The Motion Picture Director (Sep 1925 - Feb 1926)

November 50 GOERZ Film Raw Stock NEGATIVE POSITIVE PANCHROMATIC y? Sole Distributors FISH-SCHURMAN CORPORATION WEST COAST OFFICE 1050 Cahuenga Ave. Los Angeles California Telephone GLadstone 9805 ©i rector DIRECTING HAROLD LLOYD (Continued from Page 14) gag-man into his own and the introduction of men of this type into the dramatic lots. Every studio of any consequence today has one or more gag-men whose sole function it is to furnish gags to be injected into dramatic stories. The improvement in comedies has taught audiences to laugh; the producers have recognized this fact and, like all good businessmen, they are endeavoring to satisfy their customers’ demands. The result has been a growing homogeneity of motion pictures — not a sameness, but a closer kinship. It is the same march of events which can be traced in the history of any other art-expression. There will always be a small number of out-and-out melodramas and, at the other extreme, downright farces, but the in-between group of pictures is growing in volume with this increasing kinship — and rightly so, because it means we are giving our audiences worth-while entertainment with a proper admixture of comedy and drama. The small circle of directors and producers who have already recognized the fact of this artistic progress on the screen is reaping a just reward and, in this case at least, the tendency to follow-the-leader will be beneficial to all concerned. CUSTOMS AND COSTUMES (Continued from Page 21) popularity of the comic opera from which the picture has been adapted and the musical theme which accompanies it and The Merry M'idow is another of the exceptions that prove the rule. In the category of costume plays one must perforce include allegories and fantasies. The same basic principles that apply to the period play apply here as well and to an even greater extent. In the old days the illusive possibilities of the camera prompted the production of many allegorical subjects, productions which in practically every instance failed of success as box office attractions. The element of realism as understood by the American public was lacking. Fantasies have suffered much the same fate. Notable exceptions have been where the personalities of players have carried the production over through the sheer force of personal appeal. Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad achieved a greater success than would otherwise have been the case simply because it was Fairbanks. All of which explains in part why Anthony Ehler’s scenario Oberon having traveled the rounds has been consistently rejected by American producers. Oberon might indeed be a very successful production in Europe, visualizing as it does many elements of European history and tradition which have only an indirect appeal in this country and that largely to those of foreign birth to whom the legendary characters are more or less real. But in this country the chances are 100 to 1 that it would prove a decided “flop.” A BUSY SEASON FOR EVE UNSELL WRITING the modern screen story, whether in original form or as an aptation, calls for a degree of versatility and a knowledge of human nature that is astounding when you stop to analyze things a bit. For instance, a resume of the scenario activities of Eve Unsell during the past few months runs pretty much the whole gamut of human emotions as well as involving an intimate understanding of the modus operandi of some half dozen directors and half as many studios. During the past year, which Miss Unsell states has been “the happiest and most successful of my busy screen career,” she has turned out nine scripts either as a whole or in collaboration. Starting with the adaptation of Hell’s High Road for Cecil B. DeMille, she followed that up with The Plastic Age for B. P. Schulberg. Then came collaboration with James Hamilton in the adaptation of The Ancient Highway, a James Oliver Curwood story, for Famous Players-Lasky ; and then a period of collaboration with June Mathis during which were evolved What Fools Men! for Lewis Stone and Shirley Mason, directed by George Archainbaud, and adapted from the book, Joseph Greer and His Daughter; The Girl from Mont marts, for Barbara LaMarr and Lewis Stone, directed by Alfred E. Green and adapted from the book, Spanish Sunlight, and The Second Chance on which she is now working in collaboration with Miss Mathis, as a vehicle for Anna Q. Nilsson to be directed by Curt Rehfield. In between have been scripts for three Fox productions, Thunder Mountain, a Victor Schertzinger production based on the John Golden play Howdy Folks by Pearl Franklin; The Yankee Senor from the book The Conquistador, a Tom Mix production directed by Emmett Flynn, and The Golden Strain another Victor Schertzinger production from the Cosmopolitan story Thoroughbreds by Peter B. Kyne. Following his return from his transcontinental trip visiting the exchanges, E. O. Van Pelt has taken a flier up into the Yellowstone where he shot exteriors on a new feature in eight working days getting some remarkable scenic stuff on the side.