The Film Daily (1937)

Friday, May 21, 1937 DAILV ^ ^) SQUAWK PARADE Pertinent paragraphs sifted from the hundreds of replies by leading American critics, reviewers and columnists to questions submitted in the fifth annual Critics' Forum. (.Continued from Page 1) that because children go to the movies all adult ideas should be barred, or at least castrated, during screen treatment. Broadway's legitimate theaters do not bar minors and they never have been corrupted by Shakespeare, Ibsen or Shaw. I object to the lowly status generally accorded screen playwrights in the belief that pictures are wholly "made" by stars and that the screen is a director's medium. The Frank Capra-Robert Riskin team disproves this theory, as do the John Ford* Dudley Nichols collaborations. CHRIS GRAHAM, Bronx, N. Y. C. "Home News". "B" PICTURES AND MUSICALS— I think that film companies of the Class B type should take longer time to produce some of their pictures as they are certain to prove better box-office attractions. Some pictures that I have seen in the past year must have been assembled in a hurry as the plot was hazy and the acting was spasmodic in parts of the film. Some people think that the motion picture industry is being flooded with the musical comedy type of picture but there is nothing better than one of these pictures for relaxation after working all day long. WILBERT L. HAARE, York, Pa. "Dispatch". PRODUCTION "CANDIDS"— So far, the movie industry has been built around the 3ctors and extras seen in scenes. Why not a little behind the scenes on each picture, showing true to life — not posed — shots of the authors, directors, script gals, producers, etc., in each picture. In other words, develop interest on the part of the individuals in pictures besides the actors. Books are sold because people know about the authors. A little more publicizing of the authors and others in a picture would add to the sales value of each picture. EDGAR B. CHESNUTT, Little Rock "Arkansas Gazette". TRAILERS, COLOR AND STORIES— Pet peeve is the lengthy trailer advertising pictures for a week in advance and the insipid reels of local advertising that spoil the evening. Feel that the development of color is much neglected by producers, and ,'iild be pushed, especially in good pic r«k Industry has started buying good stories and paying less attention to individual "stars" which is all to the good. TED McDOWELL, Beckley, W. Va. "Post-Herald". w M ASSORTED SQUAWKS A reviewer must have a personal opinion or be nothing but a roar machine. Also he must have responsibility and not go off half-cocked and be serious enough jbout the opinions of others to go back and see if there was something he missed — and then if he still can't agree let him say so. There are plenty of squawks coming on film criticism, and they're partly due to the fact that every time a reviewer pans a film some press agent is going to bear down on him with a great yell about how that is only his personal opinion, and (less often now) the paper is likely to back the p. a. up for a few inches of advertising, and so you get a condition where nobody cares much, just goes on throwing the same loose adjectives 3round and liking practically everything, and taking the life out of his stuff until there is such a low amount of personal opinion that readers lose respect and confidence. OTIS FERGUSON, "The New Republic". • Wanton distortion of facts in "historical" films. Obvious projection room and painted backgrounds in otherwise first-rate productions. Little done about previous squawks. RICHARD MATTOX, Lancaster, O., "Eagle-Gazette" . • The most disgusting feature in the American theater today is the influx of bank nights, screeno, bingo and other schemes to bring people to the movies. Double features rank as the next black eye in the industry. Small town previews following double bills are the last thing in boredom. The day of the gigantic ensemble numbers passed with Landon. CHARLES J. TIANO, Kingston, N. Y., "Daily Leader". • Same old announcements as to changes in home office personnel. Who cares aside from the persons named? Same old cycles. Watch now for one about the "dear old south." Same old war formulae. Vide "The Woman I Love." Damned double bills. Cheers for Interstate Theaters and the Warner Circuit, if and when. Paucity of good short films; probably due to double features. Nothing to match "Crime Doesn't Pay" series and are the comedies (?) blah! Maybe there'll be action, but I doubt it. Only a public uprising will accomplish anything. Altogether too few men like Capra, Cukor, Brown, Franklin and Van Dyke. W. E. J. MARTIN, Buffalo, N. Y., "Courier-Express". My greatest peeve is the double feature policy — two bad pictures don't make for better entertainment. One tooth will ache — two teeth aching drive you nuts. Cramming programs with shorts, most of them dull. Newsreels that apparently have a MUST every week on battleships, airplanes and ski jumpers. Producers who make the same story at least three times, with slight variations and with no more cleverness in any of the three. MEL WASHBURN, New Orleans, La., "I tern -Tribune". • I find it annoying to sit through two pictures, even if both of them are good, and they never are. Many exhibitors, for an evening schedule, show the main feature, co-feature, main feature again, then call it a night. Using a normal schedule of shorts and one feature, they could work in two complete shows, with resultant gains in revenue. I'd like to see the return of vaudeville, but then you didn't ask about that. I object to Hollywood's practice of "typing" players. Many an actor who can do a darned good job in any one of a dozen roles is worked to death in a particular character just because he has done it well once. There is too much adapting stories to suit characteristics of players, rather than adapting players to the story. EDWARD REYNOLDS, South Norwalk, Conn., "Sentinel". • I don't like to sit through a long dull feature in order to see a good feature; and I don't think much of a lotta pre-view trailers. These aren't exactly squawks — just a little expression of personal opinion. JOHN H. THOMPSON, Torrington, Conn., "Register". • Placing a good star in a poor picture and expecting him, or her, to carry it along — is taking an unfair advantage. It seems to me that good artists are frequently kept too long in the background. There is today a need for simple pictures with a real story running through them. A picture with an intensely interesting plot, well staged and artists suitably cast is sure to prove a success. ETHEL K. BILLINGS, Lowell, Mass., "Evening Leader". • Double features are my chief aversion. Remakes of not-so-old films under new titles are others. Most color pictures still more. HAYDEN D. HICKOK, Syracuse, N. Y., "Herald". INDUSTRY AIDES To representative journalists, its own unofficial aides, the industry again is indebted for thoughtful appraisals and constructive suggestions. Ninth installment appears tomorrow. FEWER AND BETTER PIX— I am still trying to discover why producers insist on turning out the cheap and lousy pictures with which they flood the market. If each producer would make fewer pictures and make them better, I think everyone concerned would be better off. Just why grade B pictures must be made is one of these mysteries without a solution. These bad pictures started the double features and later bank nights and giveaways. The public don't want to see 'em. But I guess we'll always have 'em with us. C. H. NELSON, Rockford, III. "Morning Star". DOESN'T LIKE CREDITS— Why not cut out the waste of time telling who prepared the gowns, the cameramen names, etc. That is all meaningless. Get into the action but first present names of players with their titles so you know who's who. BETTY LEE, Passaic, N. J. "Sunday Eagle". LESS EX AGGER A TION— I think that pictures should be true to life. I am fed up with many of the exaggerations found in them but the tendency seems to be toward some improvement in this respect. H. G. TURNER, Petersburgh, Va. "Progress-Index". • SEASONAL PICTURES— Pictures should be suitable to the season. No one, in the summer, wants to sit through a hot desert picture, or in the winter, shiver through a drama of the Arctic wastes. Switched around, to opposite seasons, they would refresh. FRANK LESOURD, Staten Island, N. Y., "Advance". SQUAWK AGAINST TRASH— My pet squawk is the trash the studios put out as fillers. This includes cheap slapstick comedy, sex plays that have no merit except as an appeal to the senses, drama without plot or coherence, and comedy the type of Laurel and Hardy. HAROLD F. MOULTON, Lynn, Mass., "Item". HURTING REPUTATIONS— Too many second, third and fourth rate pictures which disgust customers and hurt reputations of actors and producers as well as theaters showing pictures. R. M. KLINE, Homestead, Pa., "Messenger".