The educational screen (c1922-c1956])

October, 1923 Lantern and Slide 413 tering of the filament, nevertheless such centering is not difficult and adds very materially to the brilliancy and sharpness of the field. A four hundred watt lamp is quite satisfactory for ordinary class room projection. A five hundred consumes about an ampere more of current and costs but little more. For long throws or very dense slides such as autochromes, the thousand watt lamp may be required, but where this is used we must be sure that the fuses and cord are sufficiently rugged to stand the load. Switches placed on the cord should be of the largest and strongest type available and probably the best of all is the branched connector which can be pulled apart. Anyone attempting to disconnect a thousand watt lamp or even one of half the size at the socket is very apt to be greeted by a startling display of fireworks, and no connecting socket ought ever to be unscrewed until all current is cut off from it in some other fashion. C. E. C. The News Chat Conducted by The Editor ANEW book, "That Marvel— The Movie," by Dr. Edward S. Van Zile, comes to us from the publishers, G. P. Putnam Sons, just as we go to press. After a hasty, but very eager once-over, we are inclined to think it is the most important contribution yet made to the serious literature of the subject. We shall give an extended review of the book in our November issue. FOR many months that portion of the intelligent public, which pays any attention at all to the theatrical screen has been worrying over "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Interest has centered mainly — not on the possible greatness of such a picture, for there is no question about that — but on what the movie-makers would do to Hugo. The film has appeared, and there is much wailing in many quarters. And now we learn that "one of the scenario-writers is at work rewriting Hugo's great novel." With the powerful publicity machinery at their command, the perpetrators of the monstrosity may sell more copies in six months than the original sold in a generation. Such "achievements" are out of reach of the law, as flaw stands. The Louisville Courier-Journal waxes indignant in the following words : "George Bernard Shaw might rewrite Shakespeare and, perhaps, make a good job of it, though it would not be Shakespeare. For Irving Berlin to rewrite Beethoven would be an entirely different matter and comparable to the jazzy writers of scenarios attempting to rewrite Hugo. "It's a pity that Hugo's copyright has expired and that Hugo has no way to protect himself. Really there should be a law to protect these masters of literature from the vandals of Hollywood." STARTING with the statement that "the motion picture is in the schoolroom whether the teacher knows it or not," the Better Schools Bulletin for August outlines a very definite plan for creating better taste in the matter of movies among High School students. This plan has received much discussion in various publications for many months past, but it can hardly receive too much emphasis. We are glad to reprint the details of the plan. Organize in each high school a High School Better Films Committee to review and report upon motion pictures showing in your local theaters. Each week a reviewing committee from one of the English classes will visit the downtown theaters and on the following morning submit a report. Senior, junior, sophomore and freshman classes will be called upon to do this reviewing in turn. All reports before being posted on the bulletin board must be approved by one of the English teachers, thus making the review serve the double purpose of English composition and visual education. The entire student body should he urged to confine their movie attendance to pictures recommended by the reviewers. Once each month or oftener tlie English classes will devote a special period to motion picture study, discussing the month's films from an artistic and dramatic standpoint and hearing the report of the reviewing committees. In furnishing a criticism on films viewed the following topics are suggested: 1. The theme should be fundamental to the picture and it should involve that which is of social interest in a constructive sense. Wholesomeness is a major consideration.