Harrison's Reports (1945)

104 HARRISON'S REPORTS June 30, 1945 that the success of this picture might well bring about a cycle of crime pictures, the ultimate result of which would be to give a distorted view of life in America to the people in foreign lands. Borzage knows what he is talking about, for experience has shown that, every time a certain type of picture has made a success, rival studios quickly put into preparation stories of a similar theme, in order to cash in on what they believed to be a new trend in the entertainment desires of the picture-going public. As a matter of fact, a recent issue of weekly Variety carried a report that the "grossing power of a $200,000 budgeter, such as 'Dillinger,' which now looms as a $1,000,000 grosser, has 'alerted' major studios where 37 showings of the film have already been reported held for production staffs in an effort to analyze the b.o. values. (There have been eight staff screenings at one studio alone)." Harrison's Reports has maintained for years that a large percentage of American pictures, particularly of the crime pictures, misrepresents the American nation to the peoples of foreign countries. When the producers adapt vicious, sordid story material for pictures, the harm caused to this country by the false impression of our national character created abroad far outweighs the monetary gain from foreign sales. Trem Carr says that "in the field of diplomacy . . . it might be best to leave that work in the hands of our State Department, and we in the motion picture business follow their recommendations, rather than try to set any pattern for them to follow." While diplomacy in this country's relations with other countries is properly the work of our State Department, it does not relieve a producer of his moral obligation to use the utmost care in selecting material to be put into pictures, particularly when those pictures touch upon our Ameircan way of life. In point is an editorial of this paper written in 1939, dealing with Frank Capra's failure to exercise discretion in producing "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." I said then that, "under the democratic system of our Government, a citizen may employ his right to express his opinion without molestation, so long as he does not violate the law. The right of the citizen to express his opinion freely, however, places on him certain moral obligations. One of such obligations, for example, is to use discretion if the exercise of that right should wound the feelings of other citizens, or if he should present the United States of America abroad in a bad light. He is not compelled to restrain himself by law; he must do so as a result of his ability to discern when his words, his criticisms, may hurt the nation itself — lower it in the estimation of people, abroad as well as at home, particularly abroad." As Trem Carr says, none can disagree on the power of the motion picture to tell a compelling story, and its use, both from an educational and propaganda standpoint, has proved most effective. We should, therefore, look upon our motion pictures as "ambassadors" in foreign lands — "ambassadors" bearing no credentials but exerting great power. That power should be used, not to libel and villify our own country, but to represent America more in accordance with the truth. And the responsibility for the use of this power lies with the American producers, for it is through their depiction of American ways and cus toms that the people of foreign countries will form either an adverse or a favorable opinion of the character of the American people. The producers, however, should not concern themselves only with the adverse effect a cycle of gangster pictures might have in foreign countries. They should remember also that crime films, when produced in number, despite the "crime does not pay" moral they expound, exert a disastrous influence upon the youth of our own country, for an excess of such pictures will turn the screen into a school of crime, undermining the morale of those with delinquent tendencies, and causing some of them to adopt the brutal, resourceful methods employed by the gangsters in their commission of the crimes portrayed on the screen. No one knows better than the exhibitors of this country just how seriously the industry was affected by the crime pictures that were rampant in the 1930's. At that time the moral quality of pictures was so low that it brought down the unified wrath of religious and other organizations upon the entire industry, with the result that the public stayed away either from all pictures or from most of them, and kept their children away from them altogether. The exhibitors cannot now afford to experience a recurrence of the situation in the 1930's. And the way to prevent it is to lodge a protest now with the producer-distributor representatives, nipping in the bud any contemplated plans for a cycle of crime pictures. ALLIED OF EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA ENDORSES HARRISON'S REPORTS In an organization bulletin, dated June 18, Sidney E. Samuelson, general manager of the Allied Independent Theatre Owners of Eastern Penna., Inc., had this to say : "Recently, Abe Montague, General Sales Manager of Columbia, sent many exhibitors throughout the country a three-page telegram from Los Angeles. In it, Montague repeated the extravagant promises about the Columbia product. I will not comment upon the use of telegraph facilities for this totally unnecessary purpose during war time. Obviously, this abuse of the overburdened communication facilities of the nation bothered neither Mr. Montague nor his conscience. "But I do want to direct your attention to the devastating analysis of Columbia's delivery performance for the current 1944-45 season, which appeared in Harrison's Reports on June 9, 1945. Harrison points out that Columbia has released only five of its promised fifteen top pictures, and he emphasizes that it will be impossible for Columbia to release all of the top pictures it promised for this year. Furthermore, — and this should not surprise you — Columbia is not releasing some of its top pictures, but is withholding them for next year. For more than twenty-five years, Peter Harrison has been the watch dog protecting the rights of the independent exhibitor and exposing the malpractices of the motion picture industry. "You are urged to carefully read this issue of Harrison's Reports, and if you do not have it handy, drop into the office where a copy is on file. Well informed exhibitors use Harrison's Reports as a valuable guide in the operation of their theatres. 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