Motion Picture Reviews (1934)

Four Motion Picture Reviews and to hoped for millions in other countries also. Consequently they have made some few films of rare taste and distinction but many more which have been offensive in portraying the flashy fast side of life, criminal activities and extramarital relationships. It has taken a generation to awaken the public to the fact that motion pictures are not what they were; that Mary Pickford is no longer making “Pollyannas,” that Douglas Fairbanks is not flying through the air on magic carpets, that Harold Lloyd’s “Grandma’s Boy” is now a museum relic, and that Mae Marsh, and Marguerite Clark and others are retired to domesticity. Some of the men and girls who took their places are already on the retired shelf because their films became too offensive to pass the censor boards, and suddenly the public, long apethetic, has awakened. We who have been in “Better Films” work for a decade or more have watched this awakening with interest. Ten years ago most of our friends said, “Let’s go to the movies,” and on Saturday, too, they hunted for dimes for children’s matinees without a question. Now those friends search through the notices for special films and stay home with radios or books after an experience at double bill. The published reports of the effect of motion pictures on children issued by the Payne Fund is the answer to that angle, and few parents of any intellectual standing can afford to ignore the new feeling among their social groups on this subject. Children are being kept at home and are forced to lose the very special benefits which could be possible for them in this delightful entertainment medium. For years we have tried through the exhibitors to reach the producers. We have insisted that variety in programs (of one type for the sophisticated audiences, simple and provincial themes for others, and programs for children) would in great measure settle this question. We have begged for family programs and of later years for single billing. We have not entered into the discussion of “block booking” trusting that that problem could best be handled by the Industry. Now that even exhibitors are objecting to the present means of selling films it will be necessary for women’s groups to take some stand. This subject of distribution and selling is so intricate that few lay persons are able to understand it. It will be necessary for some fair minded group to study it and to suggest a fair and reasonable substitution for the practice. Certainly the minds, which have built up so great an industry, one which fills so definitely a need for public entertainment, can themselves evolve some policy which will give different types of audiences the sort of entertainment they desire. When this is done the problem will be solved. Censorship or legislation, which few intelligent people want, will not be necessary, and the mooted question of what is or is not “clean” entertainment will not seem important because each class will be able to make its own selection as they do in reading or at the theatre. When the producers do not insist on every man, woman and child approving every film they release, they may be surprised by a normal return on an investment in taste and intelligence. Our own bulletin is an attempt to analyze each film and give our readers an impression of its subject matter, interest from our viewpoint and audience suitability. If you as readers are satisfied, will you recommend it to your friends and acquaintances? It is not entirely a matter of subscription to us. We firmly believe in talking through the box office since this is the only available way for us to express public opinion to exhibitors and through them to producers. Every intelligent movie lover should have some source of information for selective attendance, if not this source — then another, in which he can place confidence. And if after a time still no provision is arranged for children’s enjoyment of this medium, then communities will have to undertake a program of their own, for no child should be cut off from his right to enjoy the exquisite fantasy and the imaginative beauty which Walt Disney, for one, has shown us is possible in motion pictures.