SETTINGS FOR PICTURES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 11 (Supplement)

SETTINGS FOR PICTURES.

DEVELOPMENT of symbolism,

When " Bulldog Drummond " appeared last year to prove that dialogue pictures had/ erown up, -some voices were heard amid the general praise pointing out that the seta for the picture were quite as

epoch-making as the acting. Now, with

the arrival of " Condemned," the latest product of Samuel Goldwvn, as producer, and Ronald Colman, as star,. Broadway has had anothet look at the work of the same set designer, William Cameron Menzies.

Tin/es .were when film sets—castles, walls/'of Babylon or Montmartre cafes—were bniifc with the one idea of producing

the illusion of l< being there" for the

spectator. The mortar between the stones, the crystals on the chandeliers, the blotting paper on the desk were all-important. The camera being a realistic machine, sets for s camera had to be realistic. With Mr. Menzie*' work the pendulum seems to be swinging in the opposite direction possibly following on the great development of still photography in the last ten vears. possibly as' a result of the tremendous freedom brought to motion-camera / work by the influence of foreign direction. Whatever the reason. Mr. Manzies' theories of design for the cmema completely abandon the realistic point of view. Wbere the old-fashioned designer's drawing for a picture would look like an architect's visualisation for a client, his sketches are charcoals which an art critic would place as freely developed symbolism. Wher9 the old-fashioned designer had his eve on the illusion of actuality for the spectator, Mr. Menzies has his eye on affecting the spectator's emotions by light and shadow and texture, whether or not the rushing photographs would serve as working drawings for a contractor. " Qondemned," he says, gave him opportunities fcr his ideas which even " Bulldog Drummond " did not. The eerie atmosphere of deadly danger in the latter/ film is replaced here by the broodins despair of men confined without hope in the most notorious prison in the world. Mr. Mensiea especially is enthusiastic about the first sequences, laid on board a convjct ship in a storm, -with the shadows of row 3 of prison-bar 3 and the plunging of the ship to give him the dynamic shift of scene which he believes to be the essence of picture design. The primary distinction which he make 3 between designing for the stage and for pictures lies in this constant varying. The "stage designer, he says, is confined to making one set convey the changing moods of a whole act. It cannot move the audience beyond a first effect and a constant presence, except as lighting wiir help out to a small extent. The picture ' designer, however, is confronted with the immense field of hundreds of shifts of camera point of view, so that he can build''up-cumulative effects, playing on an audience's emotions with his evervarying masses as a musician plays on them with his every-varying tone.

There is, he points out. a definite relation between the long-felt and long-ex-ploited need of musical accompaniment for pictures, either silent or talking, and the "possibilities of set design in making pictures even more effective emotionally than' they ever could have been in the days of strict realism. Although the audience 13 likely to be unconscious of «ither, so far as definite notice goes, it is susceptible to emotional effects from both, which are a tremendous aid to the actor and the director in approaching climaxes and breaking tensions.