Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1918)

1886 Motion Picture News 9 DO 0U ® DD ■ Taylor Speaks of Advent of British Film IN a statement by John H. Taylor, the London Inter-Ocean head who is now preparing to leave New York for his home shores, American official film publicity comes in for praise. He says : " The splendid advertising of official films by your Committee of Public Information has given the photoplay theatre a boost in the estimation of the whole American people. Every class and condition of American society is reached and I doubt now that interest in pictures has been aroused in persons who never entered a picture house before the war. Such stunts as selling the theatre to the large business firms, each to have it exclusively on an evening for their employees and friends, are most commendable ; and surely the Government publicists leave no stone unturned in getting these pictures before the public. Every conceivable publicity device is employed, and as I say it is a great thing for American pictures as a whole. " You show most of our official film in this country and I am certain that, as time goes on, you will give equal attention to all our dramatic and comedy film that is worth while. Now that British producers are spending large amounts and making films that are worth while, a large section of the trade feels that it is only fair that these films be booked in America. If England welcomes the right sort of American film, we contend that America should welcome the right sort of British film. " It's just a matter of getting started on your market, and we feel that your big releasing programs could do this easily. i r John H. Taylor, Managing Director of InterOcean Film Co., Ltd , London These programas release their good productions in our country. And, of course, we would only expect tham to accept good British productions for release in your country. At any rate, I am sure the present policy of total elimination of English photoplay productions cannot long endure and we have faith in the future." Gaumont Serial Scores in Washington Town THE Gaumont Company this week reported great success for its serial, " The Hand of Vengeance," in Washington. In an announcement the company said : " Its population, made up largely of the most highly cultured and educated people, drawn from all sections of the United States and foreign countries, Washington, our national capital, claims to stand in a class alone. Its entertainment seekers are composed not only of statesmen and diplomats and their families, but of the many thousand employees of the Government who are necessarily well educated, and whose amusement tastes are therefore refined and discriminating. " In the past some exhibitors who own big down-town picture theatres have seemed to fear that serials would not appeal to their patrons, hut were more suited to the neighborhood of lower-priced houses. The Gaumont Company has been able to show that this fear is not justified. It has made the claim that its newest photo-serial, ' The Hand of Vengeance,' will appeal to the majority of the picture-seers in any theatre large, or small, * high-brow,' ' low-brow,' or between. " That its judgment is correct has been clearly proven by the success of ' The Hand of Vengeance ' in the District of Columbia. Sidney B. Lust, hustler extraordinary, and President of Super-Film Attractions, Inc., which is distributing this red-blooded photo-serial in that territory, has already broken' all serial records by placing it with more than one-third of the theatres in the " Athens of America." Cropper to Handle Ford The Beehive Exchange, 220 South State street, Chicago, of which R. C. Cropper is manager, will handle the Ford Educational Weekly in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin, northern Indiana and east Iowa. Picture Against Alcohol Filmed on Coast A motion picture film depicting in story form the inefficiency caused by the use cf alcoholic beverages, has been brought to the screen by a new producing company of Los Angeles, the United Film Corporation. The story centers its force on the effect on the business world and Government of alcohol. The film is named " The Crime of the Hour," and was produced under the direction of Thomas R. Ricketts, a member of the Motion Picture Directors' Association, who produced " Damaged Goods," and has a long record for the making of successful films. The cast selected for the important parts in this film were booked by Director Ricketts to fit each type. Ed Coxen plays the hero role, a youth who inherits the drink habit. The story opens with him serving as a farm hand, and being induced to the city by an acquaintance where he is given a position with a construction company. It takes him but a short time to convince the owner, taken by W. A. Barrows, that saloons near the working camp of the company are a menace to the organization. Vivian Rich plays the role of the underworld vamp, Nanine Wright apears as the mother, Arthur Moon takes the part of the discharged superintendent, and Lois DeKay is the ingenue. The owners of the United Film Corporation have placed the film in the hands of Ernest Shipman, and it is to be sold on the state rights basis. United on Coast Films BigFeature An international issue, claimed by the world leaders and the governments of Great Britain, France, Italy and the United States to be almost as menacing to humanity as Kaiserism, is the theme back of the first offering of United Films Corporation, of Los Angeles. " The most human love story ever told,"' is a featured line in its preliminary announcements and its producers claim that " no door of creed, politics, governmental co-operation, or theatre for amusement only will fail to open at its knock." Some claim, but you never can tell. It is the first of a series of " Pictures with a Reason " which the United Films Corporation will produce from time to time, with the purpose of keeping abreast of the world's march in international events. Thomas R. Ricketts, who directed " Damaged Goods." is the director general of this new company and its first masterpiece was produced under his personal direction.