Motography (Jan-Jun 1918)

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May 25, 1918. MOTOGRAPHY 1013 Frank Hall Seeks Another Big Picture U. S. Exhibitors' Head Declares Big Specials Are Necessary to Draw New Business and Keep Old WITH the completion of all preparations for the immediate release of the two new U. S. Exhibitors' BookingCorporation productions, "Men" and "The Crucible of Life," President Frank Hall is again keeping his committee of selection busy with a view to finding, at the earliest possible moment, another picture that measures up to his standards. Starting with Ince's "The Zeppelin's Last Raid," Mr. Hall's first choice for release under the U. S. banner, and taking into account the business done by "Those Who Pay," "The Belgian" and "Just a Woman," the demand for pictures with special advertising angles, according to Mr. Hall, is much greater than the supply. "The theatres need and must have big special productions at frequent intervals," he said. "There is no business in the world which can as little afford to fall into a rut as the show business and experienced theatre managers are therefore Urges "Duping" Abroad Sidney Garrett, president of J. Frank Brockliss, Inc., several weeks ago prophesied that the British government would place an embargo on all merchandise not needed for government supplies. Manufacturers of film realize that co-operation is necessary and Mr. Garrett hopes that they will see the wisdom of aiding to facilitate the shipping of films, even if this means acting in a way not strictly in accordance with their usual business methods. The most important question concerns the duping of films, which is not now allowed. About this Mr. Garrett says: "Amusements are wanted to keep up the morale of the people who are in the war zone and conditions are such that duping privileges are asked. It is distinctly understood that the people would naturally prefer prints originally drawn from the negative, but if there are no other means of getting prints over and the cost of getting over stops these people from making money this way and the country in general desires to see American pictures, it shows the patriotism on the part of these various exploiters that they are quite willing to take duped prints and exploit them so as to give amusement to the people in the zone." constantly on the alert to find something out of the ordinary to give them an excuse to make the kind of a noise that will attract unusual attention to their theatres. "They know that there is no such thing as a fixed amount of box-office business independent of the attractions. They also know that when business is not building it is falling off. Big special pictures are necessary not only to draw new business, but also to keep their regular patrons from losing interest. Extra efforts to attract new patrons are imperative and it is up to us, as distributors, to give them exceptional pictures as often as possible." Both "The Crucible of Life" and "Men" were produced under special conditions with a view to making them exceptional productions. Captain Harry Lambert staged the former for the Authors' Film Company, while the latter is the initial offering of the new BaconBacker studios. General Film Law Tangle Virtually all the motion picture producers and film corporations of importance appeared in person or were represented by counsel in Justice George W. Mullan's Special Term Part of the Supreme Court this week in an action brought against them by two preferred capital stockholders of the General Film Company. The two plaintiffs, Percival L. Waters and James B. Clark, in their complaint and summons charge the defendant producers and corporations with declaring dividends to themselves out of funds owned by the General Film Company, amounting to more than they were entitled to under the laws of New York. As chief of counsel for the many defendants, former Judge Samuel Seabury denied every one of the many allegations made against the defendant stockholders. Judge. Seabury also declared that the alleged contract upon which the action is based has been made illegal by the United States Supreme Court's decision in relation to the anti-trust proceedings brought against most of the defendants in the present case. Canada Eager for American War Pictures Illustration Is Found in "The Eagle's Eye," Which Has Drawn Capacity Business Wherever Shown The next two Bud Fisher animated cartoons that William Fox will release will be "Superintendents" and "Tonsorial Artists." CANADIAN audiences are responding eagerly to American propaganda pictures since troops from the "states" have been placed in the first line trenches and are doing their part with the Canadians in holding back the Hun. The unification of the fighting forces has apparently created a desire for all information which can be acquired as to the attitude of the residents of the United States toward the war and 'the reasons for beliefs held here in regard to the world struggle. Any pictures which in any way reflect the war attitude of this country are in big demand. Reports of the Foursquare-Superfeatures, Ltd., exchanges which are handling "The Eagle's Eye," the twenty episode serial story of the Imperial German Government's spies and plots in America by William J. Flynn, the recently retired chief of the United States secret service, indicate that the demands for the serial are extraordinary. Canadian exhibitors have seized upon the slogan of "Twenty reasons why America went to war" in connection with the picture and have found that it brings results anywhere in the Dominion. The release date in Canada was six weeks later than in the United States, and to the Brant Theatre at Brantford goes the distinction of the premier. The first episode, dealing with the sinking of the Lusitania, was run there on April 15. Although Brantford is less than 25,000 in population the management booked the serial for a run of three days on each episode and reports that business was record breaking. The Griffins Amusement Company, which controls the largest circuit of theatres running pictures in Canada, started the run of the serial in their houses in Ontario during the first two weeks of May. Eight of the houses are in cities of less than 20,000 population, yet the serial was booked for runs of three days in each of the houses on each of the episodes and those which have started report capacity business. "The Eagle's Eye" Completed The Whartons have completed the filming of the nineteenth and twentieth episodes of "The Eagle's Eye," the serial story of the Imperial German Government's spies and plots in America by William J. Flynn, the recently retired chief of the United States secret service. The twentieth episode brings the serial to a conclusion by showing the events which immediately preceded the declaration of war. Wallace MacDonald, Triangle juvenile, never caught a fish, but he expects a vacation and is going to Tri-angle sport.