Movie Makers (Jun-Dec 1928)

AMATEUR CLUBS Edited by Arthur L. Gale Success A FIVE year contract with the Fox Film Corporation has just been signed by Russel T. Ervin, Jr., pioneer League member and director of "And How," production of the Motion Picture Club of the Oranges which won the 35 mm. division prize of Photoplay Magazine's recent amateur movie contest. Thus Mr. Ervin, an amateur of long standing, has become an important worker in the professional world as a result of his amateur activities. The Fox Company offered Mr. Ervin the contract on the basis of the ability that he displayed in directing and photographing "And How" and the organization ability that was evident in his management of the Motion Picture Club of the Oranges as a production unit. The film was brought to the attention of the professionals through a screening at the home of James R. Quirk, publisher and editor of Photoplay. Among the distinguished gathering which saw the amateur photoplay were George Jean Nathan, Winfield Sheehan, general manager of the Fox Company; Walter Wanger, general production manager of Paramount Famous-Lasky; Richard Rowland, general manager of First National Pictures; Will Hays, president of Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America; Monta Bell, the director; Roy Howard, publisher of the New York Telegram and Donald Ogden Stewart, the humorist. "And How" has received other honors. Through the Amateur Cinema League it was presented as a feature on a program of the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures under the auspices of the Board's committee on exceptional photoplays. It was then viewed by approximately eight hundred representatives of the better pictures committees of the country, motion picture critics and those interested in the development of motion pictures as an art form. "And How" is a one reel drama expertly filmed and telling its story with unusual amateur ingenuity and remarkable economy. Mr. Ervin wrote the story and continuity, photographed and directed the production and edited the film. Members of the Motion Picture Club of the Oranges formed the dramatic cast. "And How" was produced with the aid of the League's Club Department. "Narrow Paths" By A. W . Kammerer THE cinematic value of "Narrow Paths," production of the Marquard Pictures, an amateur group, was first discovered in a finishing laboratory where thousands of feet of film are inspected in the daily routine of processing. Following the laboratory's request of a print for its own use, the mail of the Marquard Pictures has mounted with the praise of ama AMATEUR CHIHROSCURO Henry Lopez in a Tense Moment from 'Harrow Paths Amateur Production of Marquard Pictures RUSSEL T. ERVIN, JR. The Amateur Cameraman Who Has Been Signed by Fox. teurs and clubs to whom it has been loaned. "Narrow Paths," running 1233 ft. 16 mm., tells a complicated crook story with excellent directorial and technical smoothness. Most of the scenes are interiors, shot in private homes and offices that furnished the necessary properties. All are faultlessly lighted. No detail was overlooked and no pains spared in securing realism. Although no new cinematic effects were obtained, every sequence tells its story entirely and while "Narrow Paths" is not experimental, it is one of the best examples of amateur accomplishment in standard photoplay technique. In many scenes the movements of a character are begun with a long shot and are completed with absolutely smooth continuity in a closeup. This was secured by the use of a wide angle and a telephoto lens, shooting with two cameras placed close together. The Marquard Pictures is made up of only two amateurs, James V. Martindale and Frank W. Packard, both League members, who have found that they can work together in a common hobby with perfect harmony. Together, they megaphoned the thirteen in the cast of "Narrow Paths" and in turn, acted as cameraman, edited the exposed film and attended to every other production detail from makeup 578