FILM AND COMPARATIVE STUDIES

Dinner at Vidas's (Informal introductory to the first film by Nikola Tanhofer Nije bilo uzalud)

Analyzing the film Nije bilo uzalud, the first feature film by the Croatian film and photography director Nikola Tanhofer, the essay places it in the context of the Croatian (and Yugoslavian) cinema of the fifties. The essay emphasises its innovativeness based on the principles of the classical plot style (formulated in the USA already in the silent film period), comparable to the principles of the classical German cinema. The thorough analysis of the dialogue scene which takes place in the interior of the Tanhofer's film (the dinner scene) illustrates that in Tanhofer's film the visual attractiveness is not conditioned by spectacular contents (like for example swamp exteriors). Film style produces a special kind of spectacle. Comparing the role of Tanhofer in the Croatian film history with the role of Mileti}, Bauer, Golik, Belan and others, the essay also tries to answer the question of why authors such as Tanhofer did not make the right impact and did not find real successors in the given historical and aesthetic context.

Slaven Zečević