Bazin,.Andre.-.What.Is.Cinema. - fading aesthetics

THE VIRTUES AND LIMITATIONS OF MONTAGE(Montage Interdit. Crin Blanc. Le Bailon Rouge. Une Fee pascomme les autres.)THE CREATIVE originality of A. Lamorisse was already apparent inBim, Ie petit ane. Bim and perhaps Crin Blanc are the only tworeal children's films ever made. Of course there are othersalthoughnot as many as one would expect-that are suited to avariety of young age groups. The Soviet Union has made specialefforts in this field but it is my feeling that films like Lone WhiteSails are already aimed at young adolescents. The attempts of J.Arthur Rank at specialized production in this area have failed bothaesthetically and commercially. In fact, anyone wishing to set up afilm library or to compile a series of programs for young childrenwould be hard pressed to find more than a few shorts, of unequalmerit, and a certain number of commercial films, among them somecartoons, the inspiration and the subject matter of which were sufficientlychildlike; in particular, certain adventure films. It is not,however, a matter of specialized production, just of films intelligibleto those on a mental level under fourteen. As we know, Americanfilms do not often rise above this level. The same is true of theanimation films of Walt Disney.It is obvious that films of this sort are in no way comparable to41