Screen acting (from silent to talkies)

CEBU, Philippines - The only way to truly learn about quality cinema in order to write about it, is to watch many films as possible - and ensure that these are "the good ones", the classic films that have stood the test of time, the so-called masterpieces.

With the help of Russian-American Misha "Mish" Anissimov who set up, using personal funds, the Tioseco-Bohinc Film Archive in Lapu-Lapu City (in memory of Filipino film critic/scholars Alexis Tioseco and his girlfriend Slovenian Anika Bohinc who were murdered in 2009), members of the Sinebuano (Cebu's Independent Filmmaking Scene) participated in a screening of movies dubbed "Actors-in-Action" beginning with those which made an impressive mark in the Silent Film Era and then capping this with a screening of "The Wild One" starring one of the greatest in Method Acting in the 50s --- Marlon Brando.

"The purpose of the screening was to study the visual craft of acting as it was applied by these actors - Lillian Gish, Renee Falconetti and Max Schreck in the Silent Age of Cinema," explained Diem Judilla, the creative director of Sinebuano.

Archive curator Lito Tabay and his brother-assistant Juven Tabay prepared a series of movie clips that highlighted memorable actors in the history of motion pictures - American actress Lillian Gish (1893-1993; deemed First Lady of Silent Cinema) in "Broken Blossoms" (1919) directed by D. W. Griffith (referred to as the father of filmmaking for pioneering basic technical grammar of modern cinema); French actress Renee Falconetti (1892-1946) in Carl Theodor Dryer's "La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc, 1928); German actor Max Shreck (1879-1936) as Count Orlok in German director Friedrich Wilhem Murnau's "Nosferatu: Symphony of Horror (1922); and American actor James Dean as Jett Rink in George Stevens' "Giant" (1956).

"Her acting technique was evident in 'Broken Blossoms'. Unlike the arm-waving, full body motion histrionics method that has been carried from theater employed by other actors, Lillian Gish chose to perform subtly, limiting action and chose to emphasize emotions on her face," Judilla emphasized in his blog on Sinebuano.com.

"Her strategy of controlling emotion - particularly in close-ups - became Lillian's trademark technique," Judilla observed. The other fine actress in those days of the inter-titles was Renee Falconetti who started as a stage actress in Paris in 1918. The strength of "Passion of Joan of Arc", which quoted directly from actual trial court transcripts, was the absence of makeup by actors in the close-ups, so as to come up with the ideal nuance in their facial expressions - the wrinkles and other facial flaws. This made it one of the great European silent film masterpieces.

"It was stark and harsh, totally 'in-your-face'. The audience would feel being packed right in Joan's jail cell," Judilla noted.

In 1921, after World War I and just before the Second World War, Max Schreck was hired to play Count Orlok, a character analogous to Count Dracula in "Nosferatu: Symphony of Horror." Schreck was acclaimed for his believable portrayal of the vampire Orlok. According to Anissimov, at the time Schreck's performance gave people nightmares; while Judilla underlined that "like Gish, Schreck exhibited no unnecessary movement, no wasted motion. He just projected ‘presence’. After all, his character was 'un-Dead'."

Another thing Anissimov pointed out is the stark shadows which are the mark of German expressionism. "This was the early 1920s. Germany was saddled with huge debt, depression, paying remunerations after the war. The horror genre depicted the overall mood of the nation. The Germans are best known for cinematic technique in developing harsh shadows."

After the screening, I asked Misha about the pacing of silent movies. This 'cartoonic' effect that bothers me a lot in the past years found an explanation from him. "No, it isn't slapstick. Slapstick only refers to physical comedy (hitting, falling, etcetera). The reason for that fast forward effect is that some of the early silent films were shot at 18 frames per second and then the standards for cameras and projectors turned to 24 frames per second," he stressed.

This means that if one shoots at 18, and projects at 24, the action will appear a little faster than real life.

As for the lilt and intonation patterns in Marlon Brando's bike outlaw character John "Johnny" Strabler in Lazlo Benedek's "The Wild One" (1953), I shared with Anissimov that initially, there was this impression that the dialogue appeared as though they were tongue-twisters - fast, quick, with a rhythm to it. Maybe it had something to do with the fad of those days or with the recording equipment. 

Anissimov clarified: "Everything here is what the director wanted. It was recorded accurately. He wanted quick dialogue. It's directorial choice. Hollywood screenwriters have a fondness for witty, quick, dialogue."

His answer came with an imperative to take a look at "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarantino, and notice the very fast witty dialogue. "Europeans tend to minimize dialogue and focus more on cinema visuals to tell the story," he also noted.

The desire to gather for a weekly, Thursday screenings of excellent films at the Archive (movies you can't find sold through "pirated enterprise" as Anissimov puts it) also came with advice as to how one should watch movies, specifically the Filipino audience who, unlike Europeans, does not have ready access to classic cinema.

"I think appreciation comes from nothing more than watching lots and lots of good films. After watching about 50 world class films, and then turning on the television --- it's not the same," Anissimov stressed.

"An individual can sense that TV just isn't the same as quality cinema. Once a person has seen enough amazing films, the appreciation grows in some…they almost become spoiled, and in others...nothing. Some will always consider great art dull --- these are people craving for entertainment and escape, not enlightenment. The great challenge for directors is to create films that enlighten as well as entertain," he further said.

"But for those few that got affected in some way, it is an experience they do not forget, and those will pursue more detailed study. That's why I think most of the future cinephiles will come from a University with cinema studies because there is a required systematic viewing and study."

Furthermore, it was learned from the screening that acting must be "appropriate to context as to where the actor is working and should fit the times." For one, I find acting in the Silent Era a bit awkward now for its being too melodramatic or for its fatal tendency to exploit sentimentality. Count Orlok is not as scary anymore as when first shown in the 1920s. Another example is the emergence of bad/juvenile protagonists or the anti-authoritarian hero Strabler - who the girls had found sizzling hot - might not be that appealing anymore today, with the rise of feminism.

But from them playing various roles on the silver screen, we learn that an actor need not only be good in his or her craft. The actor must reach this certain level of maturity, intuition, combined with immersion in the character to be called outstanding. (FREEMAN)