Motion Picture News (Sept-Oct 1918)

2010 Motion Picture News Seeing OPialto and VFztroti u/ilfi Vcbthapfel A S we see more motion picture prcsen*» tations we are struck more and more by the psychology in pictures and in their arrangement. It is a big point for the exhibitor to consider, because the very arrangement of the picture may result in twice as many people leaving the theatre pleased as there would be by some other arrangement when there was only one slightly jarring portion of the program, but it was allowed to get in at the psychologically wrong moment. Now it is mighty seldom that Mr. Rothapfel shows a feature picture last, unless it is practically a straight comedy. His view of a performance is that the people should go away from the theatre in a good humor. The feature may at times be tense, even depressing, but that can be overcome by following it with laughterinvoking scenes, accompanied by tuneful music. And a comedy at the end of the bill is the general rule at the Rothapfel houses. Yet this week at the Rivoli there is not a laugh in the feature and it is holding the tense interest of the patrons to the last. It is one of the most absorbing melodramas that has ever been screened. And there is not a comedy on the bill. One might say that there is not a hearty laugh on the bill, yet the net result of the whole performance is that everyone goes away from the house in a high good humor. There are two reasons for this : In the first place, the music with the scenic picture is humorous, though not broadly funny, titles are of the most popular character and have the audiences at least inwardly singing. And then the feature may be called a delightfully happy one, for, though the situations are always tense, the ending is just as we would have it, and it leaves us pleased that everything capie out just this way. " Sporting Life " is an unusually good picture, but it would have lost some of its value if it had been sandwiched in with the rest of the program. It will be remembered all the more because it is left to the last of the bill. Satisfaction gives us even more joy than laughter, and certainly the picture and the outcoriie of the complications delight everyone. " Orpheus in the Lower World " is the overture at the Rivoli. This creation of Offenbach's is really a parody, but it is certainly there with the melody. For this the lights are all in gold, except the panels at either side of the stage, in bluish gold. The liveliness of it, the rhythm through it, puts us in a good humor from the start, and then the combination of music and picture in the scenic that follows certainly adds to the zest. This is one of the new Robert Bruce creations released by Educational and entitled " 'Tis Tough to Be Tender." It represents an amateur tourist unused to travel going into the wilds riding one mule and using another as a packsaddle. He sees the beauties of the Yosemite, but he has his troubles as well, and the music makes us appreciate them all the more. This is HOW IT HELPS Even the Biggest Managers Get Lots of Ideas Here ONE of the most successful ! managers in the country and a man who has made millions of dollars out of motion pictures for his stockholders spent an hour this week telling us how much good he gets each week from the Exhibitors Service Bureau. He told us that he read every line of this matter each week and that he got many ideas that he could either apply direct or which gave him suggestion of other things that he could do. And he went ahead further and said that the reason that he was so pleased with his new house was that it incorporated the best ideas that he had been able to gather in several years of trips through the country. He wasn't afraid to take ideas of others and use them intelligently. This is the statement of one of the most successful exhibitors in America. Are YOU taking full advantage of this department? obtained mainly by using the choruses of popular songs. And the reason that the choruses are employed instead of entire selections is for the very reason that the chorus is the key to the song — the part that everyone knows. " Under the Ramblin' Rose " is used at the start and then follows through " Danse Miniat " Nos. 3 and 4. Now with the title " The Days \Vere Spent " " Oh, You Beautiful Doll " was used, chorus only, and then one chorus from " He's a Devil in His Own Home Town," then " Pack Up Your Troubles," and then the chorus of " Gee, I Wish I Had a Girl " is used twice, starting with the title " With Infinite Care," and then the chorus from " The Trail of the Lonesome Pine." Now cannot you imagine that by this time the audience is in the height of content? Yes, content is the word that expresses the psychology of the presentation. Everything is going smoothly, the very atmosphere is melody. Then with the title " With the Most Beautiful Valley" "When the Clouds Roll By " is used, accompanying the cloud effects, and at the next title, " At the End of Twenty Minutes," there is more of the popular melody brought back with the chorus of " Silver Hill," played twice, turning into half of the chorus of " Eastside. Westside " at the title " With the Vision " and then following through with half of the chorus of "When the Clouds Roll By" at the end. That certainly is devoting some attention to the music of less titan a reel of pictures, and anyone who could see the effect that the music had on the audience would appreciate that it is worth all the trouble. All lights are in blue for the first musical number and as the curtains part revealing Greek Evans standing by a lounge. Drapery effects are used for the setting, with only one blue hanging light and the gold spot on the singer from the right of the stage. " And Wouldst Thou " from " The Masked Ball " is then rendered. Rivoli opens with a fanfare of trumpets and drums for the title and then swings into " The Right of Way " with Gaumont pictures of launching the " Piave " at Kearney, N. J. The effect of the steamers whistling their greetings as the new ship takes the water is very effective. Screen Telegram then follows with some pictures of various dogs at the dog show, and these draw mingled applause and laughter. "Tulips " is used here. Now there isn't a great deal of punch in the Official War Review this week, and so it is brought into the Animated right here and the real punch added later. The first part of it is devoted to the activities of the Italians, showing submarines, both from the outside and then the interior, and then battleships with the masts filled with cheering sailors. " Bersaglieri " is used through these pictures. Then come pictures of General Allenby, the man who liberated Jerusalem, followed by pictures of the British troops training in the desert, and during these pictures " Orientales " is played. Then comes the big punch at the end, brought about with the use of Gaumont pictures of the fighting Marines in training at Quantico, Va. ' They are first shown at their exercises and then we have some fine shots of the marching men. At the moment when Secretary Daniels presents them with their flags the spotlights are thrown on the American and Marine emblems crossed on the proscenium arch and the audiences simply go wild with enthusiasm. " Semper Fidelis " is the music for these pictures which give the crashing finish. Purely as an introductory to the feature two pupils of the Albertieri School give " Dance of the Jockeys " before a drop which shows the finish post at a race track. There is a brief dance and then the curtain drops over the scene as the girls leave the stage. They reappear to act as pages in parting the curtains again to reveal the screen, on which the title of the picture is immediately thrown, and remain in that position until the lighting has gone down, so that they slip away unnoticed by the audience, the dance being thus perfectly woven in with the feature. There is a splendid musical score used for " Sporting Life." but as the greater part of it consists in the Rothapfel numbered selections it is impossible to record the score here. At the opening the first and the second suites from " Henry VIII "