruptions in the international circulation of films at this crucial time probably encouraged the astonishing variety that characterizes the 1910s cinema. The international spread of continuity devices ^Before examining the great variety of expressive techniques explored in 1910s cinema, I shall -Briefly show that basic guidelines for narrative clarity were indeed picked up widely by film-smakers around the world. That familiarity with standard storytelling devices may well have ::been what allowed venturesome film-makers to manipulate techniques for expressive purposes. _ Given how few films of the silent era survive from most of the period's small producing ^countries, it is difficult to make firm generalizations about stylistic influences. Still, enough "examples do exist to suggest that many film-makers around the globe quickly absorbed the -lessons of early continuity practice and used them to create clear narratives. In 1913, the earliest Indian fiction feature film made by an Indian director was released. 'Only about half of D.G. Phalke's Raja Harishandra survives, but it displays a distinct knowledge of continuity. Indeed, it is comparable stylistically to films made contemporaneously in the USA by some independent firms. It uses consistent screen direction, as when the king walks : nghtward through the forest and, in a cut to a contiguous space, arrives at the hut of the villainous sage. In a scene where the king stands talking with his wife, the framing follows the convention of the nine-foot line or plan amencain. Shot/reverse shot seems also to have spread quickly, though not all film-makers grasped .it completely at first. An Argentinian film of 1917, Ut Ultimo Malon ('The Last Indian Attack', ■ directed by Alcides Greca) contains an editing pattern that I have not encountered in any other jBlm. The scene, an argument between a father and daughter, begins with an establishing long shot of the pair and a dialogue intertitle returning to the long shot. A cut moves to a close three-quarter view of the father, looking left. We might expect a balancing view of the daughter, but instead the next shot returns to the establishing view. Yet the next shot provides us with the expected three-quarter frontal view of the daughter, facing right. Without the intervening long shot, the two close views would create a standard shot/reverse shot. After the close view of the daughter, there is another re-establishing long shot. It is perhaps relevant that American films began to be widely distributed in Argentina in 1916. This may be a . rare case where we can see a filmmaker in an undeveloped country who has only partially "adapted a convention of mainstream cinema. Possibly, the director of Ul Ultimo Malon had seen .films with shot/reverse shot and wished to use this device without understanding that the close shots could be edited together without re-establishing shots in between. Other somewhat unorthodox uses of shot/reverse shot are evident in the late 1910s. In a T918 Hungarian film directed by Sandor (later Alexander) Korda, Az Aranyember ('Man of Gold'), there are a few attempts at shot/reverse shot. In one scene, three characters are visible in medium-long shot (Fig. IS.6). The woman at the left is only partially visible, but she appears prominently at the right in the next shot, which is essentially only a lateral cut to the left with a move closer to the figures (Fig. IS.7). In a later scene, however, Az Aranyember contains -a shot/reverse shot cut with conventional framing. Surprisingly, in at least one case shot/reverse shot had an impact in Russia very quickly. :The Russian retrospective at the Pordenone festival of 1989 showed us a cinema that was largely untouched by Hollywood influences. Yet Lev Kuleshov was able to use contemporary continuity techniques with great skill in his 5 918 film Proekt Inzhenera Praita ('Engineer Prite's Project'). One of the fragments that survive contains a scene that would do credit to a Hollywood director of the same date.' A woman drops an object from a first-floor window; an establishing shot on the sidewalk below shows two men, including Prite, noticing it; a cut-in shows Prite picking the object up; there is a match on action as he straightens up and looks toward the woman; a perfectly executed reverse shot shows her looking down at him. Some 258 KRISTIN THOMPSON CINEMATIC EXPRESSIVITY 259 Figures 15.6—IS.7 Az Aianyember intertitles are missing at this point, but the scene continues in continuity style as she comes down to meet the two men. Such continuity techniques spread through the dissemination of Hollywood films. Similarly, the fact that certain countries were cut off from the American supply during the war helps explain why distinctive stylistic practices arose. Mise-en-scene • Acting In The Classical Hollywood Cinema, 1 argued that the early pantomime style of film acting was quite efficient at telegraphing a good deal of narrative information in a short time. With, the advent of feature films, film-makers quickly realized that it would be possible to linger over actors' reactions in closer framings. This lingering would not necessarily convey any new narrative