Moving Picture World (Dec 1917)

December 29, 1917 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 1943 mp <& £:• g« g° g? e* <g» e° ^r» £• <£« «£• K»5» €: "^js *s» •:§> g§ c^ ^ °^ ^ se ce oa ^"^> •> ■> Projection Department Conducted by F. H. RICHARDSON ;■ ■;■ : ■' •k' k° g> g> y « ec« ^° *?» g' g ^r» g or* <?» *:« gr • • * :■<> •:*> cs •;-* •> •> °>> cb> :^ •> va -^ ■> •> v* •>"* Manufacturers' Notice. r IS an established rule of this department that no apparatus or other goods will be endorsed or recommended editorially until the excellence of such articles has been demonstrated to lta editor. Important Notice. Owing to the mass of matter awaiting publication, It Is Impossible to reply through the department In less than two to three weeks. In order to give prompt service, those sending four cents, stamps (less than actual cost), will receive carbon copy of the department reply, by mall, without delay. Special replies by mall on matters which cannot be replied to in the department, one dollar. Both the first and second set of questions are now ready and printed In neat booklet form, the second half being seveDty-slz In number. Either booklet may be bad by remitting 25 cents, money or stamps, to the editor, or both for 40 cents. Cannot use Canadian stamps. Every live, progressive operator should get a copy of these questions. You may be surprised at the nu-iber you cannot answer without a lot of •tudy. Condition of Film. Prom Halifax, Nova Scotia, comes a letter and box cf cutouts. At this time it is not my purpose to name names. The complaints as against the exchange in question are and have been many and just what it may eventually become necessary to do in the matter I cannot say, but hope the producer in question will see his way clear to remedy the intolerable conditions complained of. Halifax writes, in part, as follows : Am sending, under separate cover, a box containing one hundred and two (102) cut-outs from the feature , used at this theater yesterday and today. The cutouts show the exact condition of the film as received from the exchange, Montreal ; also it is an average sample of the service received from this exchange each week. My manager has taken the matter of film condition up with the exchange repeatedly, and Mr. Wall, our Nova Scotia censor, has been after them pretty strong, but it does not seem to remedy matters. Last week I personally sent Mr. , Canadian General Manager for the service, 84 cut-outs from , our feature for that week, together with a bill for services in overhauling and putting the films into runable condition. To date that gentleman has not even had the or dinary business courtesy to reply to my letter. Aside from the unfairness in compelling me to do hours of labor each week for nothing, our films do not arrive until 11 A. M. of the day of showing, and It is no unusual thing to lo-<e a dinner hour In order to put this JUNK into runable condition. The other portions of our programme, viz.. the Qreater Vttagrapn, Worlil and Goldwyn, Is invariably In excellent mechanical condition. Now If you can do anything In New York City to wake the Montreal and St. John branches of the corporation In question up, you will certainly confer a very great favor on Nova Scotia exhibitors and operators. Upon receipt of this letter and the box of cut-outs I Immediately addressed the following to the General Manager of the producer In question : Attached hereto find self-explanatory letter from Halifax, N. S., which same I would commend to your very earnest consideration. I presume to bring to your attention a tern polnti which I believe you will concede to be of very decided importance. First : The moving picture Industry, as such, has certain RIGHTS in matters of this kind, by reason of the fact that any production which is displayed on the screen of any theater In any other than the best po'ssible way Is a DIRECT blow at the popularity of the motion picture as a form of high-class theatrical amusement. This is, I think, a fact which you will admit cannot be seriously questioned. It therefore follows that the producer owes a distinct duty to the industry in matters of this kind. The producer is not altogether a free agent In the matter, because his act may work serious injury to others. Interlocking rights are involved, which each individual producer must be made to unde rstand and respect, if the Industry is to reach and maintain that high plain its inherent possibilities suggest for the future. Second: I would call your undivided attention to the fact that the theater patron is an involuntary partner with you in matters of this kind. The theater patron reads your advertisements setting forth the beauty and excellence of your production. He or she purchases a theater ticket on the presumption that the production in question will be displayed on the screen in the best possible way. He trusts to the honesty of the theater manager to see to it that it is properly projected and correctly Interperted on the screen. He or she must also, perforce, trust to the honesty of your corporation to. through its exchange, supply films to the theater which are in mechanical condition such as will permit of their being properly projected and interpreted on the screen, and not In condition to be dangerous, as were the films in question, from which more than 100 defects were cut out by the operator. To send out films in such mechanical condition that their proper ^yr u^< a£l f Q ,\, , ^^xQ^Lta^^