Sunday, November 11, 1956 THE M I C H I G A N DAILY Page Eleven
(Coatiaued o Poge ii) physical appearance-fewer Japa-
most important single factor in Dnese than Americans wear specta-
bringing this about was acquaint- J N ESEjSTER EOIYPE es and though somebody in Ja-
ance with more and more Japanese pan mst hve them, I don'tre
in their own environment -that member seeing a set of buck teeth.
Is to say, away from the Am- disappointmsents, hopes, feers, and miuch to broaden and deepen the it nevertheless was as meaningful The Japanese lan uae is hard to
erican establishment-and on a a myriad of both serious and in- outlook oi Japan. and influential in the lives of the describe in terms of English sounds
less formal and more friendly basis significant matters resulted in the ut it ceinly is not one hiss
thanther cultural elements coi-people as any known in the Christ- after another.
and visiting with these al einn of s ange. anria- tributed no little to this nes per- ian world. Parts of Japanese life The concept which was perhaps
an iiig wt s people, eLisa of this still strainge, intriguing, crtion. They weren't alws sun-cudbexlidtlus o- most drastically changed sas
opened up new vistas and provided and appealing lan.d Knowing to n asn could be explaed through eco-
s more meaningful and accurate people other than those to whom erstood- fact, it is reasonable nomic teims as the struggle to re- thas regarding Japanese family
insisht into Japanese culture. Dis- the soldier is, unfortunately, usual- at nl.-umpinss life. The amount of afection and
assalmstoiliutnrinhtowbuldbywa-deasttednatsisron
tussing their families, ambitions, and almost solely exposed did sdevotion shown by a man to his
pnosed to Japanese theatre,aithitinued. The incongruities of J.-wife and to theii childiren was ex-
is highly stylized and heavily ex- pan. and there were many more emplary. The word "shown" is
The 'PdaeraPed ttechnique; art m which than can be mentioned here, start- used advisedly as t was not open
the most appealing, and mystify- ed to fit into a recognizable scheme und advis as it Ass no t
ns were the delicate scrolls of but when it was pointed out that Ja- and obvious as in Ameria but
a few suggestive strokes: musica pan was a product of the inter- it was assuredly there. Certainly
O f F im C hanges strange combiiation of the East action of her own culture with Japanese children seen as a group
and West, sometimes melodious to Chinese, European, and American were most cheerful and well-be-
uhe foreign ear, sometimes just socities. haved.
(Cont~ed rrm r e 3) -ate awsequence which a de- ird noise. All in all, one came to realize All this made me genuinely sor-
ranged French miner, suffocating Little by little, what is import- that here was a culture with depth ry to leave Japan. Stereotyped
and Variety, he substituted for aInd unnerved by the noise of the ant to the Japanese aesthetically, and breadth, the surface of which misconceptions had been replaced
their studio - flavored realism a disaster, believes his German res- morally, and materially began to was just beginning to be scratched, by what I hope are the seeds of
fresher and more vivid image of cuer to be an enemy soldier. Em- become recognizable. What had Here, indeed, was land of mag- understanding. It may be an over-
ploying both sight and sound, been drab and grim before was nificent beauty and a people of simplification, but something my
reality Pabst instantly recreates a hallu- seen in a fresh light when observed warmth and charm, if one had the father taught me some years ago
In Jeanne Ney there is a mini- cinatory battlefield. from the Japanese point of view. patience to allow the panorama seems apropo . . . "by and large,
mum of stylization of which the The incomprehensible set of stand- to be unfolded in front of him. people the world over are all the
audience is aware: each scene is ABSTs counterpart in France ards for courtesy became under- same. . if you behave toward
a bit of life that chanced to get was Rene Clair. With his very standable, partially at least, whenUnderstanding them as you would have them
recorded by Pabst's camera. In first work, Clair established his the complex system of personal behave toward you, their ways
part, this sense of intense pres- characteristic style - an un- relations was explained. While THIS, then, was one reaction to may be different, but they will
ence resulted quite literally from matchable buoyancy and delicacy morality was based on different Japan. Gone were the stereo- understand you and they in turn
the observation of reality. A con- of wit. In The Italian Straw Hat, criteria than that which we know, typed conceptions of Japanese will be understood by you."
temporary critic in "Close Up" made in 1927, he produced what --_-_-_-_ - _-
reported that for a sequence in is unqustioniably his finest silent
Jeanne Ney in which anti-Bo- film.
shevik soldiers indulge in a If any film could disprove the
drunken orgy, "one hundred and notion that it is not possible to
twenty Russian officers . . . came make a great film from anything
in the own uniforms. working other than an original scenario,
for twelve marks a day. Pabst that film is The Italian Straw FC
vodka and women, flat. Adapted from Labiche's
waited, and then calmly photo- comic play of 1851, Un Chapeau
graphed." de Paille d'Itallie, Clair's film is
But in a more fundamental completely expressed in visual
sense, the quality of Jeanne Ney terms. The acting, situations and .
