Exhibitors Herald (Jul-Sep 1922)

July 8, 1922 EXHIBITORS HERALD 47 Specials Will Solve Box Office Problem, Says Metro METRO Pictures Corporation has announced for the season of 192223, a program comprised only of special productions. The special production, contends William E. Atkinson, vicepresident and general manager, is the solution of the box office problem. TN 1922-23, continues Mr. Atkinson, the public, even more than it has done during the past year, is going to shop for its pictures: select them for the reputation of story, star, director and excellence of production. Pictures, he says, must have more than one point of excellence to recommend them to an increasingly critical public. In view of this situation, Metro has planned only special pictures, and points to the fact that the company is beginning the most auspicious season in its history. * * * A part of Mr. Atkinson's statement, just issued from the home office of the company, follows: ' Metro pictures are produced with a single, dominating principle always in mind: that every release must be a winner for the man exhibiting them, but every picture must turn over a sound profit for the showman. "That principle is the basis for Metro's successes in the past, for its present enviable place in the faith of the exhibitor, and for its policy during the coming season of 1922-23. "To adhere to that principle is becoming more and more difficult of achievement, as the demands of the public are becoming more and more difficult of satisfaction. "The public no longer selects its evening's screen entertainment with the carelessness of a man buying a straw hat. The public shops for movies now with the Billie Dove Heads Special Casts Metro has commenced production at the studios in Hollywood of the first of a series of pictures from special stories, to be enacted by distinguished casts, headed by Billie Dove. The initial photoplay is "Country Love," adapted by Edith Kennedy from Hulbert Footner's story, and being staged under the direction of Emile Chautard. After "Country Love" will come other stories, of no less positive appeal. Those mentioned by Metro are "East of Suez," by E. Lloyd Sheldon; "A Temporary Marriage," by Cardell Hale; "The Girl in the Gilded Cage," by Marion Fairfax, and "The House on the Avenue," by Cosmo Hamilton. discerning eye of a woman who can only afford one hat a season. "What the public shops for is the special production. "And since Metro must give the exhibitor what the public wants, special productions only constitute the Metro schedule for the crucial year to come. "Every Metro picture during this period will come easily under the classification of a super-production. "The wise exhibitor, then, is the exhibitor who books Metro solid, for thus he insures the solidity of his profits." * * * The first five of the special productions announced by Metro for its early fall publication group are: Rex Ingram's production of "The Prisoner of Zenda," based on Anthony Hope's romantic novel. It has been produced on the scale of "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." A distinguished cast includes Lewis Stone, Alice Terry, Ramon Novarro, Barbara La Marr, Robert Edeson, Lois Wilson, Malcolm MacGregor and Edward Connelly. The scenario was written by Mary O'Hare; the photography is by John F. Seitz. Stage dramatization was by Edward Rose. Mae Murray in "Broadway Rose," presented by Robert Z. Leonard, who likewise directed the picture. This third of her productions is expected to outdraw "Peacock Alley" and "Fascination." Edmund Goulding wrote both the story and scenario. Viola Dana comes to the screen for the first time during the new season in Irvin S. Cobb's story, "The Five Dollar Baby." Harry Beaumont staged "The Five Dollar Baby" and has been retained by Metro to direct Miss Dana in her later productions. First of these will be "Page Tim O'Brien," by John A. Moroso. One of the best-selling novels of the year, the much discussed story by Richard Washburn Child, "The Hands of Nara," has provided the structure of Clara Kimball Young's first appearance in a Metro picture. The photoplay is directed and presented by Harry Garson. Following this Miss Young will be seen in a picturization of the New York dramatic success, "Enter Madame." "The Hands of Nara" is a story of Russian intrigue and the strange power attributed to a fugitive girl. Bull Montana has turned comedian. Hunt Stromberg has produced a three reel comedy starring Mr. Montana, entitled "The Ladies' Man." This is to be the first of a series of eight. The seven to come will be of two reels each. * * * Virtually completed or in production are other pictures of a magnkide similar to the group constituting the early fall program. Rex Ingram is expected to bring to New York with him, within a monh, a first print of a recently made photoplay. The title has not been announced. Fred Niblo. who directed "The Mark of Zorro," "The Three Musketeers" and Says Metro: Pictures Must Be Winners First five special productions announced by Metro for distribution during the season of 1922-23, follow: PRISONER OF ZENDA— Rex Ingram's production based on Anthony Hope's widely read novel. * BROADWAY ROSE— Third of the Mae Murray pictures presented by Robert Z. Leonard. * FIVE DOLLAR BABY — Viola Dana's first feature for the new season. Staged by Harry Beaumont. * HANDS OF NARA— Clara Kimball Young in a screen version of the Richard Washburn Child story. • THE LADIES* MAN— Frst of series of eight two and three reel comedies starring Bull Montana. Viola Dana also will appear in "Page Tim O'Brien." Ingrain has completed another feature. Lay rette Taylor will star in "Peg O' My Heart" under the direction of King Vidor. "Quincy Adams Sawyer" will be filmed as a Metro-S-L special. "Blood and Sand," is at the point of beginning production of a big special picture, to be presented by Louis B. Mayer. Laurette Taylor has started for the West Coast for the work of enacting for the screen her most beloved role, that of the title character of J. Hartley Manner's play, "Peg O' My Heart." It has been given more than 14,000 times on the stage of the English-speaking world. King Vidor will direct. The most famous of home-folk stories, "Quincy Adams Sawyer," by Charles Felton Pidgin, will be screened as a Metro-S-L Special Production, by Clarence Badger. His making of the Will Rogers picture. "Honest Hutch" and "Jubilo," are excellent examples of Mr. Badger's skill and understanding the hearts of people. A special stories series, picturizations of outstandingly meritorious works by the most popular short story and photoplay writer of America, is being begun. Each of these pictures is to be enacted by an especially distinguished cast, headed by Billie Dove, Metro's new screen discovery. Among the stories mentioned in this group are, "Country Love," by Hulbert Footner, now being made under the direction of Emile Chautard; "The House on the Avenue," by Cosmo Hamilton; "East of Suez," by E. Lloyd Sheldon; "The Girl in the Gilded Cage" by Marion Fairfax, and "A Temporary Marriage," by Cardell Hale.