The Moving Picture World (January 1908)

The pictures, .however, are-just the setos as, at tht o^er thi»- ters;' for fee foots airs passed fromooeto another.^ .Higlcss eor-- sets sad fisMiy. iKM»rset$ : sce.:tis5. same scenes and du&te wife the saiae embtj^ ^ bp^stte ends of tovm.: r . • No> •.ebneessjons': are made to. nationality in fee,box' office, for fee.giti r*ho steus-tickets »* made «i the »aet moid of the girls who«il tickets at the other, theaters. It seems-feat a special species of ''. female," must have bam created for th$_- special pap- pose ot selling tickets at fives:ent: theaters; They are all pink and white and round and near-blonde, and of .«'. supercilious biaa£ nature. • The peons come In -from the cheap lodging houses near. They are of the lowest type.. They, have beads that rise to a peak in the- middle, arid ;foreheads- about aw inch "broad. They laugh prodigiously wheh someone is pictured as doing some simple and childish thing "I i!je falliag into a wash tub. - - . When-someone .Jst slabbed or a horse falls in a bullfight, gored to "death, their thick lips almost seem to make the sipping noises of a man drinking* a luscious draught. > ■""•'--; The Qar.ese are' different, dignified, selfrcontaincd men wth slender, graceful hands. John comes .shuffling with two or three Chinese girls paddling along in his wake^—3 great family trait Chinese are devoted ; to picture shows. They have*a quick in- telligence that, the pictures appeal to. > They would probably be as fond of other theaters if they understood the language. The Chink girls-giggle and are much ashamed when the haUet girls come Onto the screen in tights. Americans, who have, been, from childhood, going 'to theaters and seeing half-clad women, little imagine the shock that an oriental womanhrust feel at sneb an exhibition. Japs, occasionally with women and more often without, are fre- quent visitors, and newsboys used to.haunt the places until the City Council, at the request of the Juvenile Court Cc^nmittee, droye- thesa' out - , It was for violating this.ordinance that the women Were ar- rested in Sonorafown last week. For: some reason' fewer and fewer, children are seen at the theaters of late—even with par- ents,, as. they are privileged to go. r The picture shows are becom- ing''grown up" The first "crane,picture*" thrown .owthe screen makes it plain why children should be kept out 'The police claim'that several crimes in this city have been directly traceable to these pictures. It should be stated that the moving pictures, as given m these days," principally represent the following equivalents: • The travel essay or sketch. . The melodrama.and forced The dime noveL The "crime, films*' are simply the old-fashioned dime novels in picture Form. •They should he suppressed by the police. THE BAD-ONES.;; The train robbers, of which there are legions of films, aren't very harmful; becauseStrain wrecking isn't a tempting crime The harm is done by such Sims as these t The French equivalent tells pi the revenge of a Sicilian on tbe^despoiler: of his home ; -^ ' ;: Instead of the rare childisaoess of fee Americanversion, it 'is Sied with the Jiefe tcuchea feat make art; fee little daughter of fee Sicilian^'brings fcam food, and is followedby the 7 police, ; to -the .-undoing of the father she had come to save. The acting is.as imconscioua as life—even to the child, whereas the American dnUna was feB of stagey posea andpunk heroism. V. M the American.version, there, were almost no ideas, merely the rush of the man; hunt and the thrill oi the kilL The French ww filled.with Swift-little touches. There is an American melodrama called **Convict 039," but there is a French called "The Two Orphans." There.is a-~*I>a._Barry" played by a JLeslie Carter, who yells like a' Ca Du Barry, There ' who squalls Kke a stock train laden with agitated pigs; there is a 'iady Macbeth," by. Modjeska, who tear* your heart oat, . but who strains your ears to hear what she says. Perhaps the most striking contrast is in the "comics." One American comic now on exhibition is called "The Trials of the Newly Married.'' It makes one -sick with ennui and dis- .gust It begins with a lame attempt to makes farce of a sacred ceremony, borders on fee indecent in the bedroom scene, and is disg u sting in the finale, which consists raarrdy of two i ools get- ting<ebimney soot on -their faces and sitting on red-hot stoves. The French comic on exhibition is a.perfect satire ' - ■ ■ - - Enter a beautiful girl into a jeweler's shop and asks to see the After Dark," or the "Convict 990." ;__*^1_-' A -^_— *_ — ___J -*.4. V-r—__- 1.-— " OI.- la *• "* T*?.i.~. ***+£***m n .