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22 CINEMATOGRAPHIC ANNUAL
for realism, the problem play, a little bit of the touchy stuff, and yet exploit sufficient beauty and sweetness to complement the more sordid expedients.
Now all of these findings lead us to believe that there always was and always will be a radical to taunt the conservatives. We must let them both have their way of thinking, because thought is the only independent element in life. Therefore let us recognize both of these schools of art. Let us not bother those who love their Gordon Craigs, Adolphe Appia and Norman Bel-Geddes. But we must also furnish a little for those who still cling to their love of the more Graphic forms of art.
Legitimate Expedients
The stage, and especially the picture, have been narrowed down to an uncomfortable degree, as regards dramatic artifices. How often have we sat in the projection room and heard the boss say, "you can't use that." "Why?" answered the director, "there's nothing offensive in that." "Nevertheless, the censors will cut it out". Then the despairing answer, "what are we going to do, there's nothing left to make a picture with."
What has been responsible for this? The same old thing that has always existed. There is always a type of mind that never knows when and where to draw the line between reasonable propriety and inexcusable flagrancies, and the entire order of things must suffer on account of this particular type. Long ago, Addison wrote on just such a subject, and his thoughts are peculiarly applicable to the present.
"There is nothing which delights and terrifies our theatre so much as a ghost, especially when he appears in a bloody shirt. . . . To delight in seeing men stabbed, poisoned, racked or impaled is certainly the sign of a cruel temper; and several antics represent us as being a people that delights in blood.
"I do not find fault with the artifices above mentioned when they are introduced with skill, and accompanied by proportionable sentiments and expressions in the writing. Far be it from me to think of banishing these instruments from the stage; I know a tragedy could not exist without them. All that I would contend for is to keep them from being misapplied. There may be a proper season for these several terrors; and when they only come in as aids and assistances to the part, they are not only to be excused but to be applauded."
This condition prevails more in the field of motion pictures than in any other department of art. It is due directly to the very wide distribution, compared to other forms of amusements. It is considered, by the moralists, particularly serious on account of the younger element predominating the motion picture patronage. Another point to be considered is the fact that whereas the pictures are considered the chief offenders, those among the producers who exhibit the best intentions are the principal sufferers. And the other branches of art, while not as extensive in their appeal, aggravate the situation con