The Motion Picture and the Family (Oct 1934 - May 1937)

4 THE MOTION PICTURE AND THE FAMILY January 15, 1937 AVAILABLE MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITS Suitable for display in libraries, class rooms, assembly halls. Romeo and Juliet, Anthony Adverse, The Plainsman, Lost Horizon and Maid of Salem. COMING The Good Earth ALSO An Exhibit Showing the Process of Making An Animated Cartoon — from the Paul Terry Studios. For information as to how to obtain these address Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Inc., 28 West 44th Street, New York, N. Y. Suggested Reading For Film Lovers (Continued from Page 3) ence Monitor, December 16, Glamour of Drudgery, by Harold Hobson — a study of the hard work that goes into making some of the masterpieces of the Denham Studios; Christian Science Monitor, January 5, The Work of Ralph Jester for the Paramount Studio in "The Spirit of the Plains" (from The Plainsman) ; Digest and Review, February, The Hunt for Danger, by Lowell Thomas (from This Week) — which tells of the work of the newsreel men; The Fortnightly, January, (London), Policy and Entertainment, by Ivor Brown — comments on the attitude of the British government towards popular entertainment, including motion pictures; Science Digest, February, Movies Make Their Own Weather (from Popular Mechanics) and What About Television? by Martin Codel (from Broadcasting) ; Stage, December, On the Set with "Winterset," by Burgess Meredith— a stage star describes his impressions of Hollywood. Educational: Life and Letters Today (London), Winter 1936-37, Program for Teaching the Theory and Practice of Film Direction, by S. M. Eisenstein, (translated by Stephen Garry with Ivor Montagu) ; Christian Science Monitor, January 5, A New Film Movement? Great Historical Movies Cut to Classroom Length, by Lewis Rex Miller; same issue, New Type Film Study Guide; The Etude, January, 1937, Composing for the Pictures, by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, noted Austrian composer, who wrote the first operetta for the screen. Sent To See Film Judge John Riddell of York, Nebraska, sent a juvenile delinquent to see The Devil is a Sissy. He thought it would put him on the right track. WHAT'S NEXT IN HOLLYWOOD? By Alice Ames Winter Novelists and dramatists are always building historical romances, but allowing themselves wide scope for the purely imaginative — and getting terribly criticized for it by a literal-minded public. So it was clever of Mark Twain to prefix his historical story, The Prince and the Pauper, by the statement "This is not a history, but a tale of Once Upon A Time, so it may have happened, it may not have happened, but it could have happened." In the story two boys are born at the same hour — one little Prince Edward, heir to Henry VIII; the other the child of a slum rascal and thief. One is educated for the throne; the other, by beatings, to steal and beg. Through fantastic happenings the two, who look exactly alike, are juggled into each others' positions and for a brief time the slum child plays the part of prince, while the prince becomes an outcast. The death of Henry, which brings the ten-year-old Edward to the throne, opens the way for ambition, politics and trickery to take advantage of the situation, and thereby hangs the tale. Warner Brothers used charming young Billy Mauch to play the part of the boy Anthony Adverse; Billy has a twin brother, Bobby, equally talented, and these lads are playing the parts of Prince Edward Tudor and Tom Canty, while Errol Flynn, the very type of a swashbuckler hero, plays the gallant soldier who brings truth to triumph — all under the direction of William Keighley, who knows how to make a good film and take advantage of every opening. Here's another tale of something that really happened, but perhaps did not happen exactly this way. Nearly 100 years ago, in the day of sailing ships, the William Brown was sinking at sea. There were not enough life boats to go around. One young man took possession of the situation and constituted a quick and searching court of trial to decide which of the men were the most worth saving — for the good of the world. Instinctively, as people always obey a natural leader, everyone submitted to his decisions. Afterwards, in Philadelphia, the youth was tried for manslaughter. He had sent certain men to their deaths, but the court acquitted him. An extraordinarily dramatic bit of reality, isn't it? Paramount has bought one of the last of the old Alaska fisher boats, a three-masted bark, named her the William Brown and given Gary Cooper the part. The picture was made off the shore of Catalina Island, and you will see it in Souls At Sea. Most of us read Jules Verne's thrilling tale of Michael Strogoff, written in the days when melodrama lived