The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Apr-Jun 1922)

12 THE FUNCTION: THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. June 17, 1922. OF A FILM CRITIC. Rough Notes of an address to the members of the Stoll Club. (By E. A. BAUGHAN, HF function of the film critic in daily journalism is | to combine with the news story of the play and a personal opinion coneerning it, real constructive criticism. He must remember, too, that he is the servant of the public and not of the entertainer, and act accordingly. But this involves certain difficulties. Although there are certain fixed principles of film criticism, it has to be remembered that the esthetic principles are not fully formulated. Mainly a film is good art if it achieves the aim of the producer, and here one might instance ‘‘ The Wonderful Story,’’ recently produced, as an instance of the aim of the producer being achieved, Keeping the Two Ends Separate. But as a critic who endeavours to be constructive. several essential difficulties in film making have occurred to my mind after three years’ experience, _ In the first place the business and artistic ends of the industry are not kept separate, and although.all entertainment is in one sense a business, the artist cannot work on those. lines. He ean only give the public what is in him, for no writer ever achieved popularity by aiming at. it. present the maker of films has to work to order; he has toa give something that is not in him; and while the firm that makes films also sells them, the industry will remain en industry, and will not attain to the dignity of an art. The manager of a theatre or the publisher of a book buys from the author and sells to the public, but in very few cases has cither of them had any say in the making of the play or the book, The Remedy for the Evil. The remedy for this evil in the making of films is that the scenario-writer and the producer should be given an absolutely free hand, and when they have produced between them a well-considered scenario, there should be rio kind of interference by the business end of the industry at all, Any necessary modifications afterwards should only be made with their consent. The producer should always try to realise the ideals of the seenario-writer, Tn other respects he has too free a hand, At. of “ The Daily News.) The Real Author. With regard to the scenario-writer, he is for all purposes the author, even when adapting a novel or a play. He should consult the original author when possible, but for the purposes of making a film he himself should be considered the author. Throughout, too, he should work in harmony with the producer. Properly speaking, the scenario-writer should superintend the making of the film, and he alone should be responsible for any modification of it. The ideal would be an author and producer in one person. Griffith’s strength lies in that, but also some of his weakness, for the kind of brain and temperament required for a producer are seldom possessed by the author, who is aman of dreams. The producer, on the other hand. is esseutially a man of action, in the sense that he has to control forces that make for the realisation of an ideal; he is, as it were, the actor of the whole film. But to place the seenario-writer in his preper position as sole author means a small revolution in the art. He ix at present paid in this country on the basis of haekwork. That fact is a symbol of the importance in which he is held, and it must be reformed altogether, The Film Actor. With regard to the plaver his difficulty is that of having to-act the seenes piecemeal, a procedure which im ‘poses a harder task upon the player in a picture than upon the stage. Tt means a more intelligent grasp of the character taken, in order that the plaver may, with very little prompting take up, at any moment, any part of the story, and it means more. rehearsals. Over and over again it is evident in films that the players have not grasned the significanee of their parts. What moves an audience is the psychological drama, viz., What the actors think and feel, and elaboration for its own se ake, and unnecessary stunts should be eschewed ; the human story is the thing. T am not taking a high-brow view of the film in speaking thus, but desire te see it make full use of all its ercat powers. To limit it to “ interest’? films is absurd. Many films T have scen have tonched me deeply as stories, and if the moving pietures can do that they are anart. Tt is futile to criticise them for what they are not, or to compare them with any ef the other arts. MIDLAND KINEMAS AT AUCTION. Properties withdrawn by Vendor. REFLECTION of the burden imposed upon exhibitors by A the Fintertainment. Tax, and the cheek upon enterprise which it effects, was seen at the auetion held last week at the Grand Totel, Birmingham, for the putpose of offering for sale certain kinema properties. In every case the bids were not Google sufficiently high to induce the vendor to sell, and the only property changing hands was that of business premises, which, although withdrawn, were afterwards scld by private tender, The Picture Tlouse, Vietorin Street, Wolverhampton, was withdrawn at £9,600. and the Colisenm, Dudley Road. Wolverhampton at £11,500, The Palnee. High Street, West Bromwich, was withdrawn at £8,060. and bidding for the Eleetrie Theatre and the ¢ Walsall, ceased at £11,000 and £9,500 respectively, no sale being registered, At 9,500 the Picture House, Kidderminster, was also withdrawn. nema de Luxe.