Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
De Mille's style is extreme and entertaining, making the film compelling despite its excesses.
In plain terms
The director's wild and dramatic style makes the movie hard to resist.
What can you take from it?
Exaggerated style can make a film irresistible to audiences.

Where it applies

  • watching old films
  • evaluating director style

Putting it to work

  • assess director intensity
  • note stylistic appeal

Questions to consider

  • Does style outweigh substance?
  • Is excess ever good art?

Another view

The praise ignores potential negative effects of such extreme style.

More from Pauline Kael

  1. Picasso has a volatile, explosive presence. He seems to take art back to an earlier function, before the centuries of museums and masterpieces; he is the artis…

    Permalink to quote #30
  2. De Niro's inflamed, brimming eyes are the focal point of the compositions. He's Travis Bickle, an outsider who can't find any point of entry into human society…

    Permalink to quote #32
  3. The slender, swift Bruce Lee was the Fred Astaire of martial arts, and many of the fights that could be merely brutal come across as lightning-fast choreograph…

    Permalink to quote #29

Related quotes

  1. We've been remarkably consistent, haven't lost a game and we have played stylish football. We have entertained people who just love football.

    Arsene WengerArsene Wenger quote #2
  2. With a good script, a good director can produce a masterpiece. With the same script, a mediocre director can produce a passable film. But with a bad script eve…

    Akira KurosawaAkira Kurosawa quote #3
  3. I wanted to be in a band that gave bang for the buck. I wanted to be in the band who didn't look like a bunch of guys who, you know, should be in a library stu…

    Gene SimmonsGene Simmons quote #12