Broadway and Hollywood "Movies" (Jan - Dec 1932)

HOLLYWOOD MOVIES 13 ROMANCE The Leading Film Theme Because It’s Rare In Life By JANET GAYNOR Fox Films Favorite OF ALL motion picture themes — success, mystery, romance, adventure, comedy and the rest — there is one that will always prove the most popular. Romance, despite the chortles of the intelligentsia, has succeeded in winning all honors as the favorite emotion of screen fans. Perhaps a cynic would account for this on the grounds that we like what is most unattainable, and that for every ten who achieve success or adventure, only one finds romance. There is more to this point than is at first apparent. Romance is undoubtedly the rarest thing in life. Most of us find some degree of success, many have an existence in which adventure and action play no small part, but few really encounter romance other than the juvenile “crushes” of our school days. Consequently, although only a handful of us reach it, all of us dream of this emotional goal,and a romantic motion picture crystallizes the dream into something more tangible. A truck driver and a stenographer and a farm worker will be intrigued by a film mystery, amused by a comedy, enjoy a Western or an adventure picture — but a romantic production does more than this — it lifts them out of their every day rut, if but for an hour; it lets them respond to the vicarious thrill of a romance that, for the moment, they themselves are living. Here, then, is the secret of the romantic picture’s triumph over its companions; it satisfies the hidden longings of its audiences to a greater degree than any other type of film. In an appearance together, not so long ago in “Merely Mary Ann,” the romance between Mr. Farrell as an eccentric composer and myself as a servant girl in the boarding-house where he lives, constitutes the motif of the story. Against a background of the dingy London establishment, and then of the Devonshire cottage, this romance carries the tale along, but with its rather unusual character izations, will be found, I think, somewhat different from any of our earlier pictures together. Different, but no less romantic. There was romance galore, — love, kisses and affection in “Daddy Long Legs.” In this picture Una Merkel and Sheila Manners appeared with me for Fox. None of the beautiful romance sp well caught in the original stage production was lost in the film. “Tess of the Storm Country” has a vivid and poignant romance, rather daringly expressed on the stage, it is true, but all sweetly and yet authentically handled in the film production. “State Fair,” with Will Rogers, is another bit with romance in it. In fact, did you ever see anything Will Rogers ever did in pictures that didn't have romance in it? Try watching his pictures as they are released. Romance is something which is so essential to our mental and spiritual well being that we dare not overlook the opportunities for its most beautiful expressions in the “movies.” Romance sweetens the pathway of life and sets up, consciously or otherwise, standards of better living, higher thinking and friendlier feeling for the folks around you. I’m for itl And I know you will be too; you will want to start the year of 1933 with a better feeling for everyone, including yourself. You’ll want to get all of the romance possible out of every situation, — all of the joy and beauty which should be there, — and you can do it only if your soul is just blossoming over with romance, or at least receptive to it. ' Make it a point to get to the “movies” oftener, and the spirit of romance will be unfolded before you in a galaxy of beautiful angles, — like the rainbow colorings on a diamond-cut crystal through which the sunlight is filtered. Romance is at your elbow, — on your doorstep,— and confronts you in your daily path if you will but try to find it and try to apply its most interesting lessons. Janet Gaynor