information; instead, it added an emotional charge to the scene. By the mid-1910s, a key moment in the story would be allotted a virtuosic bit of acting, often with its own beginning, middle, and end. In Weisse Rosen ('White Roses', 1916, Urban Gad) the Asta Nielsen character receives a letter from her lover in which he wrongly accuses her of being a thief. She reads'it (Fig. IS. 8), reacts in disbelief (Fig. IS. 9), reads it again, crumples it, then reads it a third time before slowly slumping down, despairing (Fig. IS. 10). A similar three-part reaction occurs in The Birth of a Nation as the Little Sister, played by Mae Marsh, trims her dress with cotton in imitation of ermine. At first she is pleased, then loses her smile as she realizes what a poor imitation it is, and finally seems near tears. As the example from lngeborg Holm indicated, film-makers also realized that withholding such explicit depictions of emotion could also be effective. The homecoming scene in The Birth of a Nation, in which the Little Colonel leans into the doorway to embrace his off-screen mother, is only the most famous case where a highly emotional scene is partially blocked in order to heighten its impact. Numerous other films of the era use similar techniques. In Paul von Woringen's 1913 film, Die Landstrasse ('The Country Road'), an escaped convict has committed a murder, but a passing tramp has been arrested and falsely convicted. The trial scene ends as the court-room empties and we see the convict, his back to the camera. He moves to speak with a lawyer, but the lack of information about his reaction leads to greater suspense on the part of the audience. Also in 1915, Cecil B. DeMille's The Warrens of Virginia shows Blanche Sweet from behind as she strikes on the door of a room where, it is ^Figures 15.3—IS.10 Weisse Rasen |implied, her lover may be trying to shoot himself. The action begins in long shot as she pounds "(Fig. 15.11). The film's first cut-in moves straight in, still showing her from behind (Fig. |1|1;S. 12), and the camera tilts down as she slides to her knees in despair (Fig. 15.13). Here cut-gin and tilt seem to offer us new narrative information, but in fact we can see little more than Kif the action had continued in long shot. Clearly the camera does not move around to show, ¥say, a profile view that would reveal her expression because DeMille felt that the understate-g&ment would intensify the gesture's affect. Film-makers also occasionally strove for the opposite effect, emphasizing facial expression having actors move toward the camera while staring into the lens. The earliest case ! know of occurs in The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912, D.W. Griffith), where the Snapper Kid moves Jnt° looming close-up. The effect goes far beyond the demands of narrative clarity; it func-p;;tions to create a sense of menace. Most if not all of the other examples I have found use the f|technique for the same purpose. Early in Phillips Smalley's Suspense (1913), the heroine looks :prom an upper window and sees a tramp on her doorstep. Here his threatening glance into the ,lens is motivated as her point of view. Later, however, he moves up the stairs and toward the ^j4ensr-whi}e-the wife-hides in a nearby room; Now the menace seems directed at us without ^.showing us anything she can see. The effect is perhaps comparable to the novelty medium shot g..of a cowboy firing a gun at the camera in The Great Train Robbery (1903, Edwin S. Porter), but ~V?y n"w the startling threat has been made part of the diegesis. 260 KRISTIN THOMPSON CINEMATIC EXPRESSIVITY 261 Figures IS.H-1S.13 The Warrens of Virginia Not surprisingly, then, we find characters staring into the lens in shot/reverse-shot situations during fights. In John Ford's Straight Shooting (1917), the hero's glance off camera right leads to a reverse close view of his opponent looking straight out. In Maurice Tourneur's The Last of the Mohicans (released in 1920), a knife duel between two Indians is handled with each of them staring into the lens. • Minors Perhaps one of the most conspicuous ways in which film-makers sought to strengthen the impact of scenes was by shooting into mirrors. In A.W. Sandberg's 1917 Danish film, Klovnen ('Clowns'), the hero is onstage with a large mirror that reflects an unseen curtain. The curtain rises to reveal his lover embracing another man (Fig. 15.14), at which point he smashes the mirror. Here the space of the scene is perhaps a trifle convoluted, but the revelation is dramatized by the centered mirror. An extraordinarily complex use of a mirror occurs in Gad's Weisse Rosen. In one shot we see the heroine Thilda standing by a mirror, then placing a bouquet of roses on the table beneath it as she joins some friends.2 A cutaway shows two detectives searching Thilda's room for a diamond they think she has stolen. A return to the mirror shows the real thief, Kenley,-slipping the jewel case into her bouquet; we glimpse Thilda in the mirror, her back turned so that she cannot see this gesture. Kenley leaves the shot, and people mill about; we then see Thilda and Kenley moving leftward in the mirror, and they soon enter the shot from the right.