Motion Picture Story Magazine (Aug 1911-Jan 1912)

142 MUSINGS OF A PHOTOPLAY PHILOSOPHER A good, roaring farce in Photoplay is a good thing. A good laugh will do nobody harm, and everybody good. "Mingle a little folly with your wisdom," says Horace. I note that several exhibitors make it a practice to end every performance with a comedy, so that the audience will go home with a smile upon their lips and sunshine in their hearts. e Another feature which must not be forgotten in the making of pictures — a popular play must illustrate some great human emotion, such as mother love, self-sacrifice, generosity, patriotism, affection, fidelity, honesty, goodness, and so on. Furthermore, when crime is depicted (and it is almost as important to show crime as it is to show virtue), it should be shown in all its hideousness, so that the onlooker will abhor it. Hating the bad is but another form of loving the good. Lots of people say that if they were only rich, what good they could do, and would do, with their riches; but when the riches are theirs the resolutions are forgotten. "Wealth spoils most people. Not many Carnegies are produced in a century of time. If I had a thoroughbred horse that balked, would I destroy it? No. I would try to cure it of its faults, in order to preserve its virtues. If I had an unruly child, would I destroy it ? No. I would bend every effort to train that child to do right. Because a bad lesson is taught in Sunday-school, would I stop my children from attending, and then try to have that Sunday-school abolished? No. I would go to the superintendent, and try to persuade him to amend the methods of that school. Because an immoral play is produced at the theater, would I have a law passed to abolish all theaters? No. I would make the managers give good plays. If all the schools did not teach what I think they ought to teach, would I burn down the school buildings? No. I would try to correct the methods and to preserve the schools. And when they tell me that the Motion Pictures are doing harm to our children, do I rise in arms to destroy the whole picture business ? No. For I recognize in this industry one of the greatest forces for good that has appeared in modern times. G-iven a thing which has both good features and bad, shall we destroy it altogether, or shall we treat it so as to increase the good and diminish the evil? What, then, of those prudes who have discovered one little evil in the Photoplay, and who seek to ruin the whole business of Moving Pictures because of that one evil? Why not harness this great giant, this tremendous force — the Photoplay — and make it do our bidding ? Why throw stones, when it is so easily conquered? The pulpit, the press, the schoolroom, the library, and the Photoplay, all have their mission, and he who would seek to destroy any one of them is as great a donkey as the man who tried to stop the sun from shining. It is gratifying to see that the Motion Picture manufacturers have learnt this truth, and that they are beginning to branch out on the right road. Certainly the films of to-day are far more satisfactory than those of a year or two ago. It is not necessary to preach a sermon in a play or in a picture story, but it is necessary to see to it that no ill effects are likely to come from them. The people are easily entertained, after all. There is an unlimited field for wholesome amusement without stepping across the line which separates decency from indecency ; and if those who are engaged in the Motion Picture industry desire to perpetuate it, and to make it a great power for good, they will be careful to keep on the right side of the line.