Harrison's Reports (1933)

Entered as second-class matter January 4, 1921, at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison’S Yearly Subscription Rates: United States $15.00 U. S. Insular Possessions. 16.50 Canada 16.50 Mexico, Cuba, Spain 16.50 Great Britain 16.00 Australia, New Zealand, India 17.50 35c a Copy 1440 BROADWAY New York, N. Y. A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Its Editorial Policy: No Problem Too Big for Its Editorial Columns, if It is to Benefit the Exhibitor. Published Weekly by P. S. HARRISON Editor and Publisher Established July 1, 1919 PEnnsylvania 6-6379 Cable Address : Harreports (Bentley Code) A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XV ^TURDAY, DECEMBER 2. 1933 No. 48 BLOOD MONEY — No. 2 “THE LATE CHRISTOPHER BEAN”: Every drama, comedy, or comedy-drama conveys some sort of moral. Some of the times such a moral is concealed so deeply that it is almost unrecognizable ; at other times it is plainly evident. The protagonist of the play (either hero or heroine) is the exponent of the moral. In "The Late Christopher Bean” Mr. Lionel Barrymore, who is the hero of the piece, is endeared to the spectator as a patient, home-loving doctor, genial and sympathetic, tolerant to the extreme. About the middle of the play there is planted in his heart and mind the most vicious sort of greed that has ever been seen in pictures. When he finds out that the pictures that the late Christopher Bean had painted were w'orth a fortune, he attempted to cheat Marie Dressier by making an effort to induce her to sell him one of Bean’s valuable paintings she possessed for a pittance. Selfishness and greed come to the surface in all their ugliness. A situation such as this is vicious ; it is demoralizing. But one is wasting his energies in asking the producers in Hollywood to be ethical. For gold they would wreck the entire nation. “POWER AND THE GLORY” : It is implied that the hero's son had had an illicit affair with his stepmother, from which affair there was a child. When it dawns on the hero what had happened, he kills himself. How can any human being, least of all an experienced producer of motion picture entertainment, ever imagine that an episode of this kind can be accepted by the amusement-seeking public? Famous dramatists have stated that an immoral incident in a play may be forgiven when an immoral purpose will not. This incident, however, surpasses the forgiveable stage ; it offends, in fact, it shocks, what has been inculcated into man from time immemorial. Sex relationship between persons related closely by ties of blood or of marriage outrages people in drama as much as it does in life. But it is easier for us to find a needle in a haystack than such niceties among the producers in Hollyw’ood. “FEMALE” : A glorification of loose living ; it is surrounded by so much class that the average young woman will say to herself: “Why shouldn’t I do the same thing?” I have heard that Harry Warner is willing to help the Code Administration to make the production of immoral books impossible. .-\re there two Harry Warners in the picture industry ? “THE MAD GAME”: The idea upon which this picture has been founded is the taking up of kidnapping by some racketeers after the destruction of their beer racket by the repeal of prohibition. It is a dangerous theme, but it has been handled well by Fox and its pernicious influence is neutralized. But who can say that if this picture made a success the pictures that will be made on this pattern will be handled as successfully? Can we forget what happened with the gangster pictures? I sincerely hope that this picture will not make a “howling” success, for if it does, the efforts of our Government to stamp out kidnapping will be neutralized, and the crime augmented. Why should the producers undertake such subjects when millions of good pictures can be made of old themes by new treatment ? “-A.CE OF ,'\CES" : The hero, from an idealist, abhoring war, turns into a most bloodthirsty war ace. Imagine what a world this would be if we were to emulate this hero’s example ! “BROADWAY THROUGH A KEYHOLE” : It glorifies a gangster, for it shows him defending virtue. Demoralizing in the extreme. “ONE SUNDAY AFTERNOON”: In one situation the hero is shown as having murder in his heart ; he felt as if he should murder the man who had stolen the girl he was about to marry. “ESKIMO”: The skipper of a brig, a white, forces an Eskimo woman to surrender to him ; he first gives her liquor to drink, and she becomes intoxicated. There is a close-up showing the Eskimo woman in bed, intoxicated but still drinking whiskey at the urging of the white man. It is a situation so vile that many friends of mine were wondering why our New York State Censorship Commissioner approved the picture without deleting the scene. Mr. Esmond is very strict when he censors pictures of independent producers, but very liberal when it concerns pictures of the major companies, particularly Metro-(R>ldwynMayer. “THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE”: The plot of the book “Sanctuary” upon which this picture was founded was not followed faithfully ; the scenes of implied degeneracy were eliminated. But this did not improve matters. The scene in which the villain is shown entering the part of the barn where the heroine had taken refuge is too revolting : just as he was about to approach her the scene dissolves and the heart-rending scream of the helpless heroine is heard. At the trial of an innocent man for murder, she is compelled to reveal what had happened to her. It is too revolting for words. I tried to induce Paramount to give up production of it but I was not successful ; I was told by a certain Russell Holman that since I had not read the script I could not be a competent judge; moreover, he said. Dr. Wingate, former New York State Censorship Commissioner, now employed by the producers on the Coast, had read and passed the script. The picture made a miserable failure, because it proved insulting to human intelligence. The situations that were expected to appeal to the sexual passions left even those who seek sex entertainment unmoved. These are only a few more pictures of the sort that wreck the happiness of people. The fact that they have proved unprofitable should be the best proof that the amusementseeking public cannot stomach them. It is producers with a foggy mind that think the public will like them. Even if such pictures were to prove box-office success, money made out of them is blood money, for they appeal to all that is base and low and vile in human nature. Harrison’s Reports is opposed to censorship, state or Federal, because it believes that censorship cannot cure the evil. What we need is more character in the producers of pictures. But this we shall not have until younger blood has been brought into the industry to take the place of the fossilized old blood. There is character among the graduates of our colleges and universities of the present generation. But how can we attract them when the old fossils are still in control ? Perhaps the bankers who have millions invested in this industry will give this suggestion some thought. THE PRODUCERS AND THE HELP THEY GET FROM THE THEATRES THEY OPERATE Last month Mr. Adolph Zukor gave an interview in Motion Picture Daily about the part the theatres owned by the producers played in preventing collapse in this industry. “The obligation of large producers to protect investments in their corporate owned and affiliated theatres by delivering to them a consistent supply of good pictures throughout the recent years of business depression,” says part of Mr. Zukor’s statement, “saved the world motion picture industry from collapse during 1932.” He said that had the producers been free of theatre ownership in the few years pa.st they would have been free, likewise, of the obligation of delivering the best pictures of which their facilities were (Continued on last page)