BLANCHE JE - Signed autograph letter.

Jacques Emile BLANCHE (1861.1942)

Autograph letter signed to a gentleman.

Two pages in-12°. Offranville. November 8, 1928. Interesting letter on cinema.

“Dear Sir, Yes I have a passion for the landscapes of Forez and in general for the country which extends behind Vichy, from Moulin to Thiers. As for the question of literary work and cinema, it seems very complex to me. Literature and screen art do not seem to me to have anything in common. For me, a film offers pleasures of a purely visual order – which does not exclude the emotional, the pathos. The “Napoleons” and other historical subjects, especially shot by French and Americans, seem sinisterly boring to me. Ben Hur, which for three or four times ten or rather five minutes, is a marvelous success, unfortunately claims to touch on literature. The subject of a libretto for the screen must first and foremost be plastic. But the public demands that we prepare pleasures to match their taste, which remains that of readers of serial novels. Besides, the cinema, which I hardly go to, gets tired of it very quickly. I extremely admire certain shots, ingenious “close ups” or “foregrounds”. But I feel, in the presence of a film, as non-professionals should feel in an exhibition of paintings, outside of the game, incapable of judging. »