Contents
Introduction, 3
The Subject, 3
The Method, 6
I. THE FORMATIVE TRADITION, 11
1. HUGO MUNSTERBERG, 14
Matter and Means, 15
Form and Function, 20
2. RUDOLF ARNHEIM, 27
Material, 28
The Creative Use of the Medium, 31
Film Form, 33
The Purpose of Film, 35
3. SERGEI EISENSTEIN, 42
The Raw Material of Film, 45
Cinematic Means: Creation Through Montage, 51
Film Form, 57; The Art Machine, 60; The Organic Analogy, 64
The Final Purpose of Film, 68; Rhetoric, 68;
Art, 71
4. BELA BALAZS AND THE TRADITION OF FORMALISM, 76
A Summary of Formative Film Theory, 76
Russian Formalism, 79
Bela Balazs, 84
The Raw Material of Film Art, 86
The Creative Potential of Film Technique, 88
Cinematic Shape or Form, 93
Cinematic Functions, 97
II. REALIST FILM THEORY, 104
5. SIEGFRIED KRACAUER, 106
Matter and Means, 107
Compositional Forms, 114
The Purpose of Cinema, 125
Rebuttals, 129
6. ANDRE BAZIN, 134
The Raw Material, 137
Cinematic Means and Form, 141; Bazin versus Traditional Theory, 141; The Plastics of the Image, 146; The Resources of Montage, 155
The Uses and Misuses of Montage: Cinematic Purposes, 164
The Function of Cinema, 170
III. CONTEMPORARY FRENCH FILM THEORY, 179
7. JEAN MITRY, 185
The Raw Material, 188
Creative Potential in Film, 192
The Form and Purpose of Cinema, 205
8. CHRISTIAN METZ AND THE SEMIOLOGY OF THE CINEMA, 212
The Raw Material, 216; of Semiology, 216;
Of Film, 217
The Means of Signification in Cinema, 219;
Film ls Not a True Language, 219;
Nevertheless Film ls Like a Language, 223;
1. Code/Message, 224; 2. System/Text, 227
The Forms and Possibilities of Film, 230
Semiology and the Purposes of Film, 236
9. THE CHALLENGE OF PHENOMENOLOGY: AMEDEE A YFRE AND HENRI AGEL, 242
NOTES, 255
BIBLIOGRAPHY, 261
INDEX, 273