up to all its possibilities, and we held our breath through incredible pages. RKO will introduce you to the picture-story of Russian and Tartar plot and ro (Continued on Page 6) Brands As Fallacious Idea Films Lead Children To Crime The attitude of distinguished authorities in this country in branding as fallacious the argument that films portraying crime have a harmful influence upon young people was given substantial support recently by no less a personage than Lord Hewart, Lord Chief Justice of England. Speaking at a dinner of the British Kinematograph Society, Lord Hewart said it was commonly stated that when adventures of passion and crime are portrayed before young persons they tempt them to pursue an irresponsible and reckless life. "So that shortly the world may be expected to have become a deplorable hive of murder, elopment and blackmail," he added. "Well, generations of men have in their youth read hair-raising stories of detection and adventure. Their sympathies, if they are healthy and wise, were no doubt found on the side of the criminal in his efforts to escape. "They sometimes preferred, perhaps, the qualities of the pirate or the burglar to the dismal proprieties of their victims or the cultivated suavity of the police. "There is something to be said, is there not, for Bill Sikes and all his kind? And the criminal who exhibits heroic qualities may naturally be a more popular figure in fiction than the persons whose features and piety remain unimpaired and unattractive from the first page to the last. "Yet it is seldom suggested that children who read works of this kind — many of them to be numbered among the classics of literature— are thereby encouraged to entertain evil designs or indulge in criminal practices. "On what other grounds than prejudice can you. base the view that the cinema makes criminals of young persons?" Views Same on Luxury Lord Hewart said that it was sometimes suggested, too, that it was not good for what were called the "masses" to be introduced to the luxuries and extravagances which the films often depicted, but he added that most of the classics of English fiction contained some scenes of that kind — "weddings and (Continued on page 8) A Clubwoman Chats On Films For The Family (Continued from Page 3) throughout the country, the theatre managers, with a weather eye to returns at the box-office, would not present them. All these were hard, cold facts and in a sense indisputable, but that does not mean that the children's cause is lost. Public relations and civic groups throughout the country have already had a tremendous influence in increasing the percentage of family pictures produced because they have been so successful in educating the family audience. The same course is open to them with relation to children's pictures. If we want children's pictures to be made we must first of all create an audience for them, an audience so large in numbers that we will have no difficulty in proving to the local theatre manager that presenting them will be a profitable experiment. Walt Disney is, at the present time, making a feature length animated cartoon based upon the legend of "Snow White." If that is a success it may solve for all time the problem of children's pictures. The animated cartoon may be the medium which appeals most strongly to the young people of America. If it does not, our civic groups must face this problem squarely: Is there a field for children's pictures? Can we create a demand for them? Can we make that demand so articulate that producers, without the fear of wasting the money of their stockholders, can afford to make them? It is another instance in which I believe the solution of the problem is squarely "up to us." Family Films of the Month So much as to the prospect of strictly children's films. Meanwhile, here is a word as to some of the outstanding family pictures of the current month. Chief among these is, of course, Paramount's production of The Plainsman, epic of life on the American plains. Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and other characters which are sure to stir juvenile admiration move through its spectacular scenes. Every young person, and particularly the boys, will get a thrill out of it. Two other particularly outstanding films of the month can be heartily recommended to the family: London Films-United Artists' Rembrandt, with Charles Laughton in the character of the great Dutch painter, and RKO Radio's Rainbow on the River, in which the youthful singer, Bobby Breen, gives perhaps his finest screen performance to date. This film is recommended enthusiastically not only for the family but for junior matinees. Among the singing films which the young people will like are Champagne Waltz, Paramount, featuring Gladys Swarthout, Met(Continued on page 8)