Film as ArtFilm : aesthetics

This book presents a theory of film. The greater part is an adaptation of the book originally published in 1933, long out of print but still in demand because it raises fundamental questions that the intervening years have by no means answered. Arnheim's provocative thesis is that the peculiar virtues of film as art derive from an exploitation of limitations of the medium: the absence of sound, the absence of color, the lack of three-dimensional depth. Silent-film artists made virtues of these necessities and were on their way to developing a new and distinctive art form. Mechanical advancement has led to greater realism, and a corresponding loss in artistry. The four essays which make up the rest of the book are supplementary in nature. The final one discusses the general aesthetic rules for the combination of different media--word, image, and sound--and leads to an evaluation of the talking picture as a medium for artistic expression.--Adapted from back cover.