Camera Work
I really enjoyed the film but was offset by shoddy camera work.
If I'm not mistaken Renoir is usually known for his flawless imagery, so I wonder why this film contained so many mistakes? At times I felt as though I were watching an amateur run the camera!
First, lets start with the shaky camera. It worked...but not that often. Though, this is only because it fit in with the rough city atmosphere. Regardless, it was strange to see so much shakiness in an early film.
Next, there is the jerky pans and tilts. They didn't appear just once but on several occasions. I don't know what was going on, but there must have been some sticky substance in the gears. There really is no excuse for that.
Then we had the out of focus images, especially a select few towards the end, which really bugged me.
The only reason I can come up with for all these issues, is the fact that this is an early sound film, and maybe Renoir, who is versatile with the camera, was hampered by the clunky new sound equipment. Just a guess...
Please, someone enlighten me? Any guesses?
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