Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

424 MOTION PICTURE NEWS Vol. 14. No. 3 Film News From Foreign Parts French Ban on Posters Hits Kinema Publicity special to Motion Picture News. Paris, Jul}' 1. A" T last American film manufacturers are taking advantage of the present conditions in France. For two weeks a picture from Famous Plaj^ers-Laskj has ;been advertised to be seen in Paris. I am told that Mr. Monat has made arrangements with this firm and that its pictures will now be seen in France. Mr. Monat is to be congratulated on his achievement. Alost of the managers I have seen are delighted to get an opportunity[to show pictures bearing its trade-mark. :It is a great pity that other good firms ;are not doing the same thing. There is undoubtedl} just now a great opening for :good pictures. The French firms are pro;ducing only very little. Films of minor -value are plentiful, but "really good inter:esting subjects are scarce. The first picture of the above mentioned ^firm, we are to see next week is called ■" Madame Sans Peur " (A Lady of no Tpear), with Rita Jollivet. : Our comedian, j\Iax Linder, the " Only :Max," as he is known bj" everybody, is leaving us, Manj' people felt sorry when .^he news came out, but we shall not lose piim altogether. Deprived of his presence, we shall see LMax in films made by Keystone, with which lie has just signed a contract. No doubt American made pictures with the great iFrench comedian will soon be spoken of ;all over the world. i Another American series of comic films is to be put on the French market. The Trans-Atlantic Film Company, the =agency of the Universal, has released the Jirst one, " Totoche." f A well-known French firm has been fworking months on the " Cinema Revue." =1 have heard so much about this film for =months, it seems it is going to be the greatjest film ever produced. I As I have mentioned in one of my previous letters, the American animated cartoons have proved such a big success over [liere, that everybody is trying to imitateIthem. We : are to hav€ one shortly by "Henri Debain, and the title the firm has chosen is very catchy, " La Baisse du Mark." Kinema artists are much admired by the French public. They take a fancy to some of the artists and they will go to see a film no matter what it is, as long as they see their favorites. The enormous success of the Vitagraph "pictures in France was due to Bunny and Costello; Keyst,on_e_ j)ictures made their reputation with Mabel Normand ; Selig ^pittures have -secured, an mstananious suc cess with Kathlyn W illiams. French artists are also responsible for the large attendance at the kinemas where films with their favorites are shown. Max Linder, Rigadin, Krauss, Mell Robine, Me Carol and Gaumont's Bebe have made a reputation for their firms and each time one of the artists was found in attendance at one of the kinemas, the audience would stand up and greet him most enthusiastically. A manager of a large kinema in Paris is taking advantage of the popularity of such artists with the public and has made arrangements to have a sketch performed by one or more kinema artists every week. L^ndoubtedlj' this innovation will prove a big success and is sure to draw large audiences. She's a Good Female Sherlock Holmes Llelle Mistinguett is appearing in a film called " jMistinguett Detective." This is rather a new role for this talented lady, but nothing is impossible for Mistinguett and she succeeded well in her difiicult part. The Palais Rochechouart, one of the finest kinema theatres built and opened shorth" before the war by a German syndicate, was closed by the government at the beginning of the war. This establishment has been bought ' by ?ilr. Franck, the well-known manager of the Gymnase theatre, who has opened it with American films. The French government has prohibited the importation of many foreign articles, including photographs and posters. As no films can be rented without posters, this ma} work great injury to the trade. Another law which may prove injurious to the theatres and kinemas is the " Time Saving Bill." By this law all clocks were advanced one hour. The French public does not care to go to a theatre before it is dark ; it prefers to stroll on the Boulevards or sit outside the cafes. This is the reason why theatres commence very late. Now their shows will have to start at 8 o'clock, but it really means 7 o'clock in bright daylight and therefore is sure to prove disastrous to the theatres. A rather serious accident occurred in Rome last week. While a large company of a well known Italian film manufacturer were filming a scene for " Robespierre," the set broke down and most of the artists were badly wounded. Four died later. A Caumont in Color Among the many American pictures presented at the general shaw rooms recently, were : Lubin's " Vallee du Mirage," Kalem's "^'-^Sittime -du Spiritisme/ Keykorie's " Tourond le Heros," Edison's " Les Susdites," and a few Vitagraphs. A very fine picture was seen recently at many Parisian kinemas. It is called " Le Roi de la Montague," and is one of Gaumont's artistic serials in color. The police department has been consulted by the Temps as to the possibility of prohibiting— as has been done by the London County Council — the use of the so-called detective films by picture palaces. He expressed some scepticism as to whether this kind of film really suggests or encourages crime. " The films," he said, " certainly remind the would-be burglar that, if he uses gloves, he cannot leave any finger-prints," but this information is perfecth" well known and is frequently repeated in the newspapers. ]\Ioreover, a film considered objectionable in Paris might be allowed in the provinces, unless the highest authority (the Minister for the Interior) took the matter in hand and censored films for the whole country. A film entitled " Sons of Uncle Sam on the Battlefields of France," has been shown at the Aubert Palace 24, Boulevard des Italiens. This is the only presentation in Paris of these special films, showing the Amercan ambulance corps and airmen at work on the French front. The films will be shipped to the LTnited States for exhibition in America. Mrs. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, has arranged for the pictures to be shown in Paris in order that they maj be seen by American residents as well as by others interested in the doings of United States citizens at the front for the cause of the Allies. The proceeds from the sale of tickets will be given to " L'Oeuvre du Pain des Prisonniers de Guerre." C. Kaczka. PICTURE BUSINESS BOOMS IN THE ANTIPODES Special to Motion Picture News. Sydney, N. S. W., June 10. In the near future the picture business in New South Wales is likely to assume a much larger aspect, as at the present time a poll is about to be put into force for the six-o'clock closing of Hotels. For the past three months the liquor bars have had to close at eight p.m. and this measure has had the effect of continually packing the picture theatres. Therefore the results of the vote are being looked forward to by picture proprietors, who if for no other reason than the success of their business, will most surely vote for the earlier hour. " Her Painted Hero," a Triangle comedy which is advertised as coming " shortly," will be of added interest inasmuch