Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World (Apr-Jun 1930)

Editorial Making the Code Work THE many skeptical expressions relative to the Code for Production which have been written and expressed may he accounted for in the main by the fact that outside the industry it is not generally understood that leaders in the industry are convinced that the principles embodied in the code represent not only the right course for the industry to take hut also the best business policy. The suspicion that the industry may have made only a grand gesture which it does not intend to follow dissipates quickly when it is understood that in addition to all other reasons for abiding by the code there remains the very good reason that leaders in the industry are well aware that without wholesome entertainment the industry cannot prosper. We say that the leaders in the industry are well aware of this. We are here stating a plain and demonstrable fact. But, unfortunately, it must he admitted that there are many lesser figures in the business who are unwilling to subscribe to anything like a code and who insist upon an imagined right to make anything which they think is saleable. These are the persons whose attitude imperils the success of the code. While they are not and do not represent ill responsible heads of the industry, still they are in a position to render ineffective the code which was adopted by the responsible heads of the industry. This probably will not come about but if it does the industry will he charged with bad faith and deception and no amount of explaining will clear the industry’s reputation. Obviously with such a danger confronting the business arrangements should he adopted to obtain the necessary safeguards. These safeguards may he obtained in two ways: first, by convincing all people actively engaged in production of the merits and practicability of the code and, second, failing in this, by introducing and maintaining such supervision as will insure the desired results, regardless of the personal convictions of any individuals. There is a job to he done here. Failure to do it will entail incalculable damage to the business. AAA Wide Film Control A HEADLONG rush into wider film seems to have been averted, if this is correct, and recent indications point in that direction, the industry has been given a very practical benefaction. As we pointed out, rather insistently, last summer, a precipitous leap into the manifold readjustments which would have been rendered necessary in the change-over to wider film — before the readjustments in the changeover to sound were really assimilated — would have been both dangerous and expensive. From current reports, Mr. Harley L. Clarke has been a constructive influence in the arrival at arrangements under which the principal companies will proceed slow BY MARTIN J. QUIGLEY ly and surely in their plans and provisions for the adoption of wider film. If the reports are true, Mr. Clarke is therefore exemplifying the cooperative and constructive influence which his success and experience in other large industrial activities were expected to insure for his activities in the motion picture industry. I here need he no doubt that wider film must, some day, come into general use. But the healthy and sound course is for the principal factors in the business to control the advance of the development so that in the long run its fullest advantages may he realized at the least cost and confusion. This now seems to be the prospect and it is a proper occasion for congratulations to those responsible for it. AAA Fox—M G M THE extension of contracts between Loew, Inc., and Messrs. Mayer, Thalberg and Rubin, announced last week, establishes the status of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer which has for more than a year been the source of considerable interest and speculation. Since the purchase more than a year ago of control of Loew, Inc., by the Fox interests it was widely assumed that sooner or later Loew and Fox would be welded into a single organization. Such a development would have seriously changed the map of the industry, amounting to the biggest merger in the history of the business. I hose who viewed with alarm the elimination of competing units and the concentration of the principal activities of the industry in still fewer hands found a great deal for apprehension in the prospect which indicated a likelihood of this deal. Now, however, this source of apprehension has been removed. The companies are to he operated as distinct and competing units. The studios will be contending vigorously, one against the other. This situation should insure better product for the theatres and on the matter of production costs each company should benefit materially by virtue of the exact comparisons which will be possible. AAA THE months just ahead constitute a critical period for the industry. It is during the coming season that the producer and distributor must place his product for the year and the exhibitor must obtain the product necessary to fulfill his requirements. The producer cannot guarantee what unmade and unseen product will amount to and the exhibitor, unfortunately, has no pre-vision which will enable him to tell what the forthcoming pictures are going to look like to his public on the screen. But in the meantime the best interests of all are most effectively served through the disclosure by the producer of the most comprehensive and detailed information possible, enabling him to state his case effectively and enabling the exhibitor to have such advance information as will enable him to act intelligently. Exhibitors HERALD-WORLD * MARTIN J. QUIGLEY, Publisher and Editor Incorporating Exhibitors Herald, founded 1915 ; Moving Picture World, founded 1907 : Motography, founded 1909 ; The Film Index, founded 1906 Published every Wednesday by Quigley Publishing Company, 407 S. Dearborn Street, Chicago ; Martin J. Quigley, President ; Edwin S. Clifford, Secretary ; George Clifford, Assistant Treasurer. Member Audit Bureau of Circulations. All contents copyrighted 1930 by Quigley Publishing Company. All editorial and business correspondence should be addressed to the Chicago office. Other publications: Better Theatres, devoted to the construction, equipment and operation of theatres, published every fourth week in conjunction with Exhibitors Herald-World ; The Film Buyer, a quick reference picture chart, published every fourth week as Section 2 of Exhibitors Herald-World ; The Motion Picture Almanac, Pictures and Personalities, published annually ; The Chicagoan, Class publication