Educational film magazine; (January-December 1920)

MOVIES EDUCATE THE MASSES The Screen Speaks Directly to the Human Heart, Causing the Passerby to Stop and Heed By Clifford Lamont Snowden, Ph. D. Editor "Evening Profjrcas." Peter-*burg. Va. I MOVING pictures which began as curiosities, very crude and very hard on the eyes, and gradually assumed prime importance as a means of recre- action and amusement finally have become the first educational medium of the times. Manners, morals, dress, geography, economics and sociology are taught for better or worse more widely by the screen than by any other agency. More people go to the moving picture shows than go to church or college or high school. More young people are moulded in manners and dress by the "movie queens and kings" than by their parents and quardians. No preacher in any church in a community speaks to a larger audience than "The Miracle Man" or some other such exponent of the spiritual elements in life. As time passes we should see increasingly the silent drama giving deeper and deeper lessons of spiritual meaning, so pres- ented that the densest mind may understand, guilty man are of no avail. So prominent a part has the educational element played among the theater exhibitors that their national association has decided to go more largely into productions of this nature. Alfred S. Black, president of the association, says: "I have reached the conclusion that such pictures are as much a part of American national life as the pictures made exclusively for entertainment purposes, and in this view I am supported by nine-tenths of the exhibitors of the country who are members of this organization. Better conditions of living and continued prosperity demand a broadening of the uses of the screen." The motion picture screen speaks all languages and di lects directly to the human heart, and so plainly that ti wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err in his inte pretation. Therefore, its mission as an Americanizer ca not be overestimated. For general welfare work the motu picture is supreme, because it brings to the public mil in an unforgettable manner the dangers of unsanitai houses, carelessness in living, and the risking of life ai' limb in street accidents and the like. Industrial development in shops, on farms, in mines ai' forests will have its important place on the screen of tl future in abundance, and many a "white collar boy" wl otherwise would spend his life behind a counter or on i office stool will be prompted to go out in the world on man's job and leave the easier ones to the girls. The industrial welfare of the country must be advanci by all means; wonderful things looking toward a bett, understanding between labor and capital are being doni| the foreigner in our midst is being turned into an Amei can citizen, and we must all know what is being done aloij modern lines. Comparatively few read the magazines ai, higher priced reviews; too few people read the serio portions of the daily papers. Everybody, high-brow, Ic brow and medium-brow, sees the pictures and is coi sciously or unconsciously influenced by them. More and more the fate of civilization rests upon ti good sense, good morals, and good Americanism of t producers and exhibitors of moving pictures. MINISTER RUNS MOYIE-IHEATER How a minister and his flock use a motion picture theater to better social conditions in the home town was told to members of the Saint Andrew's Church Brotherhood, of Buffalo, at a recent meeting by the Rev. Dr. Robert E. Robbins, of Saint Mary's Church, Salamanca, N. Y. He discussed the social service problem of the modern com- munity and advocated more recreation properly directed COTTAR FILMS AFRICAN PYGMIES Charles Cottar, big game hunter and explorer, has reached the land of the pygmies in the heart of darkest Africa and is busily engaged in photographing these liny people for the C. L. Chester Productions. Never before has the strange life of these jungle villages appeared on the screen. It is less than fifty years since the Akka tribes, as they are called were discovered. Famed in Greek mythology as the pygmies and known as the Lilliputians of Gulliver's travels they had long been considered the creation of imaginative ^vriters until adventurou.- explorers, prowling about the forests in the Aruwimi district of the Congo Free State, found such human beings actually existed. They are a negroid race, with coffee-colored skin and hair. Their average height is less than four feet, though many are much smaller. Nomads of the forest, they hunt with poisoned arrows, pitfalls and traps. They gather ivory and honey and manufacture poison, which they bring to market in exchange for cereals, tobacco and iron weapons. They are courageous hunters, who do not hesitate to attack the largest elephants. Their habits of life are curious. Round hnis built of branchc- and leaves are their homes. Those who have seen them trailing wild game through the jungles report them possessed of an astounding agility, for they le.\p about in the tall grass like grasshoppers. In the presence of strangers they are timid and retiring, but on the slightest provocation give way to wild hursts of treachery and malevolence. for the young men and women. Dr. Robbins was one the factors in bringing about better social conditions Salamanca. With the assistance of members of his cc gregation he took over a motion picture theater in th city and put on the best pictures available. The hot) is now paying a good profit. This is a tip for the paste ot otlier cities. A CREED—AND A PLEDGE By King W. Vidor I believe in the motion picture that carries a mes- sage to humanity. I believe in the picture that will help himianity to free itself from the shackles of fear and suffering that have so long bound it with iron chains. I will not knowingly produce a picture that con- tains anything I do not believe to be absolutely true to human nature, anything that could injure anyone, nor anything unclean in thought and action. Nor will I deliberately portray anything to cause fright, suggest fear, glorify mischief, condone cruelty, or extenuate malice. I will never picture evil or wrong, except to prove the fallacy of its lure. So long as I direct pictures, I will make only those founded upon the principle of right, and I will en- deavor to draw upon the inexhaustible source of Good for my stories, my guidance, and my inspiration. 12