American cinematographer (July 1922)

July 1, 1922 THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER 9 Film Industry in Russia Primitive Picture Earns Six Million Marks a Year in Poland — Only $2,000 in American Money By John Dored (Editor's Note— This is the first of a series of articles written for the American Cinematographer by John Dored, who gives an interesting insight to film conditions in the Baltic States. Mr. Dored, who is located in Riga, Latwija, Russia, has been an eye witness to the ever-changing conditions of the past few years there and is well able to give first hand information along these lines.) The film business in the Baltic States is primitive indeed. The conditions under which pictures are exploited are of particular interest to Americans in that they show how far the industry has advanced there in comparison with these war-torn countries. The Baltic States are suffering from recurring economic crises. These individual countries, off-shoots of the Russian Revolution, are laboring along with experimental governments. Various forms of legislation are being tried one after another, and the result is an extremely chaotic state for all forms of business. The value of money issued by these states, is very low in exchange for the American dollar, English pound and French franc. For this reason the Germans are doing most of the business in these countries. The German mark here is also far below par, but German industries, untouched by the war, are in full swing. German pictures dominate the field in the Baltic States, as few American, French or Italian productions are shown here. The film exchanges for Esthonia, Latwija and Lithuania, are all located in Riga, Latwija, from which place the pictures are distributed to these three countries. And for this extensive territory only one print of a production is purchased and exploited. The rental price for a first run program consisting of a drama, a comedy and an educational film, is: Latwija — about 25,000 Latwijan roubles, at 250 to a dollar $100 Eslhonia — about 50,000 Esthonian roubles, at 357 to a dollar . 140 Lithuania — about 20,000 German marks, at 300 to a dollar 65 After such a program is run for a year, it gives from these three countries together a gross income of from $600 to $800. There are in Latwija about thirty theatres, in Esthonia about forty, and in Lithuania about twenty-five. The seating capacity of these theatres ranges from one hundred and fifty to six hundred. The population of these three Baltic States consists chiefly of five nationalities: Latwijans, Esthonians, Lithuanians, Russians and Jews, each speaking a different tongue. This necessitates the exploitation of each picture in five different languages. The result is that in order to save time in recutting the titles and also to save raw stock, the pictures are titled in five languages, much to the annoyance of the audience which is compelled to npjmT r? C art back 111 JLiHiO GROUNDS look at the same title in five tongues, four of which are absolutely unintelligible to them. Most of the Polish exchanges are located in Warsaw. And as a rule only two or three copies of a production are bought and exploited. The rental price for a one week program is, for a first run, from 400,000 to 500,000 Polish marks and for a second run, from 200,000 to 600,000 Polish marks. The gross income for a year’s exploitation of such a program is from 3,000,000 to 6,000,000 Polish marks, or from $1,000 to $2,000. There are in Poland about three hundred theatres, all of which are poorly equipped. Production of pictures in all of these four countries is practically nil. There are two studios in Warsaw where occasional pictures are made, but on the whole they are dismal failures due chiefly to insufficient funds for building first class studios and laboratories and employing a good technical personnel. There are a number of laboratories, but they are used mainly for title making. The Rothacker-Aller Laboratory, Inc. JOSEPH ALLER, Vice-President and General Manager HOLLYWOOD 7180 The Film Laboratory of Distinction Maintaining HIGHEST Standard of QUALITY AND SERVICE Located at 5515 MELROSE AVE. Hollywood Calif. „,///// Cinema Studio Supply Co. Wb BEAT THE SUN 14 42 GOWER ST. / / / / / Holly 810 LIGHTING EQUIPMENT FOR RENT WIND MACHINES R. (SPEED) HOSTETTER