American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1926)

April, 1926 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER Seventeen (Continued from Page, 13) veloped in any atmosphere that may be congenial to its growth but not antagonistic. Hence we speak of "Nature's gentlemen" such as the writer many golden years ago had the privilege of meeting in a secluded Benedictine monastery in Brittany, in the persons of a group of young peasant novices whose gentleness of bearing, courtesy and charm of manner would have abashed any assembly of a royal court. At best education or university training is but the Ceylon diver who brings to the surface the pearl of great price. It must be at the bottom of the ocean before he can emerge with it. If it be not there the diving of the diver is in vain. The writer knows certain university men who hold their college degrees and concomitantly their knife and fork as though they were emulating the example of a jazz expert on the kettle-drum. One of these gentlemen indeed is possessed of a sang-froid so egregiously daring that in certain hygienic exigencies he discards the use of a handkerchief in public in order to exhibit preferably a boastful dexterity of forefinger and thumb. And seriously what has Mr. Milton Sills to say anent the culture of the two sexual maniacs, Loeb and Leopold, for whom counsel on their behalf put in as one of the strongest pleas the super-education of these two young murderers. In fine, from what has been written it may easily be seen that culture may be found in the soul of the cameraman despite the lack of a university training. This is proved by the excellence of the majority of pictures made in the studios of this country, 85 per cent of which are sought for in Europe alone. The ambition of the youth who enters on his duties as humble assistant on the set is to handle some day the camera. This ambition postulates hidden culture which through an arduous novitiate of years of drudgery is imperceptibly brought out and nurtured and trained. This is accomplished by the close observation and the acute questioning of the whys and wherefores of his own miscellaneous duties as well as by the watching and enquiring into the meticulous modes and methods of his chief. University of the Practical Simultaneously n o t withstanding Mr. Sills' assertion the camera neophyte receives a thorough and expert training in the physics of light in the university called Experience whose fees — years of patient labor — are the highest. This practical training in this special branch of physics cannot be surpassed if at all equalled in the chemistry lecture halls or laboratories which Mr. Sills seemingly has in mind. Several months ago the writer had the privilege and pleasure of a conversation with Mr. James Cruze on this very subject. They were speaking of the comparative successes of American and European pictures. Mr. Cruze, during the course of this interview magnanimously paid tribute to the excellence that is to be found in many European pictures but he added that European directors are unfortunately handicapped owing to the dearth of expert mechanical and technical men whom we have in such vast numbers here in our American studios. Isolated Personal Instances Mr. Sills possibly may have been urged to his statements by the remembrance of one or two incidental failures on the part of cameramen to do him full justice. But even so it is bad logic to argue from the particular to the general, and so condemn the many for the faults of a few. He will but prove himself once more the true artist that he is by showing the courage of humility that will enable him to make the amende honorable by proclaiming that hard words uttered on the spur of the moment were rather a slip of that unruly member, the tongue, than any malice aforethought springing from the heart. SUBSCRIBE to the American Cinematoqraqher