John Simon

Theater Chronicle: Kopit, Norman, and Shepard

A propos des representations donnees par le theâtre de New York entre 1978 et 1979 de: Wings de A.K., Getting Out de M.N. et Buried Child de S.S. Le langage commun de ces trois pieces et, a travers leurs mises en scene, ce quelles revelent sur le monde contemporain.

The Word on Film

Let me hegin hy explaining my title, The Word on Film. It is not to be taken as meaning the lowdown on cinema, but as an attempt to assess the role of dialogue in the movies, where it has heen generally miscast. Often it has been given a stellar part in a film that could not support it; at other times it has been assigned a mere supporting role in films that could have greatly profited from more extensive use of its talent. The rtsult appears to have been that people who ought to know hetter have viewed the spoken word in movies with suspicion, condescension, indeed hostility; while other people have been pleased to regard the film as an infant that has learned to talk in the natural process of growing older-what the child is saying, however, as long as it makes rudimentary sense, is of no great import. My own point is that the word in the cilltma-contrary to the opinion of those who consider it ancillary or downright negligible, if not indeed subversive of the true powers of the art-is, in fact, of primary importance, and must be nurtured and developed rather than subordinated and downgraded. I insist that film as it has or will come to be is a fully audiovisual medium rather than a visual one like painting, sculpture, or silent movies; and that, as such, its voice has to be as good as its movements and vision. If I now turn to an attack on my film criticism by Professor Edward Murray in his book, Nine American Film Critics: A Study in Theory and Practice, it is not because I consider either my criticism or Professor Murray that important. But it was his remarks that spurred me on to compose this essay, and Mr. Murray, as only begetter, is entitled to his place on the thnshold of my discussion. He writes: The Word on !:ilm