Gaston Roberge . ··--- CHITRA BANI a book on film appreciation Foreword by Satyajlt Ray Essay on Indian Cinema by Kironmoy Raha Analysis of Bobby by Gaston Roberge, Ramesh Sharma end Kobita Sarkar. Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Arch1:,<-101al l·L,r~:·1 _j First published 1974 . ' I C Gaston Roberge 1974 All rights reserved. No pan of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior permiaaion of the copyright owner. First Edition : 3,000 copies Mada in India at The Little Flower Presa. 146, Bipin Bihari Ganguly Street, Calcutta-700 012 Half-tone blocks : Commercial Reproduction Private Ltd .. 7 Dacres Lane. Calcutta-700 001. Published by CHITRA BANI, 76 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road. Calcutta-700 016. India Price : Rs . .)5,00 Outaide India : $ 7. • ii Google Original from - Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN /h.v,. f L l/~<J /D-9·1'> //.},3oJ-~00 FOREWORD Gaston Roberge has written a film book which is aimed primarily at the Indian student of the cinema. Even ten years ago, a project like this would have made no sense. That it does so now is due to the enormous increase in interest in the cinema among the young people of the country, thanks largely. to the spread of.. the film society movement. But this is not a phenomenon restricted to India alone. One has only to tum to the bibliography at the end of the book to realise what a vast amount of literature on the cinema is available to the enthusiast now. In my youth, when I set out in the pursuit of films, there were hardly a dozen worthwhile books on the subject in English. For aesthetics, one turned to Arnheim, Spottiswoode, to Balasz and to Pudovkin. Eisenstein's erudite essays didn't see the light of day until the late 40's. For history, there was Rotha. there was Bardeche and Brasillach and, if one's special interest lay in Hollywood, there was Lewis Jacobs. There were also a few odd collections of film criticisms-Agate's, C: A. Lejeune's, and a compilation by Alistair Cook called Garbo and the Nightwatchman. As for screenplays, one looked around in vain for them. The only film script in book form that I was able to track down was of Rane Clair's first English language film, The Ghost Goes West. The situation has, of course. changed drastically. Today it is not unusual for even a modest pavement book stall in Calcutta or Bombay to display titles in the Cinema One series, or some of the admirable Lorrimer screenplays, or even a dog-eared old copy of Cahiers du Cinema. And the amazing thing is that these books and magazines don't stay in the stalls for long, but are picked up by young film buffs who are slowly building up their own private libraries. iii Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN One of the first thinga one not. . about Roberge'• book is ita comprehensl~eaa. Thia is no eesy matter when one thinks of the way the cinema has proliferated into a myriad branches and sub-branches . . In our time we knew only of two categories : the professional commercial movie and the amateur home movie. The first (which included documentaries end newsreels) we paid money to see ; the second didn't come our way at all unless we made them ourselves. The few avant-garde experiments abroad--Bunuel's, Cocteau's, Dulac·,. and the 16mm enaya of Maya Deren ~vere almost like freaks which one took cognizance of, but rarely thought of as trend-setters. Both Bunuel and Cocteau finally made the transition to a bigger market. But while they retained some of their idiosyncrasies even in their commercial films, experiment as such, on any considerable scale. disappeared from the cinema by the forties. It ia only in the last two decades that it has returned, and on a scale large enough to deserve the appellation of II major trend. Indeed, what with all the frantic subterranean substandard ac.t ivity . in the U.S.A. and France, in Germany and Japan and Scandinavia; it is a moot question whether the new cinema--<:all it avant-garde or· experimental or iconoclastic --.does not outatrip in quantity the cinema of the conventional commercial type. It is also highly significant that the present book can talk of a traditional cinema as well as a modern one. This is . . a distinction which didn't exist 15 years ago. in the pre-Godard era. We believed a film was either good or . bad. We didn't think of it in terms of being old-fashioned or modem. Chaplin was praised for his courage in using the silent technique in Modern Times. Modem · critical opinion would surely have dubbed him retrograde. All of which goes to make a global film scene of bewildering complexity. Conflicts and cross