Motion Picture Herald (Apr-Jun 1931)

April 11, 19 3 1 MOTION PICTURE HERALD 61 WHEN THE SCREEN TEACHES by RITA C. McGOLDRICK FOR the past two years there has been a growing consciousness among educators everywhere of the important relationship of the sound screen to the class room. Visual education has sprung to the foreground in pedagogic discussions. Detailed and expensive surveys in this field have been carried on by the Universities of California, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Kansas. Yale and Harvard have made it a matter for intensive investigation. Columbia has adopted visual instruction in her courses ; and the Horace Mann School of New York has established a successful schedule of screen lessons for its pupils. Within the past year, Electrical Research Products has created a new educational department for the production of short films designed to meet the demands of the public school curriculum, while other large producing companies have engaged a staff of experts to study the requirements and the equipment of schools. But in all of this brilliant, intellectual analyzing, one phase of the sound sjjeen in its relationship to children has not been emphasized. Educators generally have been inclined to frown upon the entertainment screen as something of a menace rather than an aid for pupils. The invaluable correlation of the best in current pictures with class room work has been almost entirely overlooked. In the current season several remarkable pictures have come to the screen with an additional number, at this time, on the brink of release. Some of these are of particular significance to educators and to children, yet, their educational opportunities are passed almost unnoted by the schools of the country. For example, "With Byrd at the South Pole" and' "Abraham Lincoln" have come, and gone. The thrilling film record of the discovery of the South Pole is a saga of courage and high adventure, of scientific preparedness and incredible determination. It is a visual experience in Georgraphy, History, Natural History, Science — and Heroism. "Lincoln" is an equally important document. It is a superb re-creation of a great president during the vital days of the Civil War; a living picture of the strong men who surrounded him and wrote undying pages in our history. Every school child in this country should have been encouraged to see "Lincoln" if not actually required by his teachers to do so. And he should have gone equipped with a prepared questionnaire to help him pick out and remember the play's important factors. This would have created an opportunity for lively class room discussion on Sheridan, Lee, Stonewall Jackson, Grant; the political temper of the states; the conditions under which the armies of the North and the South , swung into battle; the battles of Fort jSumpter and the bitter losses of Bull I Run. And behind all of this great I drama, a suffering President, "Lincoln, the Man." These two supreme accomplishments of the screen passed without the applause or the encouragement of the schools. They faltered at the box office for lack of public interest. If a few courageous teachers with imagination and vision did bring these pictures into their classroom discussion, they did so in humble obscurity. There was no general, organized movement to make use of a priceless educational and patriotic opportunity. Fast on the heels of these we have several outstanding current offerings such as "Cimarron," "Trader Horn," "Rango," "The Painted Desert," "The Great Meadow" and "Fighting Caravans," Cimarron An RKO Feature Stars: Richard Dix and Irene Dunne "Cimarron" is a story of the rise of Oklahoma jrom the historic days of her land grants to the present period of her national wealth and influence. The film is made from the novel by Edna Ferber. It is the romance of Yancy Cravatt, pioneer, wanderer, sharp shooter and hitsband of Sabra Venable, who has been reared zvithin the walls of Southern aristocracy. The Cravatts pioneer westward. Their covered wagon brings them to the frontier toivn of Osage, Okla. Yancy, as editor, and the most colorful figure of Osage, loves his wife and their two children. He helps to manage tlie affairs of the town and prints fearlessly the news that is fit to print. But he is a born adventurer zvho finds it irksome to have to remain more than five years in any one place. He leaves his family to follow in the wake of new land grants. He is heard of in the Spanish American War ; then in the Great World War; and then, back again on the teeming oil fields of Oklahoma. The picture has much important historic information. The following questionnaire should bring valuable discussion into the classroom. 1. What does the name "Cimarron" mean? 2. When was the first free land grant offered in Oklahoma? 3. What was the Land Rush? 4. How cheaply was land acquired? 5. How did the citizens lay claim to their new land? 6. When did Oklahoma become a state? 7. What President gave citizenship to the Indians? 8. What discovery brought wealth to the citizens of Oklahoma? 9. How many years did it take for Osage to become an important city? 10. How does Oklahoma rank now among the other states of the Union? 11. Is its country mountainous, or flat? 12. What Is the climate of Oklahoma? 13. How did the Indians acquire wealth? 14. What Indian tribes lived near Osage? 15. What kind of printing press did Yancy Cravatt use when he arrived in Osage? 16. What kind did they use at the picture's closing? 17. How is oil gathered for commercial uses? 18. Describe the oil field. 19. Name five purposes for which this oil is used. 20. What Interested you most in the picture C/imarron / Write a composition of about 250 words on the most thrilling episode of "Cimarron." with the new epic of the air, "Dirigible", adding its quota to this imposing group. What will the schools do about them ? Their pupils, who are the regular patrons of the neighborhood theatres may, accidentally, see one or two of them. For it is largely a matter of chance with children. Titles mean very little to them. They are not readers of the professional critics' columns. They not infrequently flip a coin to determine which of the three pictures within walking distance they will go to see. Heads, or tails? The choice may bring them to a filmed story of divorce; of illicit love; of gangster heroics; or a comedy of vulgarities. Then we hear the loud protests of the righteous decrying the menace of the movies to the youth of the country. It is so easy — and sensational to denounce ; and so much more effort to marshall groups of eager youngsters into the theatre where the finer film is showing. What are our educators going to do about it? Are they going to continue to shy away from anything that looks like free advertising, or the making use of a school for a commercial advantage? Or, are they going to face the situation courageously, and fairly, knowing that their active cooperation for the best pictures will accomplish three valuable results : it will shunt their pupils into the theatres where the better pictures are playing, thereby keeping them away jrom the worst; it will bring new vitality and discussion into the class-room; and it will encourage the production of higher type pictures. Motion Picture Herald believes that the time has come when a national campaign for the helpful coordination of school and screen will be important in results. Toward this end, this new department will select the month's outstanding pictures. It will print brief, authoritative resumes for teachers. This school service will include helpful questionnaires for free distribution in the schools, which the children, after they have seen a recommended picture, should be able to answer intelligently. This work offers a constructive activity for Better Films Committees, Parent-Teacher groups and women's clubs whose influence will be of enormous value to a national building up of prestige for better pictures.