The Camera as Snowball: France 1918-1927

Abstract

One of the most interesting periods in the history of cinema is the last ten years of the silent era. At this time of incredible creativity, cinema, pushed to its technical limits, was searching for its boundaries. The situation in France is of particular interest because of the diverse nature of this exploration. It was here that cinema was just being appreciated as a new means of expression distinct from, and in some ways superior to, the older art forms. What this new means of expression could and could not do had yet to be discovered. Close study of the works of the highly individualistic directors producing films at this time points towards a grouping into schools or movements having common stylistic concerns. The most important of these movements is a group that has been called the Impressionists. This grouping of directors wished to expand the technical virtuosity of the cinema and use it to create a visual language. The spokesman of the school was Louis Delluc and directors included Delluc, Germaine Dulac, Marcel L'Herbier and Abel Gance. These directors were interested not only in technique but in external glitter and decor: They remained completely conventional from the point of view of plot and cinematic construction. After 1923, these directors became commercially popular, unlike their more extreme brothers in the avant garde who wished to turn cinema into an extension of modern art.