University Daily Kansan
Page 3
Films Maturing As Art Form
By Charles Corcoran
By Charles Corcoran
The film, as work of art, is destined to become so important, that its study should be brought into departments of literature in universities, Bruce A. Morrissette, professor of French at the University of Chicago, said yesterday.
Speaking at an SUA matinee forum in the Forum Room of the Kansas Union, Prof. Morrissette said that his interest in films arises from his convictions that "the film is an art form closely related to the art of the novel, a form of fiction which should properly be studied by literary critics."
PROF. MORRISSETTE SAID that the cinema has passed from infancy to the status of a major art form in 50 years. Recent films are "marked by such important works as those of the Italian neo-realists, the films of the so called New Wave and, most lately, by the new creative cinema of mental content or interior life as exemplified by such works as 'Last Year at Marien-bad.'"
"The film belongs along with the study of poetry, drama, the novel, and literary criticism," Prof. Morrissitte said.
He said that many syntactical and compositional devices in filming movies may be traced back to literature and that many aspects of the techinal production may be traced to techniques of painting.
"There is scarcely a tendency or a style in what we call the New Wave. . . for which precedent and preparation may not be found in films of the previous generation."
AEOUT 1957 THE films of the older generation, had "lost their vitality and sense of artistic purpose. The French cinema seemed doomed," he said.
Then a change occurred. "It was Roger Vadim who, with the discovery of Brigitte Bardot and the film 'God Created Woman,' made the public conscious of the New Wave. In its theme, its setting, its new acting style, its inconsistencies of dialogue and cutting, and other features, 'God Created Woman' is the first real New Wave picture."
"Like Venus emerging from the sea in Botticelli's painting, Brigitte Bardot stepped out of the New Wave and in the middle of the
Prof. Morrissette concluded his talk with a detailed discussion of three French films. "A Bout de Souffle" (Breathless), he said, "could be called the last important production of the New Wave, stemming from the neo-realist techniques of anti-rhetorical cutting, avoidance of flashbacks, use of real settings and characters from the seamier side of society, especially delinquents and the like."
Twentieth Century a new goddess of erotic love was born," Prof. Morrisette said.
THEN, "HIROSHIMA mon amour" which he said "since its release a few years back has been historical in the development of film art, somewhat comparable to the appearance 20 years ago of Welles' "Citizen Kane." The film he added, marks the real beginning of the French New Cinema, and includes a creative return to techniques of analytical montage and a radically new conception of the flashback which make it the first masterpiece of the new movement in which the theme of interior psychic life has been revived. The most advanced film yet made, he said, 'Last Year at Marienbad' in which techniques of the French new novel are incorporated into film structure by one of the masters of the modern novel, Alain Robbe-Grillet."
"To me 'Marianbad' opens a door to the future, by bringing into the film the New Novel techniques of objectified subjectivity: the interior world of memory and mental content is projected at the same 'realistic' level as scenes from 'ordinary' life; the de-chronology characteristic of human memory, the conversion of emotions into imagined scenes (imaged thoughts, imaged desires), all leading towards new creative possibilities."
"ONCE MORE, AS it has happened with the novel and with poetry," Prof. Morrisette said, "it is creative France that has outdistanced a world culture still largely mired in the artistic past, and has taken significant steps ahead.
Choung Clears U.S. In Viet Nam Coup
FRESNO, Calif., —(UPI)— Dr. Tran Van Chuong, father of South Viet Nam's Mme. Ngo Dinh Nhu, said yesterday he did not feel the United States played a direct part in the military coup that ousted President Ngo Dinh Diem.
But, Chuong admitted, the fact the United States cut economic aid in South Viet Nam may have encouraged those who staged the coup.
Chuong resigned last summer as South Viet Nam's ambassador to the United States in protest over the alleged repressive policies of the Diem Government against his country's Buddhist population. He drew a parallel on the effect his resignation and the severing of economic aid by the United States had on the overthrow of Diem.
"The removal of foreign aid may have had some effect, just as my resignation was a real blow," Chuong said "But similarly, my resignation
Chuong criticized the United States for not taking a more practical approach to the distribution of foreign aid.
"The American approach is too generous," he said. "Maybe you are not aggressive enough . . . you (should). . . use foreign aid as a weapon of war."
does not mean that I had any part in the coup."
Chuong, who is on a speaking tour through California, suggested that the Diem government collapsed because it was "Blind to realities."
EASE THE SQUEEZE
Ph. VI 2-3416 1912 W. 25th Day or Night
on good old Dad with better money management, Henry. You'll find that an Economy Checking Account in our bank can be mighty useful. Stop in.
When You're In Doubt, Try It Out—Kansan Classified
The Classical Film Series presents ZERO FOR CONDUCT
A French film with English subtitles directed by Jean Vigo in 1933
plus
We are the Lambeth Boys
a documentary directed by Karel Reisz
Wednesday, Nov. 6 Fraser Theater-7 p.m.only Admission 60c