Educational film magazine; (January-December 1920)

this at normal unreeling takes thirteen to fifteen minutes; two thousand feet, nearly half an hour. Where is the printed advertisement, in many colors, no matter how elaborate or costly, which would hold the eye for more than a minute or two? (Long, small- type mail order advertisements are not considered, as they are sales talks and actually sell goods.) \^Tiy should an advertising motion picture hold the atten- tion longer than a printed advertisement, unless it has unusual features, unless it is so cleverly con- structed by a film technician that it gives the optience a substitute for the story or the human interest which serves to hold them spellbound? A sales film, again, is strictly a business picture just as a mail order advertisement is a business talk, designed to sell goods without any publicity camou- flage. One does not object to being solicited for an order, in person, in a newspaper or magazine, or on the screen, provided it is done openly, with all the cards on the table. Of course the theater is no place for such a picture, unless it is engaged especially for that purpose, and for non-theatrical institution or organization it is useful only to the buyer or pur- chasing agent. m Hi For theater showings the industrial photoplay or the industrial film with popular educational features seems suitable, but one can understand the attitude of opposition and resentment towards any but entertain- ment movies on the part of exhibitor and patrons. The theater is for amusement, and the patrons pay for that and for nothing else. The plan of one com- pany in engaging a theater, musicians and attendants especially for the purpose of showing industrial film programs to invited groups obviates this difficulty and removes all cause for opposition by exhibitors and their patrons. For non-theatrical purposes industrial films most in demand and of most value to institutions and organ- izations are those which visualize a big thought, idea, ideal, purpose or policy for which the company stands that sponsored the picture; those films which repre- sent real progress in important divisions of the world's work, depicting methods and processes that the world needs and must have; films of great constructive, up- building power such as those on mining, metallurgy, forestry, agricullure and the like; and films showing the main streams of economic thought, action, energy and accomplishment which irrigate our national life and cause the United States to bloom as a garden of wealth. Distribution and exhibition have been the stum- bling blocks of the industrial motion picture, and still are, and will continue to be so long as the indus- trial film lacks solid educational worth. One sonn tires of a best seller, a sensation of the hour, but : book of enduring qualities sells for generations. There is no reason why the standards of industria' film producers should not be at least as high, foi example, as those of the photoplay directors; and there is no reason why the average industrial should not be largely educational in its best sense and only incidentally and suggestively of advertising or selling value to the manufacturer. He can continue to pul out straight advertising and selling pictures; but ii he desires wide distribution and continuous exhihi<i tion of his film, particularly in non-theatrical chauH nels, he must l)e satisfied with the indirect appeal rather than the direct "punch." To an educator oi! churchman as to a theater manager the greatest merit which an industrial movie can have is that "it ha? very little advertising matter on it." This fact, in thei eyes of the professional man, gives the commercial advertiser piestige and adds greatly to the respect for and confidence in the advertiser's company and its products. There is no doubt that this accounts in, no small measure for the widespread success of the Ford weekly releases; the company derives even more' publicity from tlie informational and instructional' value of the films than it would if they were plastered with Ford signs and Ford cars in every scene. And the permanent character of some of the film material adds to its value. Distribution takes care of itself when the picture is well worth while. E> Mb i CINEMA TO TEACH PARIS CHILDREN The cinema will play an important part in the education' of Paris youngsters if a project put before the municipal^ council is adopted. It is proposed to make movies a regular • part of the school curriculum. Once a week every pupilf in the Paris schools will go to the movies, the visit being preceded by an explanatory lecture. The course, or movie program, will include films teaching natural history, geog-' raphy, history, science and industry, and fiction films designed to inculcate good morals. If the plan proves successful the movies may be used every day. A report presented by M. L. Riotor, who is pushing the project, declares that the cinematograph is "an active aid in' developing the young mind." GERMAN "HOME-FILM ' HALTED BY POLICE A new film industrv lately developed in Germany is the so-called "home film"; that is, the manufacture and dis- tribution of a small cheap apparatus for furnishing motion picture enlcrtaiiinipnt in private homes. This industry has lateh been interrupted by a police regulation, which con- trols the exhibition of films. What this regulation is has not been stated, but it is thought to refer to the inflammable character of the film stock generally employed. There have been police regulations in German municipalities for some vears providing certain restrictions unless non-inflam- mable film was employed, but apparently few subjects have been printed on standard width slow-burning stock. 8 \