Educational film magazine; (19-)

RELIGIOUS BILLY SUNDAY ON THE EDUCATIONAL POWER OF THE MOVIE T HE movie has almost unlimited possibilities for education and entertainment and general good. In the world of lit- erature there are thousands of good stories and the skill and the genius of great directors have proved that almost any story can be told on the screen. Nor need there be any les- sening of the dramatic and the sensational and the spectacular, ular. Because of the movies many boys and girls who never have been a mile from home know more about the geography of the country than elders did after spending fortunes in travel. Think how many folks know what Niagara Falls really looks like and the Grand Canon. And yet this field has hardly been touched. I've often wondered if Mammoth Cave had been filmed or a harvest scene on a midwest farm or a possum hunt in the southland. There are thousands of varieties of good comedy films. It's a fine thing to make folks laugh and nothing is more popular than i genuine humor. If any country on the face of the earth loves clean fun it is ours. The Movies As Social Levelebs I believe the movement to bring pictures into the schools is an [ admirable one. A child absorbs information from the eyes far ' quicker than any other sense. Lack of complete understanding is most often the cause of strife between various social scales, and the movies, quicker and better than any other agency, can tell one-half the world how the other half lives. It can help us get acquainted with our neighbor and share his joys and sorrows as k he shares ours. . I keep in close touch with the progress of the stage and screen and I realize their power to affect the lives of the people. I wonder why they do not film more stories like Pilgrim's Progress, Ben Hur, the Waverly novels, Robinson Crusoe, the Last Days of Pompeii, The Deserted Village, Poe's stories and plays like the Old Homestead, Rip Van Winkle, Virginius, Ten Nights in a Bar Room and Charlie's Aunt. The Bible the World's Greatest Picture Source I have never known a boy or girl who did not enjoy pictures. They think in pictures before they speak in words. We have the best authority for the use of pictures. God spoke through the Old Testament by means of pictures. That is the way Christ taught, because without a parable he spake not to any man. A parable was a picture. When a Frenchman talks he gesticulates 80 that you will see the pictures as he does and the American In- dian suggests more by signs than he does by words. The Bible is the greatest picture book in the world. It is an inexhaustible supply of tragedy, pathos and drama and the time will come when the movies will present these stories reverently and faith- fully and when that is done examination of college students on the English Bible will not furnish such a supply of crass ignor- ance and poppycock nonsense as it does today. The movie is one of the great institutions of America. It must be taken into account whenever consideration is given to the things that vitally affect the well-being of the nation. My hope and prayer is that its progress in the future may be along wholesome, clean, helpful, and inspiring lines. SOME THOUGHTS ON CHURCH MOVIES By a Ministeb CAN motion pictures be used for Sunday evening and other religious services? There is an increasing demand for Bib- lical and distinctly religious pictures. Few of these have been made, and fewer of these are worth showing. Some fail through poor acting; some through poor photography; some are made for the propaganda of one church and some so exaggerate Oriental manners as to hold scriptural characters up to ridicule. To illustrate, when in one picture Moses lifting up his arms on Sinai reveals the fact that link cuffs were worn in his day and in another a disciple goes about the Master's business in a pair of apparently Brockton-made shoes, the religious lesson is not very deeply impressed. To make a good picture three things are needed: money aplenty, a director with the proper technic and an artistic sense, and actors who are more than lay figures. For the religious pictures some- thing more is necessary in director and actors, the spiritual vision born of a living personal faith. With few exceptions one or more of these elements has been lacking in the making of the Biblical and religious pictures. The exceptions stand out clearly. If we cannot get this type of pictures, shall we not use what is available, and show in sweet and strong stories of modern life the blossoming and fruit of the eternal Bible truth? How can we show the fifth commandment most effectively, by a poor presenta- tion of Moses bringing it from the mountain on the stone tablet, or by a brief and forceful sermon and then a great picture of filial disobedience and the abiding mother love that draws the erring son back as shown in Mother. Which will move the souls of our hearers to patriotic self-sac- rifice, an attempt to show Gideon's little army with lamps and pitchers, or the Maid of Orleans, Joan of Arc, or Betsy Ross making our flag, "With its red for love, and its white for law, and its blue for the hope that our fathers saw of a larger liberty?" How will you show the storms that overwhelm a man's soul and the return of peace with a reborn faith? By some unattrac- tive portrayal of the casting out of evil spirits in Palestine, or by a strong and gripping story of conflict and triumphant faith like The Disciple. And how best to teach with pictures "Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends?" It is beyond any man's ability to act the part of the crucified Christ. No man should presimie to try it, and no mov- ing picture to present it. Tell the story, preach the sermon, and then show the spirit of the cross living today, as friend gives himself for his friend in The Debt. These are only suggestions. The great principle is this, that in the love and joy, the homely virtues and the courageous striv- ing of these beautiful stories of our day, we should find the illus- tration and so enforce the lesson of our Bible truths. U