The Film Daily (1930)

DAILV *SEE AND HEAR" By ^H^.,^ The Birth and Growth of Motion Pictures and Sound Chapter III— Continued Organization of an Industry ^HE motion picture, more than any other medium of expres■' sion in our modern Hfe, has been hampered and beset by rorts of thoughtless persons to place legal restrictions on its ^tput These people have not realized that the integrity of tbtion pictures must be protected just as the integrity of our (urches is protected and that the quality of pictures must be de4loped just as the quality of our schools is developed Motion pictures are not dead things t be regulated like commodities sb as freight and food. They are eWences of human thought; and Iman thought, on which progress tpends, cannot be tampered with ^iiely. The tendency to censor, hwever, remains a mark of our tnes. The passion on the nart of ssmall minority for regulating and cecting other people to their will Is become almost a national pastiie. The industry's own not unitural irresponsibilities during its fmative years, contributed to the jiitation. More recently the very ril and personal interest in motion futures as a means of entertainment ;id education has made films so ijach a part of everyday life that iime people have appropriated to temselves the right of criticism. Hanging conditions, the influx of liw ideas and standards, the breakIg down of conventions in other reI,[jons of life, reaction from the laxb incident to such a world upheaval i this generation knew, submission •j governmental orders in stress of ar, all added to the prevailing tendtcy. iSo threatening indeed was the polical invasion shortly after the terination of the World War, that oughtful men and women in and lit of the industry saw that coniiued aggression would ultiniatel |jan that there could be no physical jstribution of motion pictures in inerica. The industry, hampered by inflicting laws, would have been ■reed out of business. Seven states, by the close of the iar, had passed laws providing for ?nsorship of motion pictures — -Penn'/Ivania, Ohio, Florida, New York, ansas, Maryland and Virginia. :hen, after 1921, there began a re!:tion against censorship based upa the proved ability of the industry 1 govern itself and the added knowlige by legislators that the people lemselves did not want censorship, hree of the seven states — Kansas, • ennsylvania and New York, have icently repealed that part of the iw affecting news reels and educaonal subjects. In thirteen states ■hich considered censorship laws in ne year, the measures were over i^helmingly defeated by public coinion. The only time the people of a state have had the chance to express theii opinion, they voted "no." That wain the State of Massachusetts where the censorship of motion pictures was put directly to the people in 1922. The citizens of that state defeated the proposed censorship 553,173 to 208,252— a majority of 344,921 against censorship. Motion pictures remain the most typical of American productions. Standing well among the first ten industries in this country, the motion picture industry stands first probably in the percentage of the world's supply of a single commodity. These figures issued not long ago by the Department of Commerce at Washington are surprising: Per cent Of the world's land, United States possess 6 Of the world's population, our people make up ^ Of the world's wheat, we grow 27 Of the world's coal we dig 40 Of the world's telephones, we use 63 Of the world's corn, we grow 75 Of the world's automobiles, we make more than SO Of the world's motion pictures, we produce mere than 85 Two hundred and fifty-five thousand persons are permanently employed in the industry in this country and more than $125,000,000 is spent annually in production. Last year, 823 feature pictures and several times that number of short subjects, news reels and travelogues were produced. It is estimated that approximately one hundred million Americans go to the movies weekly. Our pictures are shown in seventy countries with titles translated into thirty-seven tongues. Last year, we exported 235,585,000 feet of film and every day approximately twenty-five thousand miles of motion pictures are handled, examined, stored, and shipped by employees in the exchanges of members of the Motion Pictujes Producers and Distributors of America. The future of the industry one hesitates to predict. So great has been the advancement in the narrow scope of thirty-three years that to attempt to estimate the future appears futile. One can see only expansion, development, progress. The motion picture will not only retain its present popularity but will of course add immeasurably to it. It will add also to the li§t of beneficial services which it already is performing. Producers are taking the best men available into the studios and they are teaching them methods of production which cannot help but result in a steady flow of finer and finer pictures. Universities and colleges throughout the country are teaching motion picture technology and appreciation. All of literature, all of modern writing, provides a wealth of story material. New mechanical developments are coming every day. Theaters are marvels of comfort and beauty. And the producers and custodians of the rnotion picture in every branch of the industry are aware of the responsibility upon their shoulders. Thoughtful people are agreeing with our persistent contention that the motion picture is one of the greatest forces yet given to man to bring a happier understanding not only between men but also between nations. And herein lies what I confidently believe is one of the greatest future possibilities of the motion picture. The motion picture knows no barriers of distance nor of speech. It is the one universal language. All men, wherever they may live, can find on the screen a storjr they can understand. If we can only have understanding, we shall not only be peaceful and kindly among ourselves, but we shall remain at peace with all nations. When we understand, we do not hate and when we do not hate, we do not make war. To promote this international understanding by sympathetically telling the story of the nationals of every country to the nationals of all others is the determined purpose of our Association. The great need of the future, of course, is manpower. The motion picture business is built largely upon personnel. Take away the directors, actors, writers and nothing is left but a highly organized production, distribution and exhibition force with nothing to keep it runninor. The greatest difficulty in progress has been in those phases of art in which it has been necessary to develop the talent completely. And there has been the most significant development. It is as if in thirty years from the time man first begar to construct buildings, the Woolworth Building was erected; as if thirty years after the invention of the violin we had produced Kreisler, Kubelik and Mischa Elman. In the late months have come forward so many fine directors, skilled writers and talented actors that the motion picture is producing at least once a week a story that compares favorably with the best in art, in the drama and in literature. It is merely a question of finding ^ ^ men and women who have the talent necessary to make always the very best. Motion picture producers are trying to employ only the directors an,d writers who have that ability. They are doing their utmost to develop them. Directing and scenario writijig are two great professions that are a part of this and no other enterprise. Applications by the thousands come from persons who want to write scenarios or direct pictures. In most cases they are persons who are not qualified to pass even the first test. The result will be a mass movement upward. Men and women will come to the industry already prepared in the fundamentals of the business they are to follow and inspired to give their time and their talents to this ereat new art. Recognition of the motion picture as an art by the great universities marks the beginning of a new day in motion picture work. It paves the way for the motion picture's Shakespeares. I wish it were possible here to draw aside the curtains of the future and to peer at what is to come, for the future, I have no fear, will be great. William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, Edison's early laboratory assistant, far back in 1896 forecast the future of the motion picture. "It is the crown and flower of the nineteenth century magic," he said, "the crystallization of eons of groping enchantments. In its wjiolesome, sunny, and accessible laws are possibilities undreamed of by the occult love of the East: the conservative wisdom of Egvot, the jealous erudition of Babylon, the guarded mysteries of Delphic and Eleusinian shrines. It is the earnest of the coming age, when the great potentialities of life shall no longer be in the keeping of cloister and college, of money bag, but shall overflow to the nethermost portions of the earth at the command of the humblest heir of the divine intelligence." I agree with Terry Ramsaye when he says, "Will Hays himself could say no more, to-day." (Continued Tomorreiv) Copyright, 1929, by Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America TO-MORROW Chapter IV "The Coming of Sound" An Epochal Event Told ill this serial running EVERY DAY in THE FILM DAILY