The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

332 The Educational Screen How May the Public Improve Motion Pictures? Hazel B. Stevens Extension Division, University of Utah. THE question, how may the pubHc improve motion pictures, implies by its wording that there is need of improvement. We are not, however, doing the industry an injustice by so stating it, because the most earnest advocates of the motion picture— the producers— are admitting the need. Reforms must come from two directions: within and without. It is too much to expect that the production end will go very far alone on the road to reform under the fervor of its freshly undertaken enterprise — that is, unless it is met and supported by its public. The cry has ever been from the studios, "We produce what the public wants—." And some pretty "rotten" stuff has made its debut under cover of that cry. For some time there has been a quiet concerted movement among certain groups of the public to refute the cry; but the time is peculiarly ripe now to make this movement felt. A hopeful sign on the negative side is the recent failure of a stupendous salacious production which ten years ago would probably have made a fortune for its godfather. As it was, the public put the seal of its disapproval upon the picture in the most effective way — through the box office. A consistent following of this policy would solve once for all the problem of how to get better movies. Producers and directors will specialize in "clean" movies as soon as these prove themselves paying propositions; producers and directors are not in the "game" for their health, as they will tell you quite frankly; they will not go on spending good money to "clean up" the studios unless they are rewarded tangibly through their pocketbooks for their good deeds. We, the public, must see to it that better pictures "pay." Fortunately, producers and directors, though not idealists, are as a rule normally wholesome in their reactions; the financial returns being equal, they would rather produce good pictures than bad, — good in the sense of morally sound as well as of artistically photographed. In fact, there may be some already in the field who will come to prefer a smaller profit in order to satisfy their own sense of what is community service. Some day surely there will come, as a result of the present movement toward higher standards, a maker of pictures who has real vision as well as business perspicuity, who will give us, not accidentally, but consistently, pictures which will have power to stir the wells of spiritual aspirations in us, purifying while thrilling and entertaining us., in the manner of great novels and great drama. A few pictures have already touched this height — Humoresque, The Miracle Man, The Birth of a Nation — but none, in the opinion of the writer, has yet completely attained and maintained it. The "great producer" will come in response to a demand of public taste. This molding of public taste takes time; it is not a reform that can be effected "once for all"; in the meanwhile the commercial interests of the better sort may time and again lose faith; but the educational interests must never lose faith, even though their job takes a complete generation. It is hard to teach an old dog new tricks; in other words, it is hard to make over the tastes of the adult who has been fed from childhood upon penny novels and cheap movies. It is hard to teach a confirmed drunkard to appreciate fresh spring water, — possible, but hard, — for he has first to lose his taste for strong drink. It is not so hard to lead the untainted minds of children to prefer the wholesome to the hectic and perverted. No harder at least than to teach them to choose right lines of personal conduct although they are surrounded by people who act from lower motives and who seem to thrive notwithstanding. The latter problem, too, is a hard "nut to crack" for educational interests, but they show no signs of wishing to give it up. The soil has undoubtedly been prepared for a better class of movies, of which the very near future should see a noticeable flowering. Every member of the public can help by commending and attending these better things. Those especially concerned can put forth group effort to have the better things supported in their communities.