Moving Picture World (Dec 1920)

December 4, 1920 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 597 Censorship’s Greatest Evil Is Limiting of Artist’s Creative Work, Says DeMille CENSORSHIP nullifies the work of the creative artist because it limits that work to the mentality of the censor. Therein lies the greatest of the many evils of censorship.” So says Cecil B. DeMille, screen producer and director-general of the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, in a recent interview given out at the Lasky studio following the wide publicity given to the suggestion that pictures be nationally censored while still in the scenario writing stage. “It is this limiting of the creative work of the artist that is the most deadly danger of censorship,” says Mr. DeMille. “It is the very fact thlt the creative artist is capable of rising above the level of the rest of the world that makes his work truly creative art. Without this pioneering spirit, the world of art would be at a standstill. Deadlock JV ould Result “Yet such a deadlock would inevitably result if censorship were permitted to become general and all-embracing. The censors, without conscious fault, would inevitably censor that which they could not understand. All too frequently this censored matter is the very heart of the creative artist’s work — the particular thing that makes his work distinctive and valuable to the world. “One hypothetical censorship board might presumably censor without damage to art. Such a board would have to be composed of the highest examples of artistic workers. Unfortunately for censorship and fortunately for the photoplay, these men are busily engaged in creating rather than destroying; in building up rather than tearing down. “Censorship, whatever its form or however applied by official bodies, must be undemocratic and un-American. It resolves itself into a rule of minority over majority. It means that a single individual or a small group of individuals shall be permitted to dictate what the masses shall see. Press and Pulpit “If this censorship were extended to the press and the pulpit as well as the screen, there might be a small measure of justice in the proposed measures. If editors were asked to submit their material to a censor before it is set in print or if ministers were forced to submit their sermons to a board of censors before transmitting these sermons to their congregations, the motion picture industry could not complain of unjust discrimination. “But censorship of these avenues of thought is never seriously suggested. Yet the press alone can be credited with daily transgressions which no reputable motion picture producer would attempt in a life time of screen work. “It has been suggested that censorship be applied to motion pictures while they are still in the scenario stage. The answer to this argument is that it is almost impossible to forsee from the scenario just what the finished production will be. In the course of producing nearly two score photoplays of my own, I have never been able to definitely say how much or how little of the scenario would remain in the finished play. “In the nature of photoplay production, it is necessary to build as one goes. Not infrequently it is necessary to deviate from the scenario. Again it becomes necessary in the cutting to make changes v.’hich could not be foreseen. The scenario is the skeleton on which one builds, but the skeleton does not make the individual features nor does it serve to indicate the exact nature of the completed structure. “There are many striking examples of the absurdities which censorship produces, but none more ridiculous thin the case of the screen adaption of ‘Carmen,’ which I made several years ago with Geraldine Farrar in the title role. At that time there were approximately thirty-five censorship organizations in the United States. These included various state and municipal boards. “Every one of these thirty-odd organizations censored ‘Carmen.’ No two boards censored the same thing. In other words, what was morally acceptable to New York was highly immoral in Pennsylvania. What Pennsylvania might see with impunity was considered dangerous to the citizens of an adjoining state. So it went through the entire list of some thirty censorship boards. “Agitators who plead for censorship fail to realize one fact that every motion pic SURPASSING even the lofty expectations created by advance announcements relative to the special issues in celebration of the tenth anniversary, Pathe News No. 91, the first in the series of eight feature numbers, excited the enthusiasm of exhibitors and public by the striking pictures presented in a reel showing acutal scenes of the burial of Terrence McSwiney at Cork. True to its promise in announcing the eight specials starting November 13, Pathe News opened its anniversary schedule with a reel presenting such a diversity of subject, news value and entertaining qualities that it took a feature place on pretentious programs at many leading theatres. The “First pictures of Ireland’s last solemn tribute at the bier of the late Lord Mayor of Cork,” as the scenes from Ireland were titled, were accorded first place, and revealed views of marked interest owing to the widespread newspaper discussion of the death of Terrence McSwiney after his hunger-strike. Thrilling Air Stunts Under the title of “The Wonder Airman,” a series of thrilling aviation stunts are presented. It would be difficult to exaggerate the sensation caused by the pictures, made from a plane of a daredevil aviator who flew from a field in Mineola standing on top of a plane that circled about the Woolworth Tower, swooped under the Brooklyn Bridge and made a complete circuit of Manhattan Island while Morton Saint-Clair, a young Frenchman who has come to America to perform his wonderful feats, stood upright on the top wing and waved his arms toward the craft in which the cameraman flew. The pictures are remarkable from a photo ture producer knows full well — the people are the best judges of what they should see. They will invariably condemn bad, vulgar or obscene photodramas. The public will not accept screen plays that are not of the highest calibre. “If the producer is to succeed he must give to the public plays which the public wants and likes. The producer knows that a vulgar or immoral picture is doomed to failure. Knowing that, he does not squander money in an attempt to oppose the public’s wishes. “There is no such thing as ‘playing down’ to an audience. On the contrary, it requires the best that the producer has to give to reach the heights which the public demands. People the Best Judges “It may be true that there are small fly-by-night companies who are producing pictures which are unfit for the public to see. But these organizations inevitably meet with disaster. And for every one of this type there are a dozen reputable, well-established producers who are giving to the screen the best in clean, uplifting and entertaining drama.” graphic standpoint as well as for the amazing nature of the stunts. The_ flight over New York proves especially spectacular, the two planes traveling at high speed in close proximity to the spires and peaks of the downtown buildings. Saint-Clair furnishes other thrills. He and a companion in dare-deviltry stage a boxing match on top of a plane in flight. The match is recorded in closeups taken from another machine by A1 Wetzel of the Pathe News staff. The air stunts are concluded with pictures of Saint-Clair sitting on the shoulders of another man whose foot-rest is the upper wing of a plane traveling at the rate of 90 miles an hour. Historical Article a Feature The historical article, which will be a feature of each of the anniversary issues, is a spectacular strip showing Mt. Etna in eruption. The pictures were filmed when the huge crater belched forth tons of devastating lava in 1915, an event that claimed the lives of 20,000 in Central Italy. The scenes prove that they have a permanent interest and the interest justifies their removal from the back files for incorporation in a special news reel. Aviation also supplies the leading stunt for the second issue in the series. In Pathe News No. 92 there are some startling pictures of duck “hunting” by aeroplane. Two machines fly through a veritable cloud of wild fowl over the rice fields in Central California. The pictures, arranged and photographed by L. C. Hutt, Pathe News staff man in San Francisco, produce an unique and startling effect, as the plane carrying the camera and its companion machine overtake and pass through the swarm of fluttering birds. It produces the sensations of an actual flight. First Anniversary Number of Pathe News Presents Striking Stunts and Features Reel Leads Off with Scenes of Terrence McSwiney’s Burial at Cork — Exceptionally Thrilling Pictures of an Aviator Flying Over New York Shown