The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (April-June 1922)

8b THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. -FILMLAND’S FIRST AMATEUR DRAMATIC SHOW. LTHOUGH its plot is neatly absorbing, and the conA struction admirably slick, ‘‘ Grampy’’ was an ambitious undertaking for the first production of the Amateur Dramatic Section of the Famous-Lasky Sports Club, which was given last week at the Albert Hall Theatre. The form of the play is such that every member of the cast was ScENE FROM ‘‘ GRUMPY.” April 22, 1922. responsible for an individual characterisation, as clear cut as a cameo in the-minds of the co-authors, Horace Hodges and Wigney Percyval. The responsibilities were recognised, shouldered, and most admirably carried. “Andrew Bullivant,’’ whose barely justifiable nickname gives the title to the play, was a triumph of age assumption by youth in the hands of Mr. William Savage, a member of Famous-Lasky'’s staff with considerable amateur experience of the stage. Mr. Savage's make-up was a work of art in itself. Miss Elsie Lyon made an excellent Susan. Her’s was the strongest feminine part in the play, and she made an engagingly pert parlour maid. Edith Dafter was a good Virginia, and the portrayal of Ernest by Mr. Andre Olsen left nothing to be desired for a convincing, likeable hero. Two outstanding pieces of work were Mr. Henry H. Supper’s Ruddock—the dependable and sorely-tried old servant to ‘t Grumpy ’’—and the Isaac Wolfe of Mr. Joe R. Goldman, who was artistically true to type in his characterisation of the conventional and highly diverting old Hebrew rogue of the theatre world. EXHIBITION OF LENSES AND CAMERAS. Messrs. J. H. Dallmeyer, Ltd., of Carlton House, 11d, Regent Street, S.W.1, who have been manufacturing photographic lenses and apparatus for the last 60 years, have arranged a very fine exhibit of their latest lenses and cameras at the forthcoming Photographic Fair at the Royal Horticultural Hall, Westminster, from May 1 to 6. Messrs. Dallmeyer are also exhibiting a selection of their celebrated kinematographic lenses, which have held the premier position in the kinematograph world since their introduction 16 years ago. The firm recently had a film taken of their works with a view to exhibiting it at the Photographic Fair, but unfortunately they have been unable to secure the necessary licence for showing. Private demonstrations will, however, be given at their showrooms at Regent Street, and they invite anyone interested to call with a view to inspecting. this remarkable film. a SOOO ee (Continued srom previous page.) autumn (and officially denied on his authority in THE Fitm Renter) that he did not intend to allow his pictures to be screened in the smaller kinemas of this country. ‘* Surely,’’ he said, ‘‘ the picture house is the proper place in which to show pictures. The exhibitors of Great Britain have always been my very good friends, and I trust they will always remain so. Naturally, I prefer to see my films appropriately presented, and the bigger theatres are better equipped to do this, but, provided my films are carefully projected and screened, and shown to the accompaniment of good music, I shall be delighted to see them shown in even the smallest halls in the most out of the way districts in the country. _ ‘** Orphans of the Storm ’ is the last picture I have made, and at the moment my plans as to future productions are quite undecided, though I have a number of subjects under consideration, and I shall probably have all my arrangements complete by the time I return to America. ‘Tam only staving here this time for about ten days, and then go to the Continent for a rapid look round. My visit to this country is, and you may say so quite definitely, entirely unconnected with film production, despite all rumours to the contrary. IT am here merely for a holiday, and to see how they are putting on “Orphans of the Storm ’ at the Scala Theatre.”’ WHEN GRIFFITH WAS NEARLY DISMISSED. Conversation then turned to the subject of film pro Digitized by Goc gle duction, and the Griffith method in particular. ‘‘ I was, I believe, the first to create films in which the action was modelled on books rather than on plays, and I got the idea from Dickens, who has always been my favourite author. Previously it was the custom for the action of a film to be continuous. That method obviously limited the scope of the producer, so I adopted the idea of switching off the action in order to show something else happening at the same time or later. In this way films were made much more interesting and powerful, and, to-day, this method of construction is almost universal. When I first suggested to my company—I was not then an independent producer—what I intended to do, they were horrified at the idea. I persisted. They threatened. I was convinced and told them they could either allow me to use the idea or dismiss me. They did not dismiss me; and that’s how the system was begun. THE INFLUENCE OF ENGLISH LITERATURE. ‘“ Speaking of Dickens,’’ said Griffith ruminating, ‘‘ I think that he, Carlyle, Shakespeare, and Tennyson—but especially Dickens—did more to bring America into the war than all the propaganda that was carried out. The authors had sown the seed of.svmpathy and understanding, and at the crucial moment it was the great British heritage of literature that decided the issue. Believing this, you can perhaps better understand why it is I am so enthusiastic about my theory of international brotherhood, and why I regard the film as the instrument specially fashioned for the purpose of bringing it about.” Original from NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY