Motography (Jul - Dec 1915)

November 6, 1915. MOTOGRAPHY 967 NEW YORK OFFICE, 1022 LONGACRE BUILDING Forty-second Street end Broadway Telephone Bryant 7030 Editors: ED J. MOCK, PAUL H. WOODRUFF Associate Editors Advertising Manager: ALIEN L. HAASE This publication is free and independent of all business or house connections or control. No manufacturer or supply dealer, or their stockholders or representatives, have any financiolinterestin Motography or any voice in its management or policy . THE MOTION PICTURE TRADE JOURNAL PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY ELECTRICITY MAGAZINE CORPORATION MONADNOCK BUILDING CHICAGO, ILL. Telephone: Harrison 3014 — All Departments NOTICE TO ADVERTISERS Changes of advertising copy should reach the office of publication not less than fifteen days in advance of date of issue. Regular date of issue, every Saturday. New advertisements will be accepted up to within ten days of date of issue, but proof of such advertisements can not be shown in advance of publication. SUBSCRIPTION PRICE Per year S3. 00 Canada Per year, Foreign Per year, Single copy . FOR SALE AT ALL NEWS STANDS NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS Remittances — Remittances should be made by check. New York draft or money order, in favor of Motogkaphy. Foreign subscriptions may be remitted direct by International Postal Money Order. Change of Address — The old address should be given as well as the Volume XIV CHICAGO, NOVEMBER 6, 1915 Number 19 "The Battle Cry of Peace" — a Super-Film IT is possible for a motion picture to be so great in purpose and in execution that it becomes more than a motion picture — a sort of super-film. The fact that it is a motion picture at all is secondary. It is put into that form because the picture has become the shortest and surest path to the human mind. Instead of its theme being selected as subject for a film, the film is chosen as the most effective vehicle for the theme. Such a picture is J. Stuart Blackton's "The Battle Cry of Peace." If it be judged at all, judgment must rest upon it as an emissary of awful truth — not as an entertainment. Yet if entertainment in a picture be the art of holding the people spell-bound, "The Battle Cry of Peace" is that. And if that fact alone is the motive force behind its showing in all the theaters of the country, we must be well content. For the exhibitor estimates the value of a picture by the amount of entertainment it offers. We cannot take exception to that attitude; it is his business to entertain. He must offer the people what they want. If he be a good exhibitor he will not let his private taste dictate the tastes of his patrons. The subject of "The Battle Cry of Peace" is broader than the motion picture business itself. It is vitally important that every American citizen see it. The very future of this country depends upon getting into the public mind the facts revealed by this picture. Our people must know these conditions ; and there is no other way of telling them that will compare with the picture way. The newspapers of the country have risen nobly to the task of preparing the people for an inevitable crisis. Yet the power of the press, mighty as it is, is a feeble cry compared with the power of the picture. The press is spreading the doctrine of preparedness not because it delights the people or increases circulation, but because it is its highest duty. The possession of the most powerful public organ in the land has brought that duty also upon the exhibitor. It is a new responsibility, destined to play a tremendous part in the future history of the nation; perhaps a greater part than the press has ever played. It is a responsibility that the exhibitor must recognize. Preparedness — insurance against war — whatever you may call it, is the dominant problem of this country. All other questions are secondary to it. The thinking few are confronted with the stern and difficult, but absolutely necessary, task of bringing home the truth to the unthinking thousands. Mr. Blackton's picture is the first really great instrument for this purpose. Perhaps others will follow. If so, these comments apply equally to them. We might praise the producer of the Battle Cry for his magnificent altruism and high purpose, and wish him commercial success with it. But that is not our function here. We are not lauding a film, nor complimenting a film maker ; we are pleading with all the exhibitors of America to recognize their tremendous power and use it in a cause that may some day mean life or death to the nation. For it is in the hands of the exhibitors to lead the people.