Review of The Life and Death of 9413: A Hollywood Extra (1928) by Edgar C — 15 Jan 2014

With an imagery inspired by German Expressonism impactful enough to intimidate any aspiring actor to ever step into the Hollywood industry, this interesting and nearly budget-less experimental short film by Robert Florey makes a strong negative commentary against how the system does not recognize any identity of its actors (and therefore assigning a random number like any good dystopian novela would understand), sucking all possible life out of people.

I have always said it and I'll gladly repeat it: Lack of budget pushes filmmakers to replace lack of means with creativity and/or vision. This is no exception. In general, that's a law found in silent experimental cinema. Unfortunately for the sake of the film, the lack of budget is TOO evident, but the attempt to create something haunting is also noticeable. In this way, we get a visually interesting descent into an individual's oblivion since a "number" has been assigned to his forehead, looking up to "leading actors", being recognized by nobody, while the men in charge of the industry are portrayed as clapping seals.

The most interesting aspect for me was the drastic duality that the short established between Heaven and Hollywood.

84/100.