currents abound ; fashions are rampant ; taboos and tenets by the dozen are being daily questioned and demoliaheq ; norms and . styles and tastes are changing and evolving. Film makers. entrepreneurs, critics and educators are floundering in an effort to keep on their feet on a shifting ground. IV Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Making his way through the cinematic maze, Gaston • Roberge displays admirable patience, eclecticism and clear-headedness. Wisel9, for a book of this nature, ha takes nothing for granted. Evan basic concepts like art and language and communication are freshly defined, and related to the cinema in the particular context of India. Talking of drama, Roberge not only brings in ~ristotla, but also the Natya Shastra, making an illuminating distinction between the Greek and the Indian points of view. Wherever possible, illustrative e~amplas are provided to drive home an aesthetic or technical point. An especially useful section of the .book towards the and gives a chronological listing of important foreign and Indian films since the inception of the cinema, and these are in turn related to concurrent artistic and social landmarks·. The whole book, indeed, Is a labour of love, and I sincerely hope it will serve the purpose it is aimed at-to disseminate film culture and to promote a lively interest in the cinema not only among young Indian cineaites, but also among the not-so-young ones. Satyajit Ray, Calcutta, January 26, 1974. V Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT& . CHITRA BANI, the title of this book, is a Bengali phrase which means . 'image and sound.' This expression has been popularilftld by two important film magazines. British Sight and Sound and French Image et Son. However, I borrow it from K. W. L. Dickson. the talented assistant of Thomas Edison. Dickson was perhaps the first writer ever to define cinema in terms of 'sight and sound' as early as in 1895 (et. One Million and One Nights, by Terry Ramsaye, pp. 248-250). As for the two pictures on the cover. the one from The Battleship Potemkin and the other from Pather Pancha/i (et. also illustrations nn. 70 and 81 ). they are small tributes to S. M. Elsen stein whose writings and films are for me an inexhaustible source of inspiration, and to Satyajit Ray who constantly encouraged me during the three years that went in the preparation of this book. I wish to thank Mr. Ray very cordially for his kind ness, especially for his suggestions regarding the cover and for having written the Foreword. It is with deep gratitude that I recall all the persons who in so many ways have made the writing and the publication of this book . not only possible but even pleasurable in spite of numerous difficulties. Fr. Horace Rosner, S.J., and the per sonnel of The Little Flower Press. in Calcutta, have printed this book in a minimum of time and yet with a maximum of efficiency amidst frequent electric load sheddings. Fr. Guy Van Hoomissen, S.J .. assisted me with unllagging patience in the revision of the manuscript, and he is responsible for substan~ial improvements of the text. Fr. Noel D'Souza. Fr. T. A. Mathias. Fr. Julien Naud, of the Society of Jesus. have lent their support to this book project. Mr. Benu Mukherjee has greatly helped in making the early. printing arrangements. I sincerely thank Mr. Kilronmoy Raha for contributing an original essay on the Indian cinema. I would have felt it improper for me to write that particular chapter when there are in. India talented and competent writers to deal with this subject, as Mr. Raha well exemplifies. I am also thankful to Mrs·. Kobita Sarkar and to Mr. Ramesh Sharma for writing with me the essay on Bobby. Finally, I wish to thank the following persons and institutions for Heuring illustrations : Line drawlnge : Nimal Sen Gupta 1 and _2). (figure■ Half tone nutntlona : Kobita Sar1<ar: nn. 1, 8, 88, 71, 82. 84. 88. 93, 94. 101, 103. 104, 106, 108, 107. 109. 111. 112. 118, 122, 125, 131. 139, 144, 157. . Filmfare: nn. 7, 90, 91, 92, 110, 128, 165. ee. Mr. P. K. Nair, National Film Archive of India: nn. 9, 10, 11 to 49, 65 to 69, 81 to 84, 87, to 78, 81, 88, 137. ~ Oiviaion, Bombay: nn. 50, 151, 119, 121. Film■ Pumandu Petrea : nn. 118, 119B. Gopal Outia : nn. 132, 133, 145, 169. Eiaenstain Museum. Moacow : n. 138. Original Photographs Times of India : n. 163. Nemal Ghosh : n. 115 Adrian Steven : n. 1315. ee, Guton Roberge : nn. 80. 79, 80, 123, 124. 128, 148, 149, 150, 152, 158. 180, 181, 182. . (GASTON ROBERGE). VI Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN - TABLE OF CONTENTS Page FOREWORD by Satyajit Ray iii INTRODUCTION 1. FIims end Modem Man . 