Motion Picture Classic (1923, 1924, 1926)

jhc Greatest Jtfessqge ever written into ^)ti(nisictureffistoiy -£)auid Mdascos QArHstlc influence QAIotion Ttclures/ w -^ "'v. 7 fS " Mr _ Y"'Yfrii"i~'"MI •;V~:Hj..v«=^ ^aew^fS^i DAVID BELASCO — the man who for a generation has captivated patrons of the Spoken Drama — has yielded to the insistent appeal that his dramatic genius should be perpetuated in Motion Pictures for the entertainment and inspiration of all people for all time. And BELASCO has chosen to express his matchless art exclusively through <( y> Warner Bros. Classics of The Screen Now you will see pictures so beyond-the-ordinary that you will forget the canvas before you and feel the heart-grip of the master producer. DAVID BELASCO'S association with WARNER BROS, is the long-sought triumph of the Silent Drama — the final proof of Warner leadership. Watch for the first three Belasco productions — "Tiger Rose" — "The Qold Diggers"— "Daddies". We have a limited number of autographed photographs of DAVID BELASCO which we will send without cost on request of readers of this publication 1600 Broadway \ IIRNERIHK f Classics of the Screen** New York City Elinor Glyn on the Technique of the Scenario (Continued from page 34) before it is accepted. First, it is read, then passed on to the considering office, where it is criticized before reaching the scenario department. There the actual changes are made, and it is sent to the continuity writer ; after this, it is placed in the director's hands. His point of view is often biased by the subject, which may be about a nation or a class whose manners and customs he knows nothing about ! The director changes things pretty much as he wishes, as does the advisory committee. Then of course there is the star of the production, who must have his or her little alterations. When all this is done, the censorship committee awaits what is left of a once original story. And there you are ! Or rather, there your once beautiful story isn't! "The actual meaning of your idea? Alas, it no longer exists ! Supposing your story is of a man who stumbled out of a window. Have it by accident or otherwise, as you will. You. as the author, had a definite reason for this to happen. And, having your reason, had doubtless, a logical result, as it affected the man who tumbled, and also as it modified the lives of those with whom he was connected. You worked out the psychology, the consequences of everything in your story ; these, and other parts were the very life of it. Life? "When the average motion picture scenario department finishes with your creation, it has been robbed of all which could make it convincing. All the well-planned logic and true psychology is gone, deleted. Your man and his tragic tumble have become perhaps even the comic adventure of a person who now evidently bears no plausible relation to anything in your story. "And you ? You have been made a fool of, because the picture play that cannot but insult the intelligence of the public, is brought out under your name ! I believe, from what I have observed, that the American public is quite the most understanding in the world. It is therefore no small prejudice that you have aroused against you, as the author. You are guilty of offering 'bunk,' something that all the checks in the world would not have enticed from your pen, in the beginning. "As I have been away from America for nearly a year I have not seen the most recent pictures. But I have been studying motion pictures in England, Germany, Sweden, and France. And truly, from the techni ( Seventy-eight)