*^f 'Vrt» t^i/wr nrtwt 1 RED TAPE. A hungry artist is seen in the act of committing suicide, peasant rushes to warn the nearest official, who ■ hurries to the place, takes one look, and hastens off "to inform his superior. This official, in turn, investigates, and hurries back, informs the gendarme, who. rushes but for s look at the form hanging: from the tree, and hurries back for the sergeant The sergeant has a look, and hustles back for the captain. And so, with the procession constantly growing, until at last some sort of dig- nitary, who corresponds to our coroner, arrives. He runs oat to thescene in the woods, -at first in an unofficial, capacity', and sees the suicide really kicking from the tree. Convinced, he run* home and puts on all. his official regalia, sash, sword, chapeaa, etc, and stalks oat to rescue-fee nnmrtanate young man, who, o£ course, is dead by the time he gets there No mere words ever said such a withering thing about red tape.. : All the French films, of course, are not so good, and the American are not all bad, although, as a general rule, those made on this soil have crude faults. The convincing.thing is that the mixed crowd in the five^cent theaters seems every whit as much entertained by the good-French melodramas-as - by the poor American ones. ' . - Put that in your pipe and smoke it, authors of "Broadway jewels: A tray is spread out before her. She is chewing gum. wingt As. fee jeweler tarns to get more gems, she quickly jabs her wet chewing gum down onto a diamond, and like lightning, - fastens it under, the edge of the counter. Later, she returns, after me excitement following the loss hasdied down Jand gets her chewing gum and the diamond. That is frankly and atrodously immoral, because-it suggests to very ignorant men a clever •crime feat they never;would otherwise have thought of. The delighted laughter that greets, her success proves the harm done.;" " "Tfiere has been another. on exhibition during fee past week, showing a crook masquerading as a policeman and burglarizing houses under the noses of unsuspecting citizens.: But not so much sermonizing. The really interesting films are, the little melodramas showing how differently' the French and Americans develop an idea. The American melodramas, as before indicated, 'frequently-have a vulgarity that disgusts. The Frertcn, even in the rawest, have a piquancy that -fascinates.. - *; A perfect type/of fee melodrama manufactured by the big picture company oh this "sade" is the one called "The Seminole's Revenge." A very;tail person, who is obviously a cheap actor, is dressed - It's action and "go" they want, not bad plays, particularly. Of late, a new turn has been given to the picture shows. -It was said earlier in this article that fee-whole character dfnptc- ture shows: has changed three times during'the last few years. It began wife mere scenes that were not prearranged—such S3 marching regiments, panaromas from moving railroad trains, Emperor William reviewing his guards, President McKinley at Canton, hurdle races. ""-'Jl' The next step.was Httle prearranged dramas, that began wife crude ideas, such as a supposed quarrel between s man and his wife, and developed to these little picture playlets—which are legitimate children-of .the pantbmzme.;- Lately, a combination of the two ideas seems to have come in. They are using fee old panoramas of the first stage of the picmre Irasmess, combined with the play ideal The Revenge of the Sicilian,'' for instance/jwas. set In sur- roundings of surpassing beauty "and picturesqueness. Pictures of fee old AThambra in Spara; are hdoedTont by figures of Moorish warriors, with^kmg. Arab muskets, veiled \womeo. On just such a river rampart as that J wSere Carmen met Don Jose, are other-cigarette girls and other young officers. THE FUTURE. up like a story-book Indian. He looks about as much Hke an Indian ~as heddes.likea ham.;; The villain; much to the relief of the audience, kslls a most objectionable ^bratty*' little white boy for whomthe Indian has conceived a violent and. ridiculous love Hence be trails down the yiuyun and slays him wife an enor- mous knife;. held'ln : a way feat r^ ever yet held a stabbing weapon. -■.'"■" The whole thing is as palpably a fake as'"Broadway After Dark." It's cheap and silly. The. future of the moving picture machine is a theatrical prob- lem. .-.--. Some theatrical men believe feat it will prove a serious com- petitor of .the .vaudeville. They; suggest the time when, fee phonograph will work with it, and the best act of fee newest New York- comic opera will be flashed on fee screen and. sung o-.it of'fee phonograph. Others, and probably these are right, say that the picture ma- chines have hit their highest notch.