Motion Picture News (Nov-Dec 1923)

2544 Motion Picture News, WE all know at what extremes the censors will go to accomplish their ends, but if there is anything more silly than the recent crusade in Pennsylvania we would like to know what it is. According to Harry L. Knapp, Chairman of the State Board of Motion Pictures Censors, none but " dry " pictures are to be permitted in movie houses from now on. Drinking pictures, scenes of bacchanalian festivities, the hip flask, the slender-stemmed wine glass and the squat whiskey glass are banned. Scenes to ridicule the Eighteenth Amendment or the Volstead law, as well as those funny at the expense of Prohibition enforcement officers, are also to be condemned. Mr. Knapp has the indorsement of Governor Pinchot for he said (according to a news dispatch) : " The Governor warned us to be cautious in the matter of permitting pictures to get by showing violation of the Eighteenth Amendment." Knapp, who spoke before the Motion Picture Committee of the Civic Club on a recent afternoon, added this was why a flask-breaking scene was cut out of one of the latest Chaplin pictures. # * * WE pity the citizenry of Pennsylvania, for Thomas H. Ince has produced a picture in " Anna Christie," which will cause their bigoted censors to point thumbs down. Here is one of the best plays ever written — a play considered good enough by men of discernment to win the Pulitzer prize — and it has been made into one of the best pictures of this or any other season. It reveals life in the raw — life guided by real human passions and emotions. It is true and vital and vivid — and releases more spiritual uplift and comfort in its revelation of human frailties than all the sugar-coated slices of sentiment which masquerade under the name of humanity — and which are eulogized by the censors. We defy any tender fledgling to get anything from it, but good. But according to the recent edict from Pennsylvania a great deal of its character will be trimmed once it passes its borders. . There is much hard drinking — as characteristic of sailor-folk — and some revelations by a girl of what made her a social outcast. But these are fundamentals of the theme — which is nothing more or less than an accurate account of souls in conflict with themselves and Avith each other. O'Neil knows his subject and Ince with respect for a playwright who searches for truth and finds it, has abided faithfully by the text. If our best plays — destined to reach the screen — cannot reach it without being manipulated and maltreated to please a host of unhealthy morons, then there is no use of trying to place our pictures on the heights. " Anna Christie " belongs on the heights. It throbs with realities and humanities. It shows a clash of emotions which fairly embrace one with their tensity. We follow the quartette of figures with the deepest interest, sympathizing with the old Swede who curses " dat old davil sea," and his pitiable daughter— who cries out in her anguish for spiritual comfort — although she doesn't know the meaning of religion. We hope this picture is left untouched by the censors — left intact as we saw it. It is a work of sincerity and enthusiasm — and exceptionally eloquent in its human appeal and its interpretation. JK/f OST of the censorship agitation is inspired to save the Youth of the land. But ignorant and naive is that censor who, failing to recognize the psychology of the childish mind in its thirst for knowledge, would try to keep from the adolescent and the pre-adolescents the mysteries of sex. He might better try and stop Niagara. Youth will experiment — and find PICTURES AND PEOPLE experience and knowledge. And human nature is just contrary enough to ivant the forces and express the urges that are denied. If these denials keep on — if we must constantly be told: " You mustn't do this," or " You mustn't do that," — we'll be suffering from such suppressed desires that something will surely pop. Then we'll have a reproduction of a modern Nero playing his fiddle. We'll become a nation of degenerates. HP HE " shut-down " policy does not seem to affect attendJ ance figures according to all the box-office statistics. Indeed more than one manager appears to be " sitting tight and pretty," and there is no indication that the theatres will be converted into stables or restaurants conducted by men who love their initials. Up at the Capitol, the Marion Davies opus, " Little Old New York," is creating several new records — records backed up with box-office statistics. It is now in its second week — and if it carries on as it has been doing — there is a strong chance of its being held over for a third week. Which would be something never before realized in the history of the Capitol. # * # A FEW steps nearer Times Square — at the Strand is ' ' Pon^ jola," which is also breaking records. The box-office receipts indicate that it has distanced Chaplin's personaUy directed picture, " A Woman of Paris." Anyone catching sight of Sam Rork standing in the rear of the house would instantly comprehend the fact that he has a rich money-getter on his hands in this film version of Cynthia Stockley's bestseller. It 's a great season for Sam Rork — and not a man identified with the industry would deny him his right to find a place in the sun. He is enthusiastic over his production — and he has a right to be — for it is one of the most fascinating films which have ever graced the screen. It is one of the few pictures to play a return engagement in Los Angeles within a month after its premiere. It was brought back to the Alhambra there after opening at Loew's State. Yes, Sam Rork, than whom there is no one more regular or level-headed or democratic in this or any other business, has a right to be proud of his achievement. May it net him good coin of the realm. His war-cry may well be: " For God, for Country, for Yale — and for ' Ponjola '. " Yale? Sam sat on the Yale side at the Princeton game. 80,000 spectators in the Bowl ? Pooh ! 80,000 spectators at the Strand ! The Bowl gets them but once a year, the Strand once a week when a " Ponjola " comes along. TI/' HEN Sidney Olcott complimented Sam Rotlwfel of the Capitol for his prologue on " IAttle Old New York," and toasted him on the typewriter with: " May your shadow never grow less!" — he inspired a response from Roxy who wished the director to understand tltat he is trying to make his shadow grow less. " Noiv you put the curse on me," he writes, " for sliamc, Sid!" THE New York Tribune tosses an ironic spear into the side of the picture actor. In an editorial of November 15th, carrying a caption — Real " Movie " Heroes — one may read : " Millions of motion-picture-goers will be thrilled to learn that the stars they have worshipped on the screen are as heroic in private life as they are on the film. Though the screen has fallen on bitter days, chill penury has not served