Motography (Jul - Dec 1915)

October 16, 1915. MOTOGRAPHY 791 Homer A. Boushey, are part of the team work that makes great pictures. They took pains to see that I was supplied with the materials, they denied me nothing that I asked for— the result was up to me. From its first inception to the final view of the completed photoplay on the screen, it has been under my supervision and if the picture is not successful I, alone, am to blame. I can remember the time when it was a much debated subject among the manufacturers whether the public wanted two-reel pictures. State rights had been exploited on photoplays of three reels, which proposition was considered a gamble. No one could conceive that the public would devote over thirty minutes watching any one story on the screen. Today many firms are crowding the market with five and six-reelers — the successful plays and great works of fiction are eagerly bought at exorbitant royalties. Many of these are not adapted to picturization. So eager are the manufacturers to get into the market that they jam the pictures through. Ninety per cent of the present multiple reel features are poorly written and directed with amateurish and slipshod methods. Big money is paid for royalties, impossible salaries paid to stars that twinkle not — but everything else that costs money, that would make a real feature, is subject to the most rigid economy. The public now seem to be willing to accept anything and everything, and with that condition of affairs, the poor, trashy features that some manufacturers are releasing at shirtwaist bargain counter prices — will be selected by the exhibitor in place of the costly and artistic productions, but despite this, when that period comes — "the survival of the fittest" — great things will be done by the producers, things that will astonish the world, for there is no limit to the possibilities of the photoplay and no end to its future as the principal amusement of mankind. Dual Role for William Farnum William Farnum, who plays a dual role in the latest of the William Fox one-a-week productions, which is named "The Wonderful Adventure," and is from the fertile pen of Capt. Wilbur Lawton, is described by a writer in a popular magazine as "the most unneutral chunk of masculinity I ever met." "He may be an actor," continues this enthusiastic critic, "but when God made him He molded the actor from the cast of which fighting men are made." All this is true, although William Farnum doesn't like it. He is anything but a "pug" with a chip on his shoulder, as certain enthusiastic personages have tried to make out. He is however a man who throws himself heart and soul into a part, which he may be enacting for William Fox, and if there's a fight scheduled (and there usually is) — well, William is there with both husky fists. In "The Wonderful Adventure," however, Mr. Farnum enacts more peaceful roles. As John Stanley, an upright, manly civil engineer, a master of men, and Demarest, the broken-down "dope-fiend," this remarkable actor achieves unusual results. Picture, if you can, "Big Bill" Farnum as a decrepit, trembly-handed victim of drugs ; yet so wonderful is his make-up and so painstakingly has he studied the dual roles that the contrasts between Stanley and Demarest is as marked as the difference between night and day. In connection with "The Wonderful Adventure," in which Dorothy Green and a company of well-known Broadway stars appear in support of Mr. Farnum, too much credit cannot be given to Frederick Thomson, the producer, for the unique photographic effects he has introduced and the general power of the production. For instance, Mr. Farnum is seen shaking hands with "himself," viewing his own "dead body" and opening a door for "himself." This latest William Fox production develops all the resources of the camera under the skilled direction of Mr. Thomson, who is now hard at work on another, big feature picture for Mr. Fox. SECOND COMPANY ORGANIZED Another Producing Company Engaged by David Horsley to Stage Centaur Features With the Bostock Animals In order to further increase the producing efficiency of Director Frank Montgomery's company making the Centaur features, in which the Bostock animals are the principal actors, and to alleviate the rush consequent to turning out a two reel picture every week, David Horsley has organized a second company, under the direction of Carl LeVeniss, to produce every two weeks a two reel animal drama of the same type as has been shown in the past Centaur releases. The task of turning out a two reel picture a week is possible under normal conditions, but with animals taking the place of human players the work assumes extraordinary proportions and Mr. Horsley found that one company could not maintain the schedule if the pictures were to be of the standard of quality which he has set. Hence the formation of Mr. LeVeniss' company. The pictures turned out by Mr. Montgomery will now appear every two weeks and will be alternated in the Mutual release chart with those made by Mr. LeVeniss, who will also spend two weeks time on each subject. Mr. LeVeniss' company, besides the Bostock animals, is made up of Donald Bowles, a well known stock favorite; Grace Gibson, considered one of the most beautiful leading women in motion pictures; Marvell Spencer, well remembered for her ingenue characters in different motion picture productions ; Victor Rothman, Susie Hamilton, H. Turner. Chandler House and Betty Anderson. The first picture is called