On The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1922) | Blaise Cendrars
I don’t like this film. Why ?
Because it is a film of misapprehension.
Because it is a film that casts discredit on all modern art.
Because it is hybrid, hysterical, unwholesome.
Because it is not cinema.
Film of misapprehension because it is faked and dishonest.
Casts discredit on modern art because the discipline of modern painters (cubist) is not the hypersensibility of madmen but equilibrium, intensity, and mental geometry.
Hybrid, hysterical, unwholesome because it is hybrid, hysterical, unwholesome (vive the cow boys !)
.
Is not cinema because:
1. The pictorial deformations are only tricks (new modern conventions);
2. Real characters in unreal sets ;
3. The deformations are not optical and do not depend on the angle of taking, nor on the objective, nor on the lens, nor on the focus;
4. There is never any unity ;
5. Theatrical;
6. Movement but no rhythm ;
7. No purification of the technique, all the effects obtained by the aid of means belonging to painting, music, literature, etc. ONE IS NEVER AWARE OF THE CAMERA.
8. Sentimental and not visual;
9. Good photography, good lighting, superexcellent acting.
10.Good business.
