Films Facts and Forecasts (1927)

Page scan 000308 from Films Facts and Forecasts

Record Details:

Title:
Films Facts and Forecasts
Date:
1927
Publisher:
London, Geoffrey Bles
Volume:
Films Facts and Forecasts
Leaf #:
000308
Language:
English
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Date Added:
May 02, 2025
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CHAPTER XXV ART OR BUSINESS An inevitable limitation of the film is that it is as nearly as expensive to bring to the public as it is to make it. You can hang a painting in the National Gallery, lecture on it, talk about it, write articles about it, and gradually you can persuade English people to like it. You can sell it to America, and then they really appreciate it. But you can't follow that process with a film. It is extremely expensive to popularise a good film, which does not instantly attract the public. A painting eats sweat and blood, and even money, but only while you are making it. So does a film, but the film continues to eat money and effort as long as it is in existence. The result is that a film that is an art success and not an entertainment success can never be seen except by a small, eclectic public, and no one can afford to make pictures for an eclectic public — at least, not more than one. Many clever people have made that one good film, but no one in the world will or can afford to back him a second time. For the same reason, there are scarcely any amateur film-production societies to assist artistic development, as there are amateur dramatic and operatic societies. The only way a man could hope to make films to please himself only would be to discover a Maecenas to support him. Almost every great painter, composer, or writer in the past has basked in the sunshine of a patron's smile. 250