Cinema is a Visual art

The significance of the subject or theme has been a prominent topic in film criticism. Some critics argue that it constitutes the core of a movie, while others, emphasizing cinema's visual nature, contend that the focus should primarily be on the form of expression.

Anthony Mann stands out as one of the most notable American directors of the postwar era. He is known for his low-budget

Winchester 73 (1950). James Stewart, representing the good, in a light outfit, against Stephen McNally, representing the evil, in a darker outfit. This is a rendition of the classic confrontation of the forces of good and evil.

Gangster/Thriller films from the late 1940s and his Westerns during the 1950s. Below are excerpts from his interview published in Sight and Sound, Autumn 1965.

He reminds us about the visual nature of movies while expressing his doubts about the nature of the message. 

 I mean, Hamlet is the most reluctant hero ever, but if he hadn't killed his uncle, the story wouldn't have been a success. There would have been no story. A play like Macbeth, a completely defeatist play, has never been a popular success. It's the driving force, I think, that people like to participate in.

Well, a film above everything else is visual [format], and therefore if you're going to tell a story, instead of telling an intellectual story-which of necessity requires a tremendous number of words-you should pick one that has great pictorial qualities to start with.

Films above everything else are pictures and you ground them pictorially. I don't believe in talk, not for films. That's for the theatre.

You like a simple story?

The simpler and more primitive the story the better, yes.

This point about the driving force bringing up certain moral issues. Do you ever try to bring these issues out?

No, not necessarily, I don't... I'm interested in drama, and therefore I try to use whatever is effective dramatically. The juxtaposition of good against evil is of course in every drama, no matter how we slice it, in some form or another.

But you don't stress the issues?

Not as moral issues, I'm sorry to say, I don't think so. No. I don't think we're here to preach. I don't think we're here to sermonise or moralise or even socialise. I think we're here to ... All I know is that when I see something great, for instance when I saw John Barrymore's Hamlet, probably the greatest Hamlet I've ever seen, and I've seen about fifteen, I came out of the theatre feeling like God. He made me feel and reach heights. Hamlet in itself has some moral issues but it's not really a moral play, it's a very immoral play. But this thrilled me, this gave me I soared to places I had never seen before and felt things I had never felt before. This is what I try to do. I don't try to bring out moral issues.