D.W.Griffith has gotten all the credit for developing the grammar and syntax ofcinema, but recent years have seen research showing that other filmmakersaround the world were working toward (and probably reaching) those same breakthroughs.According to Christine Leteux, one of the most important overlooked innovatorswas a Frenchman who directed many of his country’s early shorts, rose to acreative peak before World War I cut him short, worked in Hollywood after beingdischarged from the military for poor health and returned home to obscurity.
AlbertCapellani: Pioneer of the Silent Screen (University Press of Kentucky) is ashort work on an important subject made possible by the increasing number oflost films from the early 20th century that have been rediscoveredor reconstructed. The author of a previous book on silent director MauriceTourneur, Leteux has examined Capellani’s surviving work and found that hedirected France’s first full-length feature film and was in the vanguard forhis use of split screens, 180 degree panoramas and intelligent mixes of studioand location shots. “In comparison, D.W. Griffith was just starting to shoothis first picture… which has none of the sophistication shown be Capellani” inhis 1908 detective movie, L’Homme aux gants blancs.
Capellani’sdeath in 1931 was scarcely noticed. Ill health had sidelined him for years andhe advent of talking pictures swept away memories of his work. Movies wereusually regarded as ephemeral during his lifetime, but from the vantage oftoday, they represent one of the great new art forms made possible by advancesin technology. Leteux shows that Capellani brought an understanding oftechnical possibilities together with a respect for the art of storytelling.
