[Review of the book The photoplay

Abstract

Reviews the book, The photoplay, a psychological study by Hugo Munsterberg (1916). This book is chronologically perhaps the last one of the author's long list of publications, and as such it throws a new and strong light on his theory of values, in particular aesthetic values. In order to answer this question the author discusses in the first main part of the book--entitled the Psychology of the Photoplay and comprising chapters three to six--the mental means by which the moving pictures impress us and appeal to us, while in the second part--entitled the Esthetics of the Photoplay and including the remaining five chapters--he examines first the general aim or purpose which underlies all artistic creation and the general conditions or means of the various arts, and then applies these general principles to a discussion of the means, demands, and functions of the photoplay. Although by necessity argumentative in character, the author's style is vivid, forceful and pleasing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)