“The film in general had gone from being the actor’s film to being the director’s film, and thus could neither engender great actors nor provide them with suitable or attractive tasks. It seemed as if cinema no longer needed important actors at all […].

Later, the art of film editing, which blossomed in America and demanded only types, believing it could do without the creative actor, became even more exaggerated in Europe, undergoing an artistic development. In its current form, the film can usually get by without great actors, much as in the beginning when it was more about pageantry and set decorations and intent on being a feast for the eye. Here too, things seem to have come full circle again. But the day will come when the circle will be broken again.

In the face of the onslaught of the American film, the psyche of the European film was totally altered. The European film lost its homeland. Exaggerated editing had ruined the actor’s art of representation. This gave rise to a dominance of amateurism. Today it is quite possible to help an amateur to fame over night. After all, who cannot be made to achieve a certain effect when all that is demanded is two meters of atmosphere, two meters of a wide-eyed gaze, one metre of a contorted neck or the like”. (Asta Nielsen, Mein Weg im Film. B.Z. am Mittag, 24.10.1928, in Renate Seydel, Allan Hagedorff (Hg.), Asta Nielsen. Eine Bildbiographie, 1981, S.214)