Motion Picture News (Apr - Jun 1927)

.U a V 1927 1831 giiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiuuiiiiiiiuiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiuiuiuinuiiiuiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiifiiiiiii|^' European Film Notes i Kt'porird lo the Department of I ConiiiH-ree hy Trade (loiiitui^sioiier I G. R. Canty, Paris i '\aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiJuuiiiii;iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiNiiiniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiHiiii^ A l)i;r patriotic and moral film entitlcil ■•['(•iir Ic Roi," will bo prodiicod in Bcljriiuii in A])ril, it is roportod. This film will he 5,000 meters lon<? and its distribution is said to 1)0 nearly oompleto. The soenario conceives several historic piotnros, a very oriLrinal war history and finishes off with a travelojruo of Belgium. ('ine-l)ocumentairo, under the direction of Mr. Tjoon Ardonin, and with the collaboratiiut (if ^Ir. TTciiri ^"l^•ino, the film director and (if Mc>sr>. Ijouis Dnrieu.x, artistic director, and Roland Guerard, has undertaken to show, in a scries of artistic and travel films, the various aspects of France. Each film will recall the local history of one of the French regions and will show I lie public, by moans of a scenario, esjioeially written for each district, the most pictiires(|ue corners of the country. Tart of each film will bo colored. Mr. Ardouin is i-eturninjr from Britany whore he shot a number of exteriors, notably at Saint Polde-rjoon and at Ijandernau. The ]\Iunicii)al Council of Lu.xomburf;:, in a meotinp: hold on February 2(5, lost, voted 1(5 to 8 to rent the city theatre for cinema exhibition durinjr the time when there will bo no theatrical ])rosentations. The bookin<r will be done by public submission. The ct.mpanv in question has oflFered to pav .".0,000 francs for rent. Fmelka has acquired the Munich Film Palast. With the three theatres belonjrto Kommorzieurat Kraus, p^molka has now five picture houses in ^lunich which total .'!,160 seats. The latter fifjure will be increased by 700 seats when the reconstruction of the Kammerlichtspiole is finished. In Czechoslovakia there were exhibited in 1026. 1792 films with 1,S(5.S,0()<) motors of lennftli, of which number 002 wore American. .■?4.3 German, TM French, 22 Austrian, n Italian, 23 Scandinavian, 7 Russian, lo Knulish, 1 Palestine, 1 Dutch, 1 Swiss, and 24.") (Czechoslovak. The censor prohibited 5S films, and 821 films out of 1,702 wore especially authorized for exhibition to children. There was organized recently at Warsaw an association of Polish film directors and operators, whose membership is open also to film architects, paintei-s, artists and technicians. Norwegian production is beginning to improve, according to reports from that country. The capital of Norway has 15 picture theatres which are all exploited directly by the city. The last films that have been shown are, "Denuye Leusemanden," which had not the expected success; "Baldevin Bryilupp" marking some progress; "Brudef ergon i Ilartanger," and "(ilado ouko i Traugvik." a well executed comedy, featuring Grangsholt, de Lilla Carlson, and Hoist Jansen. This is said to be the best Norwegian production to date and the j)ublic accorded it a good reception. French films are still rare on Norwegian screen. Lasky's Declaration of Independence Read at Convention Jl'-.'^SI'. L. [..\.SK^ , liisl \ u i-])i esulcnt 111 cliari^c (ii ])r<i(liieti< )n fo!' Paramount, fired a broadside at tliosc who would infliet their own ej^o.s u|)on the film imiu.stry. at the expense of entertainment values and ])roduction costs, in a stirrinj^ address at the annual international conventif)n of the companv in New >'ork this week. I lij,dilij,dits of his talk follow: "Since its birth years acfo the motion ])icture business has been at various times the creature of many masters — monopolists, trade combinations, fanatic reformers, temperamental artists, exorbitant costs We have con(|uered and beaten all of the evils that beset our busines-. . . . We arc no longer their slaves to be bullied and beaten about. We are their masters. . . . "There was a time, not so long ago, when the ])ublic cither had no voice or was indifTerent to what we were trying to accomplish. . . . Today the ])ublic knows pictures — it is ])icture-wise. ])icture-conscious— and it (juickly and em])hatically registers its likes and dislikes at that greatest of all forums, the greatest of all testing-grounds, the box office. . . . "We have been making pictures, for instance, for various high ])ricc-d and unreasonable stars, also directors whose names and reputations were a mirage rather than a reality. We have been making i)ictures for certain groups, who we thought voiced the ])ublic demand. We have been making pictures for theorizing critics. Wc have been making i)icturcs for ourselves . . . for nearly everybody and everything except the men and women and children who pay their money at the bo.x-office. "Today, however . . . we can tell stars, directors, intriguers, critic-. that we are in the business of making Paramount Pictures, and making them our way, to suit the public, and that if they don't like it they can get out. . . . "No matter who the star is. no matter how famous the director, we can now tell him to deliver — and deliver our way — or get out. .\nd, as corollary to that, no matter how obscure the person, no matter how youthful, if he has that talent we want, we welcome him and give him every opportunity to make good. . . . "\Miat has been one big result of that policy? It's this: To several well known players and directors we gave opportunities and resources that necessarily were withheld from others. These . . could not reconcile their own aims to our conception of service to the ])ublic. They were allowed to go. What happened? These ()pi)ortunities were given to others. . . . "So you see that while we are building with youth and courage and ideas, we are not afraid to scrap the old faces whose only appeal is the dubious lure of tradition. . . . Let them go over the hill to that other group which thinks that the motion picture art is shown best in the entertainment of foreign nobility ; which thinks that the i)raisc of critics is the voice of the people. "\\'hat I mean is this: In the last year or so a little group of people who gather charmingly aliout their tea tables in Hollywood trying to warm themselves in the setting sun of their fame, have fomented propaganda against the men and women in our studios who have been working night and day to turn out pictures that will meet the response of the great pulalic. . . . We know what we are doing, and we are going ahead at our task serene and undisturbed. When a star or director is discharged by us, always remember that it is our policy to let that person do the talking. . . . "Xo. gentlemen, it has taken us a long time to get to it, but it is the picture — the picture, and nothing but the picture, which spells success. And we don't purpose to have the success of that ])icture's production jeopardized by high-jiriced bolsheviks whose fame is so hollow that it bursts at the first touch of intelligent scrutiny. "We have the situation of ])roduction costs licked. We knt)w now that we shall remain within our production budget this c^.ming year. . . . This is not a spectacular victory. . . . But to me it is the most important victory that our producing organization has ever won." B Hill