Motion Picture Classic (Jul-Dec 1930)

The Children Want Some Action tiger all set to pounce on the innocent lamb. But now when the man says: '"Bill, hand me that rod so I can bump off this varmint,' they're not so sure, for those are a lot of words. And in many pictures there is ample dialogue of a more difficult sort with very little action to interpret it. Often it is difficult enough for adults to grasp the ideas behind swiftly spoken language, so why need we be astonished if the young child feels bored.'' Their Likes and Dislikes UNDOUBTEDLY, something is needed to provide proper entertainment for the child, but — it must not be deliberately designed for the immature mentality. Children do not like pictures for children. Most of them are quick and bright if you give them something to be quick and bright about, but I doubt if we can expect them to appreciate the subtleties of O'Neill drama. Children are not sophisticates, and we might as well recognize this. "Probably the trend toward 'Westerns' will help considerably, for the 'Western ' is essentially a primitive action story, even when upholstered with suitable dialogue. There are horses, lariats, mountains, villains and the trappings of romance. And children are incurably romantic, if not always love-conscious. It is romantic to them to see the hero rescue the lovely heroine, and very satisfying to see the villain get his just deserts. And I believe some good, clean, romantically active serials would help a great deal. But whatever is done in this direction must have an appeal also for the adult mind. We can no longer afford to make movies that appeal only to children. "I say that because it is economically impossible — or at least impractical — to produce pictures for five or six per cent, of the picture audience. One picture is merely part of a program, which means that its profit to the theater must always be but a part of the admission price. The producers undoubtedly are taking the necessary steps to solve this problem." Mr. Franklin's remarks seem to point rather unerringly to elemental drama as the solution, and it is quite possible Crowley A "knock-out" scene from "The Spoilers" — the kind of picture children do like. They are bringing back the Westerns that the motion picture studios have begun to appreciate that solution for themselves, since something very close indeed to sheer melodrama is under way in a number of them. One of the oldest principles of playwriting is that the audience should do most of the work. For that, it is necessary that the audience use its imagination; and to use its imagination, it must have some fairly comprehensive idea of an event to occur, or a result to accrue as the result of something now happening. If the action is pictorially simple and direct, even a young child can share with an adult this imaginative pleasure, and as a result you may have a successful piece of entertainment. That is why the old Bill Hart, or Bill Farnum, or Douglas Fairbanks — or Pearl White — epics had such a broadijj appeal. They cut right across^ the mentalities of so many persons of various ages and gave tremendous stimulus to imagination of the simplest but most satisfying sort. And in the old silent pictures, titles were used to explain action where necessary. The rule was one foot of film to each word of title. So a nine-word exposition occupied the screen for exactly six seconds — ample time for an alert mind to read it through more than twice, and sufficient for the slower mind to absorb the simple idea. But dialogue doesn't work that way. If you doubt that the average mind is slow, ask ten people an unfamiliar question quickly and note that nine of them will ask to have it repeated. Dialogue pictures don't permit the little auditor to say: "What did the man say. Mamma.'"' — at least not too often before the usher comes down the aisle in response to protests. How to Satisfy Both? PATHE quickly appreciated the need for children's entertainment, and E. B. Derr, in charge of production on the West Coast, already has made plans for a type that will satisfy the youngsters without alienating the grownup. He says: "Juvenile patronage cannot be ignored — and should not {Continued on page 84) A scene outside any talkie theater, anywhere, anytime: the children have practically vanished, and in their places are adults. Will producers be able to bring back the first fans and still hold the new ones? 26