ABSTRACT
The more I see of the performing arts the more firmly I am convinced that a precise definition of the ideal “Film” would differentiate it from any of its cousins. With the sole exception of film, the performing arts are appropriately named; in all instances the visible artists in this branch of the arts are performers. Whether they stand before an audience or a television camera to deliver one-liners, “read” a fine author’s golden words, dance a noted choreographer’s pas de deux, or sing an operatic aria or one of tin-pan alley’s clever ditties, they are performing. And in these areas a fine performance can be a gratifying experience. The viewer watches, and listens, and usually appreciates the performer more wholeheartedly than he does those who created the material performed.
