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until the day arrived when every middle-class home had its ovn projectionmachine and him libraries were in every town — or imless each community had an art-picture-theatre — -the screen was bound to be no mere than popular entertainment. How could it be otherwise ? The general public didn't voluntarily support art or literature, and they wouldn't patronise artistic movies. That the public doesn't support artistic movies is a quite well-known fact. I live in the seventh largest town in England and which is reputed to be highbrow. AVhen a dancer comes here her applause is mostly titters, an intelligent play is acted to a half-empty house, an artistic film unreels itself in a seventh-rate picture-theatre. I saw "Caligari", ■"The Street", "The Last Laugh" and "Salome" at places that any other person of hygienic habits, excepting a most intense picture-fan, would refuse to enter and sat among people whose comments on the film were natural, but scarcely complimentary, and generally accompanied by swearwords. Xot that I was revolted, these critical expressions are often most amusing but one objects to them during the sho^^■ing of a particularly inspired production. However, I think now that the case of movies is but a matter of time ; every day people of intelligence are being reconciled to the stupid things" and artists from dift'erent spheres are interesting themselves in this new mode of expression. Moreover, thanks to Germany, film directors are treating even programme pictures with an increased originality and discrimination than they did four years ago, and now it needs but a good journal representative of the modem idea in films to take the place of the old-style magazines that are composed mostly of publicity stun.
Films v\dll never attain the dignity and intelligence of literature even if they ultimately surpass the beauty and artistry of paintings ; the art of the cinema is not intellectual ; it is at its best, to my mind, when it expresses simple, human problems, because the screen has a reality, a naturalness, that is lost on the stage, cannot be caught in paintings because of their immobility, and exists in only the greater novels. Even many paltry Westems have this atmosphere of life and human-ness. May I suggest that you make your book a little less literary by publishing niff/Z/o-f;:/ interviews with and portraits of artistic directors and distinguished players, by showing stills of scenes remarkable for their beauty of settings or light and shade, and by keeping in touch with studios all over the world devoting a couple of pages to important current activities of various companies ? STANLEY AVALLIS. BRISTOL.)
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