Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

April 6, 1918. MOTOGRAPHY 659 Urges United Drive on Censorship MONTE M. KATTERJOHN ISSUES HOT STATEMENT CENSORSHIP is scathingly attacked in a statement just issued by Monte Katterjohn, author of "Within the Cup," "Carmen of the Klondike," "An Alien Enemy," and many other successes. Stirred to action by the unwelcome attention which has been paid to his latest Paralta production, "Within the Cup," by censorship boards in various parts of the country, Mr. Katterjohn calls upon all branches of the industry to present a united front against this constant menace and points out the danger of temporizing with the enemies of the motion picture. Calls Arbitration a Fallacy "Recent events within the industry," says Mr. Katterjohn, "have served to illustrate the fallacy of attempting to arbitrate the question of censorship on any basis whatever, or of deviating in the slightest degree from an uncompromising stand against any form or prejudgment. "The slightest indication of concurrence with the views of those who advocate censorship is immediately seized upon as a sign of weakness, and a practical admission that the industry should be placed at the mercy of a band of meddlesome reformers who insist on regulating by purely theological standards one of the greatest industries and one of the greatest arts in existence. "In the first place, a person who seriously looks upon himself as capable of deciding what his fellow citizens shall be allowed to see is possessed of a peculiar quality of mind which promises little from the standpoint of cold common sense. Wrong Persons To Rule "To give to individuals of this calibre the power to control absolutely the output of film — to determine whether a given production shall return a profit or shall prove a total loss to the manufacturer— is to court destruction. "There are laws prohibiting the showing of immoral pictures. With a rigid enforcement of the statutes already in existence any exhibitor who violates them can be dealt with in a manner befitting his transgression, but the industry must come to a realization of the fact that the whole system of previous restraint must be done away with. "There is absolutely no limit to the ridiculous decisions made by these cen sorship boards. Thus we have one board putting forth the remarkable ruling that all comedies must be animated by a serious purpose; another rejects a harmless screen fable because it 'ridicules the temperance movement'; while another condemns a dramatic production because it 'might prove offensive to organized labor.' "In one of my own stories a perverted character was killed by a stroke of lightning and the scene depicting his destruction was preceded by a subtitle which indicated that he was struck down by the hand of God. The censors demanded that this subtitle be eliminated, contending that such vengeance was never visited upon mortals — numerous passages in the Bible to the contrary notwithstanding. Only Industry Facing Problem "We are working under conditions which no other art or industry is even expected to endure. Our fame and fortune are absolutely in the control of those who have no interest in the business. We are confronted with the spectacle of the best thought, of the master mind of literature and drama being revamped to suit the narrow views of a handful of people who at best are of no more than ordinary intelligence. "We are delivered into the hands of a band of professional reformers and political job-holders who would rather be safe than sane, and who will inevitably throttle the motion picture industry into a state of innocuous stupidity if their activities are permitted to spread. Urges Renewed Opposition "And how are we to overcome this menace?" continues Mr. Katterjohn, and answers: "There is no course but to fight the evil of censorship to the last ditch. D. \\ . Griffith has furnished a shining example of the only method which can be pursued with any benefit to the industry. He has consistently waged war on censorship as an institution and on those who administer it, with the result that he has won the right to show his productions in every state in the Union. "And any person within the industry who kneels abjectly before a board of censors in an attempt to curry favor is contributing to the undermining of the very foundation on which the motion picture stands." A beautiful bit of fantasy in "Queen of the Sea," the new Annette Kellerman picture soon to be released by William Fox. Beth Ivins appears here in the part of "Ariella, the Fairy Princess."