Reel Life (Mar-Sep 1915)

feel fife, m A Magazine of Motion Pictures S Published by the h MUTUAL FILM CORPORATION ^ John R. Freuler President Edwin Thanhouser Vice-President M Samuel M. Field Secretary M Felix E. Kahn Treasurer S J. C. Graham Assistant Treasurer ra] Subscription rate, $2.50 per year; single fel copies, 5 cents. Address all communications jjn to Reel Life Department, The Mutual Film [jD Corporation. H 71 West Twenty-third St. New York City S Telephone, Gramercy 501 night and dropped in to see "Chin-Chin." It proved amusing enough to warrant attention. But the most interesting aspect of the show was the introduction of the motion picture for the depiction of a portion of the action which would be rather unconvincingly done if left to the mechanics of the speaking stage. Not that this is anything new or that there is much to be said for any attempt at realism in the musical comedy. It is just a reiteration of the value of the motion picture in its scope of physical possibilities. The speaking stage must yield, some points to the film which has the world for a back drop and can make the impossible true. The Policy of Service The readers of Reel Life are perhaps nowtaking notice of a new editorial policy as well as a new dress for the magazine. The policy of Reel Life is one of service to the exhibitor. It is identical with the policy of the 'Mutual Film Corporation as expressed in the new $8,000,000 program. It is the purpose of this magazine to aid the exhibitor in making a profit every show. Besides keeping the exhibitor informed of the news of the Mutual's program and features, it is the mission of this publication to carry to readers a share of the wealth of mption picture experience held by the men of the Mutual organization and the thousands of successful exhibitors showing the Mutual pictures. No one man knows it all, but each man who has attained success in this industry probably knows some one thing a little better than his fellows. The columns of Reel Life are bringing you each weekarticles from the men who know. These columns are open to the expressions of our exhibitors. If you have found a "new wrinkle" to bring receipts into the box office tell Reel Life about it. There are a good many thousand readers who will be interested to hear from you. Speak up. Busy Canada A glance at the Canadian dailies with headlines shouting political scandal and sowing charges of graft broadcast leads a neutral observer to the thought that the diligence applied by our northern cousins to the censorship of films might well find greater value applied to other functions of the government. Not long ago a young censor in a western province barred a comedy film because he held it was not funny -enough. By the same token he might also stop a funeral on the ground it was not sad enough. Films and Realism The writer discovered himself to be a "tired business man" on Broadway the other The Screen In this issue President Freuler has made some important remarks about the screen. He says: "You sell your screen at every show." If you have not read this message on Page 3, turn back and read it now, if you have, read it again. Louise writes us: "Is heart interest or action the most necessary? I am writing my first scenario." "Heart interest" begets heart action, Louise. You are evidently very young. Whoa There Pegasus! Unblushingly we clip from Picture Play Weekly, this : Miss Hortense Bourion, of the "Little Jem" restaurant, has written this philosophical lilt : "There are only two roads we may travel, I say, You must go one of them, there's no other way. The millions of people where'er they may roam,. Are en route to the movies or on their way home !" ;fc $ $ $ News from the other side of the Atlantic would indicate that most of the decisive "battles" of the war are being fought in the studios in front of very partisan cameras. ***** Galveston's Ventilation Mutual Weekly No. 35 has some extraordinary pictures of the great storm at Galveston. "The ventilation here was what you would call perfect,'' writes the camera correspondent to Pell Mitchell, editor of the Mutual Weekly. "I had to lay a rock on the camera to hold it against the gale." The Acougraph Says Collier's Weekly : "The acougraph, is a mirth meter. It measures the efficiency of comedy films. By the acougraph the movie man can gauge the precise amount of satisfaction each laugh producer actually produces. As the films unreel, the sensitive needles of the acougraph record the length of the laughter and the height of its loudness. The movie man doesn't have to shoot in the dark, as an editor does, and trust in instinct and chance conversation and a few letters from Vox Populi to advise him what is getting across and what isn't. In judging the efficiency of humor — and nothing is more difficult to judge — he has only to turn on the acougraph and read off the batting averages. O genius of invention, tarry no longer in the movie house! Legions of pucker-browed editors implore you to turn your energies to bigger things. Give journalism a mirth meter, too." Reel Life hasn't met the acougraph but is willing to place a reasonable sum at 8 to 5 that George Ovev can bust the indicator. The Mail's Move The Evening Mail, (N. Y.) announced under date of August 23rd that thereafter the dramatic and motion picture departments of the paper would be run as one department under the editorial supervision of the dramatic editor. The Mail advances this move as a step toward fuller recognition of the. motion picture. "The rapid growth of the feature film as an amusement, and the serious efforts of film producers to improve the standards of their screen dramas have added a dignity and an importance to the artistic side of the motion picture industry which, the Mail believes, deserves both recognition and support." Since Burns Mantle is the dramatic editor of the Mail, we may look forward to a constructive treatment of the film. Besides being a critic of note and standing, Mr. Mantle is known among his fellows of the press as a man who "always writes a good story." George F. Worts is associated with Mr. Mantle in the motion picture work of the combined department. Motion picture departments in the daily papers were born as pure adjuncts of the advertising and circulation departments. Now is coming treatment of the motion picture on a basis more in keeping with its news value, as the amusement of the millions and as an established art. [ Twelve ]