Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

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24 REEL and SLIDE dmm for Artistic In Painting and Verse, Mankind Has Found Lofty Ideals In Nature's By John S. Bird, A. B. IT is quite natural that cinematography, since it has become an art, sliould develop into a medium of human expression. It is quite natural that it should gradually find devotees whose ideals soar above commercial interests — who would ennoble it and vise it to the delineation of the fine thoughts and ideas of the artist, bringing the sublime to the armchair of the everyday man and woman. In poetry and prose we find the masters of expression only rarely turning to the noise of the city and the hum of industry for inspiration, but often to the virgin wilderness, finding in nature's hidden storehouses of mountain, field and valley the really sublime beauties which all mankind instinctively loves and respects and which, in his heart, each individual desires to attain. So, in cinematography, it is natural for certain persons of more or less poetic temperament to find the wilderness a vast and almost vmexplored "studio"' for the camera. It is not difficult for the millions to see and know the magnitude of modern industrial or social life, since it is found at their very doors — but it is difficult for them to see, know and enjoy nature's wonders which lie beyond the smoky horizon — wonders that are idealized in every human mind to a greater or less degree, but which are not real and actual and material. Thus the moving picture, no matter what else it has done, certainly has served the common man in that it makes real the distant wonders of nature, as expressed in geology, botony, zoology and biology. The camera, with its lifelike and almost perfect reproducing function, has made it possible for the slum child to visit the "playgrounds of the rich." Nature has been lavish in her bestowal of beauty ; but modern conditions of life only enable the man of means to seek the wonders she has performed, and thus the common Master and dog in the wilderness. heritage of mankind recedes further an of civilization extend. The finer thoughts and most worthy often) found commercial success, and ir reverse itself ? The demand for the che the new art in a state of mediocrity, it out because of a misconceived belief tl screen to fulfill. But, granting that an le good, there are certain to appear on the 2 make the most of it. And at last we ; i : "poet," and no less a poet because he Si fc is as old as the written tongue. What the Scr if More than one producer of scenic p me an artistic success of his undertaking, because the normal human being who p: dow at bottom admires the beautiful moving picture mode of interpreting na mands upon the intellect unschooled in 1:. standing of verbal expression. Several men have gained fame in thithem w;ell : Burton Holmes, Newman,i|ni Robert C. Bruce. Bruce is essentially the "poet" of tllno are those of the wilderness, while the o|k usual in the life of the city and the hai; or the paint brush did he not elect to us:|ie has adopted a practical mode of expres lowing the ideal expressed by a great F|c!i only true art was the one approved and jprf If the motion picture is not that, vlt uplifted by the sight of nature's grandeujiie any other way, simply because they do n|rs but they will and do go to the movie their, depending upon natural beauty alone toiia ences than any producer of scenics wouki'an A Word A^iit Those who have seen the Bruce Ser to know more about this poet of commercial side of his undertaj support only can raise the stand f permanent. The entire picture lii in exhibitions made by certain tiite other words, providing that any \:A\ of these three or four houses, thi the country is assured at once but critical type of audience, rights, and the stamp of approva kj one small fortune over night tured on the programs of two oi|ie: from the box office standpoint Thus an enterprise worthy: beginning, gained commercial rf country book the Bruce scenics j: for them established. To know Bruce and under s He is a seeker after the beautifd a naturalist of no mean attainme]s,a goodness of mankind and a man He undergoes personal hardshi; ip U :ao H