Motion Picture Magazine (Aug 1924-Jan 1925)

-Tfal^ Qut> Keen Comment by TAMAR LANE Illustrated hy Harry Taskey Improvement Note OVER thirty productions were released last month, and yet : Not one old gray-haired mother was threatened with the foreclosure of a mortgage. Not one close-up was flashed on the screen showing a coffee-pot boiling over. Only six films had scenes showing expectant mothers crocheting baby clothes, to the complete surprise of the unsuspecting husband. the discovery of Jackie Coogan, and a dozen for the discovery of Rudolph Valentino. Because these celebrities are on the top. But no one is heard clamoring credit for the discovery of those celebrities who have failed to make good. That's different. Is the Silent Drama Progressing ? '"The Cecil B. De Mille production, The Whispering Chorus, made in 1917, was shown again recently in Los Angeles, and it gave a very discouraging outlook as to the progress the silent drama is making. In spite of the fact that The Whispering Chorus was produced seven years ago. it could be presented on the screens of the country today and more than hold its own among the finest artistic productions of the year. Photographically and artistically it is superior to ninety-nine out of one hundred present-day films. In fact, an appraisal of The Whispering Chorus from every angle reveals the undeniable fact that the art and drama of the silversheet has progressed but very little in the last seven years. The Whispering CJwrus is one of the finest films that De Mille ever turned out, and none of his recent efforts can be compared with it. Jazzing Up the Classics Slowly but surely the movies are annihilating all of our cherished illusions regarding not only historical characters but famous poems. Under the plea of "dramatic license'' the producers make such radical changes in our former friends that they are ground forth from the projection machine only to become total strangers to us. Thus it is that we find Longfellow's village blacksmith riding under the spreading chestnut tree in a Ford ; Dangerous Dan McGrew drinking his liquor and working his villainy, not in Alaska, but several thousand miles away in the South Sea Islands ; Barbara Frietchie, a young and sprightly damsel of twentv, instead of old and gray; and Stonewall Jackson (shades of John Greenleaf Whittier, may you rest in peace ! ) speaking such titles as : Of the thirty films released last month, in not one was an old grayhaired mother threatened with the foreclosure of a mortgage Who touches a woman's head. Dies like a dog. along ! hair on that Pass THAT Nothing Succeeds Like Success Tt's funny how people like to attach them■^ selves to something that is successful. A half-dozen individuals claim credit for All that is now needed for the producers to make a complete job of this sort of thing is to give us pictures showing Horatius holding back an army of commuters at Brooklyn Bridge ; the boy who stood on the burning deck putting the fire out with a can of Pyrene, and young George Washington speaking the title : / cannot tell a lie, father, there ain't no such animal. {Continued on page 107) Slowly but surely the movies are annihilating all our cherished illusions regarding historical characters, such as Lincoln, Washington and Napoleon; our former friends are ground forth from the projection machine, only to become total strangers to us It's funny how people like to attach themselves to something that is successful. Half a dozen individuals are claiming credit for the discovery of Jackie Coogan