Motion Picture (Aug 1938-Jan 1939)

COMMENTS ON THIS HERE PICTURE BUSINESS By LARRY REID BUSINESS seems to be picking up around the movie theatres, as it seems to be picking up in other industries and enterprises. And this in spite of the film industry's Greatest Year campaign, the slogan of which is Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment. There's something naive about this slogan. I believe they could have struck off a better one and registered modesty. Since the movie public has been staying away from picture houses in droves they're not going to be suddenly reminded to return to them just because in Hollywood's eyes there's nothing better in entertainment. It's as if the industry assumed a patronizing slant like a mother at Christmas time who tells Junior: "now if you'll be a good boy and mind mamma, Santa Claus will give you that bicycle." One thing the industry must learn to respect and that is the intelligence of its public. There are plenty who, upon reading this slogan, are saying: "You're telling me" or "so what ?" or "is that so ?" But assume that the slogan does guide a few millions back into the theatres — what are they going to do to keep them there once the contest is over ? The answer is obvious: GOOD PICTURES. Every movie mogul knows that there's nothing wrong with the box-office that good pictures won't cure. Give them good sound plots that tell the story with realities and humanities ; give them lifelike characters and Hollywood's better players will make them entertaining. Neat Dressing, Poor Filling 'TpHE dressing is far better than the A filling. Every picture, nearly, is well staged and photographed. Technically, they're perfect. It's the filling that has to be digested — and when you can't even masticate it, much less swallow it, then you have the answer why patrons have stayed away from the movies. The public has become fed up with cycle plots — wherein a hit picture has attracted the public to such an extent that the identical plot is dished up by rival companies over a period of time. The twins, Cinderella and Pollyanna, and their brother Rollo, still carry on, but Hollywood doesn't yet realize that they are dying of pernicious anemia. 90 There are too many pictures being made. One company makes 60 to 70 films a year. So another company has to make as many or lose prestige or "face" as the Japs call it. So it becomes a general practice of all the major companies to equal or surpass one another on the year's total product. And what does this develop? It develops the double feature — the bane of the industry in all of its ramifications-. There aren't enough good stories being written to attract patrons. It's natural that the public is fed constant repetition. On the other hand studios have a big investment in players who must be kept employed. To keep a rival studio from putting in a claim if an option isn't lifted, the player is kept on the payroll and put to work. If the star is unfortunate enough to make a smelly picture then he suffers loss of prestige and popularity and the patron says : "So-and-So is slipping." I'd like to see the day when the big companies make no more than 30 pictures a year — which is a fraction over one every two weeks. With more time spent picking stories — with fewer stories — and these with definite appeal — with some options dropped and the real worthies retained, I think the industry would be seeing daylight ahead. It would hold its public because pictures would be on a higher plane — and patrons who have been turning their backs on the box-office would return. Even potential patrons, now too bored, would be attracted. There are too many pictures, too many players. Mr. and Mrs. Public are fed up. Needs A Bit Of Paring CUTTING down on stories and double features would do away with Bingo, Screeno, Bank Night, Auction Night — and all the other evils that have cropped up to lure the public into theatres. Then give 'em their money's worth and a mental stimulant in a well-balanced program. Then the producers could stand one hundred per cent behind the slogan : Motion Pictures Are Your Best Entertainment. If you ask those fellows in Washington what's the matter with business they'll give you the stock retort : Over-Production. We make too much of everything (once it proves a popular product) in this country. Detroit makes too many cars and has to shut down several weeks every year, and Hollywood makes too many pictures. Hollywood asks : "Can't we please 'em anymore?" They could please them if they'd only put things under control. Good Pictures — Good Business YES, business is picking up. In the big cities the bedecked ballyhooers in front of the movie palaces are shouting : "Standing Room Only For A Short While." They get the better pictures first. Before better ones make the neighborhoods and small towns the cash customers are in for a flock of double features — with a set of dishes or some auctioned store clothes thrown in. There are no uniformed lobbyists handing out the hauteur: "Only A Short Wait For Scats." There, the customers take the dishes and cash and potatoes and flour even if they can't take the double feature. I 'op and Mom and Junior get tired eyes and fidgety nerves sitting through 3 or 4 hours of junk. Now if they could just see in the Bingo Bijou such worthies as Algiers; Professor, Bczvare; The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse; Three Comrades; The Judge Hardy gems; Test Pilot; The Rage of Paris; Sing You Sinners; Alexander's Ragtime Band (despite the central characters never age in 25 years) ; Carefree and Four Daughters everything would be just dandy. This Four Daughters is something out of the ordinary — a picture that doesn't need a Best Entertainment slogan to pull you in. Word of mouth will sell it. Which brings me back to the oft-told phrase : "There's Nothing The Matter With the Box-Office That A Good Picture Won't Cure. If all stories were told as simply, humanly and realistically there'd be no bad movies. A little thought, a little care, a little common sense, a little discretion — that's all that's needed. Double features wouldn't be needed — neither would Bank Night, Bingo, Screeno and all the rest of the sorry mess that has hurt the picture business— and brought it down in the Bingo spots to the level of a cheap carnival's razzle-dazzle. Let Hollywood lift up its head and look high and aim higher. Then we'll be on the high-road of Best Entertainment. Meanwhile, how are your dishes holding up, Mr. Dudrap?