Motion Picture Magazine, July 1914 (1914)

116 MOTION PICTURE MAGAZINE physiognomy into a thousand twists may pass muster before a painted act-drop; but a scene depicting Nature in all its reality revolts at the antics of a puppet and must be peopled by genuine human beings. Oh, you photoplayers, remember this: Your art is great. Respect it with modest actions. Kick not away the lad- der that takes you up. Climb gently. And you—you madly dashing mob of photoscribes — Pause! Think! Take breath! Bulk is not what we crave. Give us less nourishment, more naturally served. Human existence — genuine, throbbing life of the people! Bury your crude monstrosities before a second Don Quixote comes to ridicule from off the screen your morbid heroines, your sordid villains, your pack of painted mannikins. Take warning all. The multitude is with you now. Hold its esteem. Drive not this loyal legion from your door, as the rude guardians of unhappy Thespis have. A. T. Strong, 501 Chase St., Kane, Pa., offers a strong plea for more careful treatment of the positive films: One great improvement in Moving Pic- tures would be more careful printing and developing of the positive films. These are, in many cases, terribly slighted, and otherwise beautiful scenes appear upon the screen as little more than so much soot and whitewash. One frequently sees photoplays in which the setting or back- ground is carefully chosen, the acting superb, and the subject deserving of the very best care and treatment known to the photographer; yet are so harsh and contrasty as to cause the faces of the actors to be all but indistinguishable. When such a film is thrown upon the screen, the audience is oftentimes forced to guess at the idea which the actors are striving to "get over"; whereas, every fleeting expression should be as distinct as perfect photography can make it. Surely, Motion Pictures, which owe their very existence to the photographic art, should be as perfect photographically as they already are in dramatic and scenic values. V. H. Oxley, a well-known exhibitor of Bradford, Pa., submits this ex- cellent argument, which, if it please the exhibitor, will please his audience: The big idea is a get-together movement between exhibitor and manufacturer. Motion Pictures is the only big business in which the manufacturer is not -ever- lastingly trying to ascertain his customers' requirements. The exhibitor knows his patrons' wants better than the exchange. The only inquiry I ever received was from one manufacturer—if more multiples were desired. Exhibitors should be allowed to select subjects. Better programming is possible when ALL manufacturers adopt release schedules similar to Essanay's "time-table." Good programming will do more to improve things than any one thing. It is doubtful if managers want multiples every day—patrons complain of continually arriving during them. Genu- ine comedies, real farces, would fill a long-felt want. Horse-play, continuous funny situations and refined comedies still have their stage successes without using chases. Another improvement—the elim- ination of crowding too many people and furnishings in 9 by 19 spaces. There is no contrast between palace and cottage sizes. Last night I saw a feature with an ocean liner stateroom larger than the navy secretary's office. These are not small inconsistencies, they are noticeable faults. Manufacturers, put your ears to the ground; listen to the exhibitor as well as the exchanges! The following communication from a prominent studio official, who asks that we do not publish his name, goes directly to the heart of an important phase of the picture art—conflict of authority: As an official of this company, I am in a position to say that there is an ever-in- creasing demand from the authors to have credit on the screen for their story. This is no more than right, for they get little enough for their efforts, and to gratify their ambition to be identified with the creation of the picture is no more than their just dues. Some companies have thus publicly recognized the author. Others refuse to. The former studios are getting the- best offerings from the host of writers. An- other thing: it may not be generally known, but there is on the inside of the business constant warfare between the camera-men, who are artists at heart and wish to add the pictorial atmosphere to the scene, and the directors, who are actors and insist that the gestures, facial grimaces and personality of the actor shall be played up, to the detriment of the picture and even the story. What hideously made-up "mugs" we sometimes see in their "close up" stuff, with all the proportion and beauty of the background blocked up with the distorted "actors"! Let us hope that the correctly balanced picture will soon be the rule, instead of the exception.