Film and Radio Guide (Oct 1945-Jun 1946)

24 FILM AND RADIO GUIDE Volume XII, No. 4 data as may have been accessible to him and his assistants. Some of his information is both incomplete and of a secondary nature, rather than based on critical study or original research. For e.xample, in the course of three chapters on the educational activities of the Hays office and the movement to raise standards of public taste in films, Moley mentions the names of many educators who gave casual assistance to Hays office efforts to develop educational interest in films ; but he fails to mention a single individual among those who gave many thousands of hours from 1929 to 1935 to far-flung research projects of the greatest significance, under the auspices of important educational committees and sub-committees totaling 500 high-school teachers, whose leaders worked in direct relation to Hays office officials. If Mr. Moley devotes some 40 pages to an important educational m o v e ment, he should give credit to those who actually pioneered the movement and who, in spite of incumbrances, carried it to notable success. Mr. IMoley’s errors of omission are, no doubt, unintentional, but he was unfortunately so handicapped in the selection of some of his material that his otherwise informative account is biased and superficial. We recommend that Mr. Moley read Walter Barnes’s introduction to Photoplay Appi'eciation i)i America)i High Schools ( Appleton-Century) , with which the Hays office was so pleased in 1934 that it ordered 500 copies (or was it 1000?) to send to industry executives and community-organization leaders. 30. HISTORY OF MOTION PICTURES, THE. By Mau rice Bordeche and Robert Brasillach. Translated and edited by Iris Barry. Foreword by John E. Abbott. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., and The Museum of Modern Art, 1938. Pp. xii, 412, with 30 half-tone illustrations. A lively and comprehensive account of the history of films in Europe and America from the French point of view. The translator provides many illuminating corrections in her critical footnotes. It is to be hoped that Miss Barry’s great service in providing this translation will be followed by a more definitive telling of the story of the film in France, England, Sweden, Italy, Germany, Russia, and America, based on the notable researches and re-examinations of the films of the past which she is conducting. The present translation marks a milestone in Miss Barry’s archeological journey into film history. 31. HISTORY OF THE MOVIES, A. By Benjamin B. Hampton. New York; Covici, Friede, Inc., 1931. Pp. 456, supplemented by 125 pages of illustrations. An excellent critical history of American films down to 1931. The illustrations are mainly stills, showing “the development of the motion picture in America, both as an industry and as an entertainment medium,’’ from 1901 to 1931. 32. HOLLYWOOD SAGA. By William C. DeMille. With o Foreword by John Erskine. Illustrated. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co., 1939. Pp. 319. An important contribution to the history of the film in America, in the form of a charmingly written autobiography. The author, for many years a writer and director of films, as well as a playwright for the New York .stage, is Cecil UeMille’s elder brother. The book makes the story of the development of the photoplay in America luminous with many anecdotes and allusions to famous producers, directors, writers, players, and cameramen. Incidentally Mr. UeMille analyzes skillfully the basic problems of story construction. the relations between writers and directors (he having been both) , the relations between stage and screen, the film as a social force, and many practical matters, such as censorship, the dual bill, and current trends. [ 33. HOLLYWOOD: THE MOVIE COL ONY, THE MOVIE MAKERS. By Leo Rosfen. New York: Horcourt, Brace, and Company, 1941. Pp. 436. The first fully-annotated factual study o f Hollywood, based on objective research and financed by the Carnegie and Rockefeller Foundations, made by a trained expert and a staff of eleven assistants, who interviewed people, surveyed conditions, and explored every nook of America’s movie colony. Altogether a brilliant and scholarly job. Dr. Rosten’s book is devoted mainly to the movie elite. It is an “X-ray’’ analysis of backgrounds, work-habits, incomes, reputations, manners, home life, night life, politics, feuds, opinions, attitudes, and influence. Eight appendices, indicating sources and methods, make some fascinating pages for students of the photoplay. Dr. Rosten’s qualifications for the job include, in addition to university work in sociology and economics, experience as a writer of The Education of Hyman Kaplan, The Strangest Places, and The Washington Correspondents. He spent three years on the Hollywood study. 34. HOW TO WRITE A MOVIE. By Arthur L. Gale. New Yark: E. B. Hackett; The Brick Row Book Shop, Inc., 1936. Pp. XV, 199. An attractive handbook on movie planning and scenario writing, for amateur and nontheatrical producers of films, silent and sound, prepared by the editor of Movie Makers, official organ of the Amateur Ginema League.