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THE PRODUCERS AND THE PUBLIC 9
to-day is far more offensive than its American confrere. It is an unpleasant fact, but it is recognizable that most British producers appear to have a partiality for any situation involving a bed. If you question a responsible executive in our studios as to why his films are morally unsound and their tone that of low-mindedness, he will inform you that this type of film brings in the most money.
It is true, of course, that a certain section of the public will always respond when its lowest instincts are tickled, but the point is that most British producers have not tried to make any other kind of film except the vulgar. They are totally unjustified in saying that a well-made, intelligent film is not a commercial success. On many occasions I have deplored the vulgar appeal of the Hollywood film, but at least the Americans make atonement for their sins by producing a number of better quality films — a tendency that is on the increase. Pictures like Rango, City Streets and The Front Page do much to compensate for the vulgarity of the lower-class product. But England has comparatively few good quality pictures to balance against its many undressed cabarets and bedroom farces.
The only country to realize the supreme significance of this problem is, of course, Soviet Russia, where the whole industry is marshalled under one head for a definite social purpose. Germany probably takes second place, not because of any great desire on the part of its producers to elevate public taste, but because the average German is more culturally advanced than either the average Englishman or American. Although there are many film-operettas being produced on the