Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

April 6, 1918. MOTOGRAPHY 671 New Chaplin Picture An April Release Production May Run Over Two Thousand Feet, But Will Be Distributed in Standard Two-Reel Manner 4 i initial sub A DOG'S ject in the series of eight $1,000,000 laughm-akers that Charlie Chaplin is making for the First National Exhibitors' Circuit, has been completed and will be ready for release early in April. With this picture, Chaplii. inaugurates production under his own management. The film was selected by a process of elimination after half a dozen scripts had been rehearsed and found wanting for one reason or another. Finally Charlie himself hit upon the idea of utilizing as his chief support a homeless, unkempt white mongrel that had sought refuge in the studio. The shivering, neglected cur furnished the novel note of pathos that the comedian believes essential to the type of screen humor that he has made all his own, so a story was built about the pair — Charlie as a tender-hearted vagrant and the dog as his only friend. To prevent imitators from stealing a march upon him the complete narrative of the adventures that befall this knight of the road and his dog will be kept secret until the picture is released. Exhibitors can be assured, however, that the scenes show Chaplin under circumstances that oblige him to display all his versatility. From the moment at the opening of the story when he is aroused from profound slumber in a fence-corner by the aroma from the wares of a passing "hot dog" vendor until his final triumph over a gang of cabaret crooks in a resort to which he and the dog have wandered on the trail of a beautiful, innocent-eyed young singer, there is no occasion when the action does not make full demands upon Charlie's powers of expression. The supporting cast is headed, as usual, by Edna Purviance in the role of the cabaret singer. Harry Lauder is said to have suggested the actual title of the comedy to Chaplin during his recent visit to California by remarking in his dry Scotch manner that Charlie was now "leadin' a dog's life" in his palatial new studio. The production will probably run well over two thousand feet, but will be distributed in the standard two reel manner. New Fox Play Full of Laughs George Walsh is the star in the special feature release of William Fox for the week of March 31. There is a novel beginning and an unusual climax in this picture, says an announcement from the Fox offices. Walsh arrives at a moving picture studio at eight in the morning to find that his director has not shown up for work. He is told by the man who employs him that he must get a director at once; that the picture must be started that day. He is in an awful mess when We're Both Surprised MOTOGRAPHY recently sent out a letter to thirty or forty exhibitors asking them what type of pictures they thought producers should be turning out in view of the changing taste of the public. Both large and small cities were ■ canvassed to obtain a representative view. One of the answers, just received, is from C. N. Jenkins, Cedar Rapids, la., who turns -out to be secretary of the Farmers Insurance Company instead of an exhibitor. "It is evident that you have me listed as an exhibitor," Mr. Jenkins writes, "but that is wrong. I am merely one of the unnumbered multitude contributing a frequent admission price and am a subscriber to your excellent magazine, as it helps to educate my wife and myself as to what is worth seeing." ii he learns that all the available directors have either been drafted or are under contract. While wondering where he will pick up a director, Monsieur Jules De Hoe Beaux, the great French cinema director, appears in the studio and applies for a job. At the end of a month George Walsh, the star, is ready to view the finished picture in a projection room. The picture has to do with a South American revolution and there is a love story with George Walsh rescuing a pretty girl. While the picture is being shown upon the screen in the projection room there are many side splitting humorous situations as Walsh criticises his director for having taken certain scenes that he does not like. The director always has an alibi ready. Finally George gets in a terrible rage and asks his camera man what he thinks of the picture. He replies that it is awful. The two grab the director and throw him out of the studio. Gladys Brockwell in a scene from "The Devil's Wheel," a new William Fox picture, wherein she becomes the "wild cat" of Paris Apaches after having been reared in the quiet cloisters of a convent. U. S. Opens New Film Office The film division of the Committee on Public Information, of which Charles S. Hart is director of distribution, has just opened offices in New York at 110 West Fortieth street. The committee has a rich fund of information relating to the war and its numberless activities that can be conveyed to the public by means of the motion picture. The films picturizing this information are being made by the government and most of them can be had through no other source. Therefore the industry, and especially the exhibitors, are vitally interested in the announcement of this new office.