MOVIETONE NEW8 . - Parallax View Annex

operates in relation to the key themes of the film,
cumulatively fostering a kind of thematic and narrative
economy on Minnelli's part.
The problems of the widescreen format arise when
the focus of viewer attention must be constricted for
thematic or dramatic purposes, or when the tension
of a scene emanates from a single person or pair of
people. Then the spaciousness of the screen may
prove a distraction. Even empty, this leftover space
may suggest an additional presence, a placid contrast
to the intensity of the moment. The "answer" to this
problem for Minnelli is the use of objects (flowers,
lamps, candlesticks, curtains, etc.) that will block
off-in a sense, use up-an area of the screen. As with
the widescreen itself, such a technique is both an
unavoidable "given" and an opportunity. Minnelli
finds ways to expressively exploit this situationintroducing,
for instance, a certain statue in three
sequences of The Cobweb.
Our first entry into Meg Rinehart's art barn
coincides with her visit from Stevie Holte (John
Kerr). He is carrying-though we don't know it till
later in the scene-his drawings for the library
curtains. Their conversation is carried out in oneshots,
as befits the fact that he's "not interested in
people much"-a comment that implies more conscious
choice than he actually exercises in the matter
of his not connecting with other people. In this scene,
however, he is connected by the film to two elements
of the room. Verbally he is connected and drawn to
Meg Rinehart, owing to their common experience of
losing their families and having been threatened
psychologically by a parent. In addition, in the shots
of Stevie standing in the doorway, he is linked to a
statue positioned on a shelf to his right. The empty
space on the right side of the frame further ernphasizes
the only two figures we do see.
What the statue portrays is unclear to me, though
the possibilities seem to be that it is a reproduction of
a classical Greek or Roman statue, or perhaps
Michelangelo's David. (It may be a more mundane art
model of some sort; even so, its usefulness still
applies.) Our suspicion that Stevie and the statue are
meant to be linked is confirmed when Stevie momentarily
assumes the same pose as the figure. While
a precise "meaning" is elusive, several relevant and
persuasive ideas are raised by the association. On the
most immediate level, the statue suggests the notion
of an ideal that contrasts to Stevie's reality of being
out of balance and control.
By itself, this contrast would only have negative
connotations of Stevie's failure to be ideal. But
another factor, the idea of art, operates in the scene
and film, making the connection of Stevie and the
statue more positive. We know from Stevie's conversation
with Karen Mciver (Gloria Grahame) that he is
interested in art, and from the patients' meeting that
he is an artist. In the meeting, though, it is unclear
whether he will, or can, produce. His illness and art
are connected. In this scene we see him evidence signs
of personal progress by means of his drawings, and
through the hopeful conversational contact he has
with Meg. (This stands in contrast to the futility of
the bitter therapy session with his analyst, Dr. Mciver
[Richard Widmark] .)
The film and the clinic attach therapeutic value to
creative expression. Hence, Stevie standing in the
doorway is also an art object created in particular by
his own effort. This scene connects him to the statue
to evoke the rational ordered "ideal", sanity, that he
seeks and now shows signs of being able to reach.
The next time we see the statue, it has taken the
form of a drawing hanging very noticeably in Stevie's
room. It appears in the background of the visit of Mr.
Capp (Oscar Levant), who brings word of Dr.
Devanal's memo announcing that the library curtains
will be purchased. That Stevie has drawn a picture of
the statue and made it an element of his personal
environment suggests that he has connected himself
to it-as we have previously-presumably in recognition
of the same significance (as an ideal to work
toward) that we have seen in the figure. If so, the
picture then indicates Stevie's conscious awareness of
what it is that he seeks. This would be yet another
sign of progress on his part. That an interpretation
such as this is not totally presumptuous is indicated
later when Stevie tells Dr. Mciver that he had been in
his room thinking that he was becoming normal. That
awareness of what he seeks does not constitute final
health is perhaps also indicated by the drawing's
being in black, with the arm positions reversed-a
"negative" image of the statue at this very moment
when, upon hearing Capp's news, Stevie loses control
once more.
Our final view of the statue occurs when Dr.
Mciver catches up with Stevie as the young man is
ripping his curtain sketches off the display frame in
the art barn. Mciver borrows Meg Rinehart's officesite
of the earlier Stevie-Meg conversation, with the
studio area visible beyond-and leads Stevie in for a
talk. Following Mciver in, Stevie pauses in the
doorway. For several shots of the ensuing conversation,
our view of Stevie consists of a frame
divided into thirds, with the statue on the left side of
the screen, Stevie on the right, and the open door
between them. Through the door we see the overturned
display board. Graphically, the disorder of the
room caused by Stevie's violence and lack of self-