3 What image of himself can man see on the movle screen 7 What is the role played by the movie film• in the life of man today? PART ONE Prerequisites of Film Study Media : the necessary milieu of film 2. Communication 9 Communication; an essential need of man Direct or natural communication Indirect or technological communication Social or mass communication Mass communication and man 3. The Media Environment 13 A cluster of printed media Advertising media Fashions and hairstyles Recorded sound Communication arts in villages Telephone Architecture 4. The Presa, Radio, Cinema and Televllfon In Incle 17 Criticisms/achievements The Press Radio Cinema Television Problems Art : the constant uplratlon of tllm 5. Defining Art 23 Art is an experience Art can be defined in several ways Art and beauty . Expression of feelings Perfection of form Imitation Art a, communication e. Palntt.111 27 To see or not to see . The movement of the eyes on the object The perception of etructure Expression . vii Google Original frolll Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Page 7. Theatre 31 Theatre arts and society .Aristotle and Bharata Muni Aristotle's Poetics Bharata Muni's Natyasastra Concluding remarks 8. Music 37 Western music The musical notes Staff notation Musical forms Musical instruments Indian music Swaras Notation or swaralipi The raga system ( Hindusthani) The tale system Instruments Indian classical music and films 9. Social Function of Art 43 The role of the arts in society Discovery Intensification Expression Record Communication Interpretation Reformation Order Integration Communion The role of the artist in society PART TWO Film : Science and Craft 10. Definition of a Film 49 An appearance of continuous motion created by motionless images . . . . . . . . that have been arranged in an appropriate succession . . . . . . . . so as to produce fiction out of reality 11. Cine-photography 63 Types of cine-cameras and film gaugn Camera work Image composition Movement within the frame Camera angles Camera movement Lenses 12. Sound 59 The use of sound ,n films · The use of music in films Making a sound track VIII ' Google Original from . Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Page 86 13. Eclting Practice Theory 69 14. 5p,0111 Etfecta A few techniques Image replacement Miniatures Travelling mattes Rear projection Of machines. men and filma 73 15. Script Writing The screenplay Ivan the Terrible Un chien andaloo Puspa Where do the ideas come from 7 Screenplay writing PART THREE Film: Art and LMgU89e 81 16. Natwe and FOW'ldationa of Film Art Defining the art of the film Foundations of cinema art Ubiquity of the camera • Editing The close-up A few theories Aesthetics of the close-up The close-up used as a grammatical sign Recorded sound 91 17. Film, Painting. Dnma. Music and Literature Film and painting Film and drama Film and music Film and literature 103 18. Philosophy of the Film 107 19. Psychology of the FIim The moving photographic image General characteristics From cinematograph to cinema Emotional participation Projection and identification Of>jective presence The film universe Dream and cinema 115 20. Evolution of Film Language From image to idea Evolution of film language till the mid-fifties Expanded cinema • Towards a semiology of the cinema IK Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Page PART FOUR Film Hlsto,y 21. Problems of FIim Hlsto,y 123 Usefulness of film history In regard to the film medium In regard to particular films 0 bjections to film history Subjectivism of film history The quest for objectivity and realism Diffidence in human knowledge Distrust of reason . 22. History of Film Aesthetics 127 Film movements . The first French Avant-garde (1920s) Interlude of expressionism Realism in the cinema The American cinema of the thirties Underground cinema Theoreticians Bela Balasz Vsevolod Pudovkin Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein Rudolf Arnheim Siegfried Kracauer Jean Mitry A great critic : Andre Bazin 23. Universal Hlsto,y of the Cinema : a Panoramic Survey 139 24. lncian cinema by Kironmoy Rahe 163 Beginnings ( 1895-1931) The ll)dian talkies (1931-1945) The all-India film Characteristics Financial aspects Sub-genres Evaluation : conformism of the all-India film Regional cinemas Marathi Tamil Telegu Kannada Malaya lam Bengali Other cinemas : Gujarati, Punjabi, As.samese, Oriya PART FIVE Film Criticism 25. Contents of Films 183 Documentary and fictional The religious film The political film Cinema and society Art and non-art in political films X Google Original from Digitized by UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN