Experimental Narrative

 Experimental Narrative

By the late 1920s, filmmakers in several countries were using the techniques and styles of the independent experimental cinema to question narrative conventions. In the United States, some experimental directors adapted techniques from German Expressionism and French Impressionism into cinematic forms suited to low-budget, independent production. During the late 1920s, noncommercial European filmmakers pushed both narrative and abstract techniques still further.

In the United States, some filmmakers outside the commercial industry wanted to treat film as a modern art. Few of the more radical experimental films made in Europe during this era were shown in America, however. Experimental filmmakers were inspired mainly by German Expressionist and French Impressionist films.

Like Dreyer, Robert Florey was an international director, though on a more modest scale. Born in France, he was thoroughly familiar with both the Impressionist and the Expressionist movements. He came to Hollywood in 1921, serving as United Artists’ technical adviser on French subjects and eventually directing minor features. In 1927, he turned to experimental filmmaking, directing the short The Life and Death of 9413—a Hollywood Extra (aka Life and Death of a Hollywood Extra). This ingenious film, made for a reported $100, combined close shots of actors against black backgrounds with stylized miniature scenes, made of simple paper cut-outs and erector-set objects, shot with an ordinary light on a kitchen table. The film was a witty satire on Hollywood’s uncaring treatment of aspiring talent. Florey’s cinematographer, Gregg Toland, went on to photograph many major films, including Citizen Kane. In the following clip, a split-screen effect in The Life and Death of 9413—a Hollywood Extra juxtaposes the hero’s naive face with his abstract vision of Hollywood.

 The Life and Death of 9413—a Hollywood Extra (Robert Florey, 1927)

pictures again of his smiling face

his smiling face - a sign that says 9413 - END

In Rochester, New York, two film and photography enthusiasts, James Sibley Watson and Melville Webber, codirected The Fall of the House of Usher (1928). This film’s oblique narrative technique depends on the spectator’s foreknowledge of Poe’s story. Impressionist-style subjective camera techniques and Expressionist decor are combined in an attempt to capture the eerie atmosphere of the original.

The Fall of the House of Usher (James Sibley Watson & Melville Webber, 1928)

Several variations on these faces 

clever - man grabbing at camera

a better - repeating shot

Clever shot - he has no top hat in hand

man looks bewildered and scared

he keeps making chopping motions with his hand

This is walking around the house and goes up the stairs

Very clever shots

close ups of staircase

shadows of lady again

books arise - END

A few European works pushed even further in exploring narrative conventions. In 1930, the short feature Borderline was created by the group around the international intellectual journal Close Up. Its editor, Kenneth Macpherson, directed, and the poet H. D. was one of the actors. Borderline centers on two couples, one black, one white, living in a small Swiss town. When the white man begins an affair with the black woman, sexual and racial tensions escalate. The film mixes objective and subjective scenes without clear-cut transitions. The African American stage actor and singer Paul Robeson plays the black husband, and H. D. gave an intense performance as the jealous white woman. Dynamic compositions reflected the influence of the Soviet cinema, but the film was unique in its elliptical style. It remained the Close Up group’s only completed experiment.

Borderline (Kenneth Macpherson, 1930)

I was fascinated by these close ups - was he dreaming of the woman?

The Belgian Charles Dekeukeleire discovered the cinema through the work of the French Impressionists. After working as a critic, he turned to filmmaking in 1927, just as the ciné-club movement was spreading. Planning, shooting, and even processing his own footage, he made four silent experimental films over the next few years. Outstanding among these were Impatience (1929) and Histoire de Detective (“Detective Story,” 1930), bold films that had little precedent in any artistic tradition. Impatience lasts nearly forty-five minutes but consists of relentless repetitions of only four elements: a woman (alternately naked and dressed in a motorcyclist’s outfit), a motorcycle, mountain scenery, and a set of three swinging abstract blocks. No two of these elements is ever seen in the same shot. Although the film seems to hint at a minimal narrative situation (perhaps the woman is riding the motorcycle through the mountains?), it simply shows us the same sorts of shots over and over.

(Based on the above description - I have no interest in this clip) - for 40 min clips - click here

Impatience (Charles Dekeukeleire, 1929)

Lots of clouds.  Shaky camera of mountains below the clouds.

Engine - back to lady - she keeps opening and closing eyes. engine

now it looks like she's riding a bicycle or motorcycle - just close up of her face with hair blowing back. very close up of just eyes.

minutes and minutes of this - now sideways view - frontal view of head nodding

clips with angles a few seconds apart now

possibly cut ins of a man - or her.

back to wind blown hair - END

International Style 1920s

International Style 1920s

Stylistic influences also circulated among countries. French Impressionism, German Expressionism, and Soviet Montage began as largely national trends, but soon the filmmakers exploring these styles became aware of each other’s work. By the mid-1920s, an international avant-garde style blended traits of all three movements.

The Blending of Stylistic Traits

Caligari’s success in France in 1922 led French directors to add Expressionist touches to their work. In 1928, Jean Epstein combined Impressionist camera techniques with Expressionist set design to create an eerie, portentous tone in The Fall of the House of Usher, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s story. A corner in a room of Usher’s mansion in Epstein’s adapation displays the influence of German Expressionism.

The Fall of the House of Usher (Jean Epstein, 1928)

Books are tumbling from behind the curtain

Wind is blowing into the room from behind the curtains

The guest is scared the old guy tells him not to worry

guy starts playing the guitar

At the same time, French Impressionist traits of subjective camera devices were cropping up in German films. Karl Grune’s The Street, an early example of the street film, used multiple superimpositions to show the protagonist’s visions. The Last Laugh and Variety popularized subjective cinematographic effects that had originated in France. By the mid-1920s, the boundaries between the French Impressionist and German Expressionist movements were blurred. In The Street, Impressionist-style superimpositions depict the hero’s visions of delights that await him in the city.

The Street (Karl Grune, 1923)

The Montage movement started somewhat later, but imported films soon allowed Soviet directors to pick up on European stylistic trends. The rapid rhythmic editing pioneered by Epstein and Abel Gance in 1923 was pushed further by Soviet filmmakers after 1926. Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg’s 1926 adaptation of Gogol’s The Cloak contained exaggerations in the acting and mise-en-scène that were reminiscent of Expressionist films. The Cloak contains grotesque elements that recall German Expressionism, such as this giant steaming teapot that heralds the beginning of a strange dream sequence.

The Cloak (Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg, 1926)

In turn, from 1926 onward, Soviet Montage films wielded influence abroad. Leftist filmmakers in Germany embraced the Soviet style to make politically charged cinema. A shot from the final march scene in Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück (“Mother Krausen’s Journey to Happiness,” 1929, Piel Jutzi) echoes the climactic demonstration scene in Pudovkin’s Mother. A low angle isolates the major characters against the sky in Soviet Montage fashion as they march in protest.

Mutter Krausens Fahrt ins Glück (Piel Jutzi, 1929)

French, German, and Soviet techniques had an impact in many countries. Two of the most notable English directors of the 1920s reflected the influence of French Impressionism. Anthony Asquith’s second feature, Underground (1928), used a freely moving camera and several subjective superimpositions to tell a story of love and jealousy in a working-class milieu. As the heroine of Underground looks up at a building, a superimposition reminiscent of French Impressionism conveys her vision of the villain.

Underground (Anthony Asquith, 1928)

Alfred Hitchcock’s boxing picture, The Ring (1927), demonstrated his absorption of Impressionist techniques in its many subjective passages. Hitchcock also acknowledged his debts to German Expressionism, an influence evident in The Lodger (1926). For decades, he would draw on avant-garde techniques he learned in the 1920s. In The Ring, Hitchcock uses distorting mirrors in this shot of dancers to suggest the hero’s mental turmoil during a party.

The Ring (Alfred Hitchcock, 1927)

nice cut-in

Two men talking: it's understood you start training to-morrow.

It's not necessary for you to take your wife with you, she can stay here.

Here's the distorted mirror shot below

cool shot

triple imposition

The international influence of the commercial avant-garde reached as far as Japan. By the 1920s, Japan was absorbing European modernism in its arts, primarily literature and painting. Futurism, Expressionism, Dada, and Surrealism were all welcomed. One young filmmaker, Teinosuke Kinugasa, was already well established in commercial production, having made over thirty low-budget pictures. He was also associated with modernist writers in Tokyo. In 1926 with their help, he independently produced a bizarre film. A Page of Madness carried Expressionist and Impressionist techniques to new extremes. Taking a cue from Caligari, Kinugasa set the action in a madhouse, with distorting camera devices and Expressionist mise-en-scène frequently reflecting the deranged visions of the inmates. The plot that motivates these strange scenes is full of flashbacks and fantasy passages. Kinugasa’s next film, Crossroads (1928), was less difficult but still reflected influences from European avant-garde films. It was the first Japanese feature to receive a significant release in Europe. In the following enigmatic scene from A Page of Madness, an inmate obsessed with dancing appears in an elaborate costume, performing in an Expressionist set containing a whirling, striped ball.

A Page of Madness (Teinosuke Kinugasa, 1926)

It's raining severely

running water (kind of montage style)

rain and water flowing again

water imposed over window

shoes and trench coat in water

lots of shots of rain and the window

total montage going back and forth between all these images

The speed has quickened to a few seconds each

now this?

three superimpositions

Here's the shot of the Expressionist set

She keeps dancing and dancing 

Then this cool shot

Wow, then this