emerged from Pabst's concern direction are all so deft that the
with techniques of camera-work work depends hardly at all upon
and editing. His camera was con- its written titles.
stantly roving, examining, sr- The film is an exquisite but in-
tinizing - yet without the self- sistent satire on the French bour-
consciousness which had often geoisie. His victims understood
marred the earlier German films. Clair so well that their indigna-s
Is concern with significant de- tiou forced him to retire tempor-
tail led him often to build scenes f arly from production. Everything
from short, fragmentized shots, in the film is just so-trimmed
requiring a technique of very rap- velvet waist-coats. waxed mus-
id cutting. Yet, as Pabst himself tacies, ludicrously but "correct-
explained, "every cut is made on ly" overdecorated apartments,
some movement. At the end of carefully stylized gestures - and COMPLETE
one cut somebody is moving at everything is delicately and S I
the beginning of the adjoining 'rsacefully ridiculous.
one the movement is continued. Above all, everything moves, ev-
The eye is thus so occupied in fol- erything shimmers, with the lat-
lowing these movements that it ent ballet which suffuses the H OU R INDIVI DUALLY . PACKED
misses the cuts." whole - and which. in fact, IN CELLOPHANE BAGS
breaks out into a glorious quad- r-
AFTER so excellent an achieve- rile at the filmis most celebrated E U-,I
A ment, the way seemed clear. passage. It is the apothesis of
The arrival of sound meant that movement in the silent flim. ON REQUEST ON REQUEST
Jeanne Ney was Pabst's last si5ii As though in analogy to Pabst,
ficant silent production. He re- Clair's initial response to the
acted to the new era by making sound-track was a brilliant trio
three superb sound films - West- of films - Sous les Toits de Paris,
front 1918, Der Dreigroschenoper, Le Million and A Nous la Liberte,
and Kameradschaft. Of these, the of which Gothic Film Society will
Gothic Film Society will be viw- show the third. LA B H A K
ing the last - Kameradschafi - Despite the deliberately incom-
Brotherhood made in 1931. prehensible dialogue of Sous les
The film is based upon an ac- 'Toits de Paris, Clair shows a
tutl incident in which German wonderful grasp of the sound me-
miners crossed the border to aid, dium - especially in a remark-
at great risk to themseles, a able knife-fight, fought in a ALL WASH PANTS
group of French miners trapped bright mist to the accompani- A ' WASHED
by a disaster. Desiring to make nient of freight-train noises. Yet, PRESSED WASHED
his pacifism and internationalism in this first sound film, there are 1 A Y PRESSED
clear, Pabst placed the incident occasional crudities: the sound of
soon after the Treaty of Ver- a striking clock is not enough -
sailles. an outline of the clock's face is
In Kameradschaft, as in Jeanne superimposed upon the scene, as
Ney, Pabst's feeling for reality though sound alone could not be
is pervasive and convincing. The tusted.(L
subterranean scenes, the detail- By the time he made A Nous la A URPIL L W
ing of mining communities, the Liberte, however, Clair was in
husge and stt'smy shower-room in conmplete commtund sit the isew
which the German miners receive idiom. Georges Auric's music for ECDRYCLEANED
word of the disaster - all are ex- this film is an intrinsic part of NEW TICKING
traordinarily realized on the the film's structure because of
screen. Clair's use of "sound images" in WET WASH DUSTPROOF - GERMPROOF
In shifting from silence to counterpoint to what is seen.
sound, Pabst lost none of the A Nous la Liberte returns to a FLUFF DRY
visual expressiveness that distin- recurrent theme of Keaton's --'
guished his earlier work. A myriad the incompatibility of man and AS FAST AS YOU WANT each
of details remain in the viewer's machine. But while Keaton even-
mind. One among many occurs tually triumphs by slyly out-wit-
when anguished relatives try to ting the machines that bedevil
break past the gates to the him, the factory workers in A
French mine - we glimpse a Nous la Liberte survive only by
guard's fear-gripped face sur- total escape.
rounded by his assailants' naked By combining the rhythms of
arms. si'ht and music, Clair constructs
Yet this wealth of visual signi- a witty analogy between factory
ficance is further enhanced by and prison life. Granted this pre-
Pabst's use of the new sound- mise, Clair's conclusion is ines-t
tuack. Espe'ially in the under- c. p'ble; the only satisfactory aol- 1 1 o t n v~Q
ground sequences, lighting and ution to perpetual imprisonment
sound combine to produce scenes is, indeed, escape.
of great intensity. These culmin- "ee CINEMA, Page 12 ,