Chitra Bani: A Book on Film Appreciation

320 Pages·1974·50.249 MB·English

by  Gaston Roberge

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.
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First published 1974
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Making his way through the cinematic maze, Gaston
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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.
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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).
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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
.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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