Standards

(A follow-up to www.kingwenclas.blogspot.com/2010/06/bucking-system.html)

1.) A movie, first, is photography. PHOTOGRAPHY. Or rather, cinematography. Photographed images which move.

2.) The second key feature of movies is sound. Even silent movies had accompanying scores. What makes film unique is that it combines several art forms. At its best it's a giant painting come to life, backed by a symphony.

3.) Upon this foundation of pure art is added the literary, the intellectual, in the form of narrative. This leads us to think about the art of narrative.
A.) What's the nature of narrative? What are a narrative's internal dynamics? How successful artistically is a particular narrative?

4.) Within the filmed narrative are aspects of theater: acting and dialogue.
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These are standards which can be used to judge a movie as art.

Now we can look at the magazine's "top" three Westerns: "High Noon"; "The Ox-Bow Incident"; "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Stay tuned.