“I admit to often returning from the cinema moved and shaken to the core of my being. The cinema dramas are all sentimental and virtuous pieces, although served in a sensational sauce. Admittedly, that kind of thing is of no literary value. But then there are values other than literary ones: the values of life, of example. The victory of good over evil, noble-minded clemency, gratitude and love reflected in tear-filled eyes, all of these urgently ask for something similar in real life. No, the cinema is certainly not a threat to morals, rather the opposite: it is ultra-moral, pedantically moral.
Finally, what is one to think of the art of acting, performed by excellent artists? How many of us get to see a Francesca Bertini, a Robinne, a Lyda Borelli, an Asta Nielsen, a Porten, a Mistinguett in person on stage? Well, in the cinema they are our guests, and are friendly enough even to introduce themselves to us with a charming smile before the showing starts. And as facial expressions and gestures play such a major role in the cinema, due to the absence of the spoken word, those masters of facial expressions and gestures, that is to say, the Italians, are the finest to be had. You experience veritable revelations, for example, in a person’s gait, the play of their arms. And if that mastery is coupled with beauty, then in the highest realms we join the sublime, in a word; Lyda Borelli. (Carl Spitteler, Meine Bekehrung zum Cinema, Basler National-Zeitung, 11. April 1916, in Fritz Güttinger, Kein Tag ohne Kino, 1984)