The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Sep-Oct 1922)

October 21, 1922. THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. 1 DICTATOR—OR CENSOR? Will Hays — His Position and what ' he Stands for. VERY reader of this journal probably knows that E Will Hays, the potential head of the American film industry, occupies a very great position. in that country. He has also read and been informed by people who profess to know the Americar film industry inside out that Mr. Hays is the strong man of the kinematograph industry in the United States. Will Hays has been represented as the practical dictator of the film trade of America, and one who, apparently, has absolutely autocratic power which he can wield at his discretion. If we were to believe the stories we hear, there is nothing that Hays cannot do, and if but a tenth of them are true, then the large salary he receives is undoubtedly well earned. If we sit down to reflect it does appear to us to be’ doubtful if the trade over here quite understands the exact position that this very eminent gentleman occupies in the American film industry. Among the many arguments that were used by Mr. Charles Lapworth in his address to Lancashire exhibitors last week, pleading for a new central authority, was the reiterated statement that what this trade wanted was a Will Hays; and Mr. Lapworth is but one of the many who seem to have the impression that this industry would be still greater if it had a strong and firm ruler with power of virtual dictatorship. Will Hays has been typified as a man placed in a position with a salary of £25,000 per year, and as the absolute autocrat of the entire moving picture industry on the other side. He is nothing of the scrt. If the truth be told, Will Hays is purely a figure head occupying 2 position just a little more important than Mr. T. P. O'Connor does to the film industry in this country. Instead of his dictatorial powers, practically all he has to concern himself with is the question of censorship. Let there be no mistake about this. Will Hays was put into his position by the industry of America. For what purpose? Over here we have a voluntary Board of Censorship, which is an institution. Over in America they decided to institute exactly the same thing, but instead of an institution they have a man. This practically sums up the exact position of Mr. Will Hays. Take every move that he has made on the other side, and you will see that it all has to do with censorship. Every decision that has been made by him has more or legs concerned the showing of films. He was put into power at the time of the Arbuckle scandal, when the film Google industry cf America knew that if they did not take some drastic steps then the Government would come down on them with a heavy hand. That is why they appointed Will Hays. His sponsor was Adolph Zukor, the brainies‘ man in the film industry, who could see that unless immediate action was taken serious consequences to the entire trade would ensue. Over here we are continually hearing of the stupendous importance of the standing of this gentleman. Quite rightly it is important, but he is not the demi-god that will cure all evils. Will Hays would be the first to recognise that. If we were to do away with the British Board of Film Censors and confer our voluntary powers upon Mr. T. P. O’Connor, without a Board, then the analogy between he and Will Hays would be complete. Some people in this industry, swayed by the potential happenings of the other side, clamour for the creation of a strong man in this country. Others have dreams of being appointed to this high office, and whilst it might be acknowledged that this trade demands a man, yet it gets along quite well in its own way, and would do a great deal better if it were not for the disrupted influences that are always at work. The only moral 1 have in portraying the actual scope of Mr. Hays’s work is merely with a desire to show exactly what he was put in for and what he has accomplished. The American film industry support him very faithfully. He was selected because of his eminence in public affairs in America, and because the leading men in the film industry over there realised that with hig great standing they had a figure head who would satisfy those critics who were ever denouncing motion pictures. Mr. Hays has succeeded in satisfying even the bitterest critic of the motion picture industry, but he has achieved this not only by reason of his great record in American public affairs, but because he has placed his finger upon the weak spot, and that undoubtedly is the censorship question. Will Hays is the buffer between State censorship and the trade, and by putting him in the position of potential censor Adolph Zukor and the leading men in the film world know they have done a wise thing. The British film trade should remember the exact functions of Mr. Hays, and not be stampeded into thinking that any profound genius with a great sense of their own importance could achieve anything greater: in this es