Comparison Between 'His Girl Friday And The Rules Of The Game'

The popularization of deep-focus cinematography in the 1940s brought about important changes to the style and framing of films. Coupled with this new technique was the expert use of sound by film director’s to create an artful combination of visual and audible cinematic space. In Howard Hawk’s His Girl Friday and Jean Renoir’s The Rules of the Game, both Hawks and Renoir utilize deep-focus cinematography, camera movement, and the rich layering of sounds to command visual and audible cinematic space, however, while Hawks utilizes these techniques to advance the narrative and character development within the film, Renoir wields them to serve artistic and thematic means. In His Girl Friday, Hawks allows the fast paced dialogue of the screwball

The long take shots and lack of close ups create a fluid visual style and continuous environment that adds to this realistic feel. Andre Bazin argues that the coming of sound film made viewers more passive as they were now getting the director’s vision rather than their own. However, he claims that deep-focus cinematography creates more ambiguity and consequently a more active viewing experience. The elaborate masquerade party thrown in celebration of Jurieux’s success is an excellent example of the active viewing experience Renoir created in the film. Through camera movement and minimal cutting, Renoir takes advantage of the entire space of the estate and fills the frame with action in the fore, middle, and background. An underlying theme throughout The Rules of the Game was its scathing critique of both the aristocracy and society more generally, and this sequence not only critiques the exorbitant lifestyle of the wealthy, but also the working class’s attempts to imitate their superiors. The sequence begins with a play put on by several guests. Renoir allows the audience to entirety of room during the play by first panning to left of the stage and then zooming out as the frame displays a collection of guests seated in chairs, as well as additional guests along the back