The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

174 The Educational Screen opportunity whatever for subjective treatment; that the principal require- ment is to follow blindly the instruc- tions of the director, and the pleas- antest thing is the check received at the end of the week. They find very little stimulus in the operations, and they sigh invariably for a return to the inspiring work of the real theatre. With the mere picture performer, who has never known the satisfaction of genuine acting, it is different. He re- gards the studio with respect and awe. He imagines his work to be a really serious form of expression, and con- siders his own little personal vogue as conclusive evidence that he is an artist. He photographs well; he has mastered the simple technique of the game; he goes through his paces with portentous gravity. His performances require no study, no concentrated thought, no exercise of the imagination, no spirit- ual illumination, no subtlety, no nuance of expression. When the day is ended in the studio his work is finished until tomorrow. Generally speaking, the plays that are written for the screen show no originality or creative ability. They follow certain conventional lines, with the same puppets appearing in the same stories, ad nauseam. A few ex- amples typify the lot. The son of the rich manufacturer who loves the poor but honest employee, and who is cov- eted (for his money) by the beautiful, sophisticated society girl with the de- signing mother; the faithful wife who rights a five-reel duel with the un- scrupulous rival for her husband] love; the dear old white-haired mottJ who keeps a light burning in the wis dow of the old home for the waywar boy; the cowboy who fears neithd man nor beast, never misses his aid circumvents his crowd of enemiei rescues and re-rescues the lovely ad wealthy heroine from the effete Eaj and eventually weds her; the gooi looking but weak young man who fafl victim to the lures of the great citj forges a check or embezzles the boss] money, but is saved by a female god angel, rehabilitated morally, ad through her love and devotion ! started on the road to affluence, whrq washed and happy. We all knoi these—and a lot more of the sarq kind. And we know, too, the maudli heart interest, considered an elemei! of such value that it is laid on thicj with a trowel; the vacuous, preti "star," whose great asset is an abilil to shed real tears, on demand and wh( if necessary, can register a hundre feet of briny globules for a close-tl at nine o'clock in the morning. Thej are merely samples from the bag c tricks. Originality, creative genius, imagl nation, sensitive feeling, true dramaf power, beauty, gripping human i| terest — these are almost unknow quantities in the photo-play. Now am then we glimpse something that seefflj to reveal that the medium has posS bilities that might be utilized, bi these indications are so exceptioi$| and rare that they can be set down z \