118 DIANE ACCARm ZAVALA

of the nineteenth century-best exemplified by Hearst's "journalism that
acts"-will be a torch passed on to the film industry and its representational
practices of the twentieth century, and it steps right into the twenty-first as
well. Close scrutiny of a film such as The Americano throws light on the use
given to the medium from its very start. The plot it weaves with deceiving
innocence and delight hauntingly resonates with D.W. Griffith's words which
open this essay: "Beauty is the one road to righteousness. ... War is hideous,
but it can be made the background for beauty, beauty of idea" (Schickel 290).