controlled as the pickpocket ‘goes through the motions’ possessed of an
inner stillness, even when moving.
The grammar of cinema distinguished itself from filmed theatre
through montage and the close-up. The close-up is a pause in the narra-
tive flow, a stable image close to the halting stare of the photograph.
In early cinema close-ups were lit by the conventions of studio portrait
photography. But other photographic references soon emerged. Buster
Keaton modelled his stone-faced persona on Matthew Brady’s portraits
of soldiers from the American Civil War, mimicking them directly in
The General(Buster Keaton, 1927 ). Keaton had a huge popular following
but he was equally admired by the European avant-garde, who saw in
his performances something of the tension between the organic and the
inorganic life that comes with modernity. While his body was capable of
breathtakingly agile movement (he was a supreme athlete), his expression
remained immobile, showing no strain or emotion. At times the discon-
nection was stark. InThe Cameraman(Edward Sedgwick, 1928 ), Keaton
dashes across town to meet his girlfriend. The camera tracks alongside as
he races down a busy sidewalk, his limbs a machinic blur while his face
is perfectly still.
Similarly,inthefinalmomentsofQueen Christina(RoubenMamoulian,
1933 ), Greta Garbo stares out impassively from the prow of a ship, an
‘untamable’, restless woman. She holds herself as still as a photo, looking
4934 The General(Buster Keaton, 1927), still.
35 The Cameraman(Edward Sedgwick,
1928), still.