THE SECRETS OF THE CINEMA.•
The Secrets of the Cinema is in many ways a curious production, However, it gives the reader all kinds of practical information about methods of production, the division of labour and even choice
of colour in clothes. For instance, it would be useless for an actress to wear a pale blue sash on a pale pink dress, because, although the two colours might be quite pretty in the original, both would be the same in the photograph. It also gives curious accounts of the make-up adopted by cinema actors and actresses:
" In nearly all cases the face is first thoroughly whitened and then tinted with yellow so that any subsequent colour that may be applied will stand out in bold relief, and also for the reason that the face will appear white instead of grey, as would be the case with the natural colour of the complexion. The lips and the area surrounding the eyes are tinted with a colour having a bluish cast such as heliotrope or mauve. When seen in the sunlight, the make-up of the film picture actor presents a most ghastly appearance."
The author is particularly fond of such phrases as " palatial palaces," which do not, perhaps, give one a very great faith
in his proficiency as a technician. As amusing as his phraseology is his enthusiasm for some of the " super " films of which he gives the plots with immense gusto. " Meanwhile in her quiet home Synovia, sat anxiously awaiting news of her loved one." What echoes of elementary physiology this name calls up 1 The author predicts that home cinematography will shortly become cheap and possible. He is an enthusiast, and appears to think
that " the written word " will shortly be superseded by the cinema, in the next breath relating the tremendous demand which had arisen for a book such as his own and enumerating
the newspapers which had sprung up from the need people felt " to know a little more about their favourite screen actors and
actresses." There is an art of thinking and an art of writing books, as well as an art of film-making. This he forgot.
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