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Motion Picture News
Overdoing
FAVORITE exhibitor complaint — extra length features — has increased a hundredfold these last few months.
Nor do these protests come entirely from the little fellows. The managing directors of the big houses are voicing their objections also — not so vociferously perhaps — but in sufficient volume to convince us that we are over-doing the." special."
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We have spoken to several producers and distributors about this unsatisfactory state of affairs.
Invariably, we get the same explanation.
First, we are told — usually a bit impatiently — that good pictures can not be made if the production staff is tied down to arbitrary five reel footages.
This is undoubtedly true but because a picture is nine thousand feet it doesn't necessarily follow that it isn't four reels too long; and certainly there should be a reasonable amount of product of the footage the average exhibitor
will tell you he prefers — 5,000 to 5,500 feet.
* * *
But there are plenty of five reelers, you say. Are there?
Inspect pages 1776-77 of the April 7th issue of Motion Picture News where in " The Check-up," our chart of exhibitors' box office reports, 250 features — the releases of the last seven months — are listed.
Some interesting facts are disclosed.
Of the 250 pictures, 170 are more than five reels in length. One hundred and four are more than six reels long and 96 are seven reels or more.
* * H«
Any exhibitor will tell you that a feature of more than six reels is too long to fit into a well balanced bill — a bill that contains a news weekly, comedy and something of a scenic, educational or industrial nature.
the Special
We do not think that anyone has a complaint against the " Robin Hood's," the " Knighthood's " or the " Covered Wagon's." If a production of their calibre runs ten or twelve reels, all well and good. It is just the average feature, demanding strong supporting numbers to get it by, that receives and deserves the kicks.
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For these seven, eight and nine reelers, there is no real defense. There are, however, excuses.
The producer claims that the exhibitor refuses to believe a five reel picture anything better than a program release and in consequence declines to pay more than a program picture price for it.
The story the exhibitor tells is quite different. He contends that productions are deliberately padded as an excuse for labeling them " specials " for which exorbitant rentals are exacted.
*}* *f*
But claims and counterclaims — probably both admitting of argument based on fact — are not going to remedy something that is obviously wrong. And they don't take into consideration the wishes and well being of those most vitally concerned — the theatre-going public.
The public most assuredly wants variety in its motion picture fare. It insists on having the " short stuff " and only the unusual feature will hold attention over an hour.
Ask any showman who knows his business if this isn't a fact.
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Good pictures have, can and should be made in five reels.
Our job — meaning the industry as a whole — is giving the public what it wants.
That's just plain business sense.
Vol. XXVII
APRIL 28, 1923
NO. 17