Moving Picture World (July-Dec 1910)

1 1*8 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD The Picture "Marking Time.** We have before us a five-page letter from an exhibitor, or rather from one of the members of a firm of exhibitors, who own or control a large circuit of theaters. The letter was sent to us for publication, but as it sounds such a pessimistic note and the writer refuses the use of his name, we will merely quote therefrom. Our excuse for doing this is that the letter is evidently written by a man of brains, a man who can think and reason and who is apparently serious in his deductions and assertions, some of which contain much food for reflection. He starts out by advocating an "open market" as the only effective means of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the motion picture. This is open to debate. His argument is that an open market would put the manufacturers on their mettle, competition would be on the lines of quality only, and a decided improvement would immediately be observed. He says that this would result in greatly increased sales for some of the manufacturers, while it would eventually lead to the elimination of the tyro who was now reaping an unfair harvest due to the present regulations of the two trust factions controlling the source of supply. It does seem to us unreasonable that a poor film should have the same sales and the same showing as a production of merit, equally so it is unreasonable, nay unjust, that a manufacturer who makes liberal use of money and brains should be governed by the same trade restrictions as the man who can see no farther than the ten cents per foot at the least possible expenditure. This is one argument in favor of the open market. We cannot help thinking that herein lies the cause for the stagnation or lowering of quality to which our correspondent refers at length. He cites the fact that the call for Biograph is not what it was some months ago and that some of Selig's releases, such as "The Ghost of the Oven" and "O, You Skeleton" and others are far inferior to what he was producing two, three and even four years ago. Our correspondent also says that the demand for Pathe European films has fallen very low while the call for their American subjects has increased, the Edison product, except an occasional feature film, fails to draw, others are at a standstill, while the onlv licensed manufacturer whose productions have steadily advanced in public favor to any marked extent has been Lubin. This tallies with our own observations and inquiries and it points to a condition which ought to, and no doubt does, demand the serious attention of every manufacturer. We will not devote any more space at this time to this exhibitor's letter or quote further therefrom than to say that he is exhibiting licensed films and draws a very uncomplimentary parallel between the program he received from his exchange on Wednesday. November 2, and that shown the same day by a neighbor of his who runs Independent films. We will not mention the numbers on his program, some of which were past releases, but we think it justice to the Ambrosio people to say that the Independent exhibitor was featuring "The Slave of Carthage" and the sensation that this magnificent film created among the spectators so contrasted with our correspondent's weak program that he seriously considers featuring vaudeville in a theater that has hitheito featured the picture exclusively. Is It to be Forward or Retreat ? The moving pictures are progressing! The moving pictures are not progressing ! This seems a paradoxical statement, yet true, nevertheless. Just where each of these contrary statements is true is simply a matter of relationship to location and conditions. The Moving Pictures Are Progressing. Everywhere, where there is a right knowledge of their value and possibilities, the many and varied predictions of the great future of the cinematograph are being rapidly realized. In educational quarters not only are the possibilities of the instrument acknowledged, but its immediate power is used as far as it can possibly be utilized in imparting knowledge ; its only limitation being found in the negative to be shown under the second heading of this article. The magazines of the day, American and European, are constantly dwelling upon the higher uses of the moving picture, many of these writings from recognized authorities now speak of the moving pictures as one of the necessary accessories of the every-day life of people everywhere. It has taken its place with the telegraph, telephone, steam power and electricity. The question of its possibilities is now never referred to, its capabiliites are never questioned. It is an established instrument of world-wide necessity. Educators are calling for the fulfillment of promises made, and demanding that those responsible for the production of subjects shall comply with a complete response to their own predictions. In the commercial world the demand for the practical uses of the cinematograph have exceeded the most sanguine forecastings ; uses to which purpose even the wisest prepared for have been surpassed, and a further call is made for the commercialising of the advantages of the moving picture as a new factor in trade. Institutional uses of the moving picture are to-day as general as a decade ago was the universal stereopticon, to which must be added the greater powers of the former over the latter. In the world of pleasure there is but one note everywhere. "More and better" is the cry. Keep pace with the possibilities ; the crude experimental days are passed ; graduate from school of learning into the professional of the universal teacher ! Thus, the great progress is marked and emphatic, leading to the analysis of the situation as to why and where : Moving Pictures Are Not Progressing. Acting as a drag upon the wheels of this great progress is the insufficient growth to a higher plane of the film producers. WTith a sameness week after week. The "usual thing," the "dairy change," the limited subject measured off like tape at a drygoods store, by the yard. The only sign of progress is where an occasional religious picture, or scientific exhibit from France, suggests that someone is alive somewhere. Strange to say, the recent use of commercial pictures were upon positive orders from those desiring them for exhibition purposes. Frequent visits to moving picture theaters have made so familiar the characters in the various plays that they can easily be followed from one subject to another until one feels a strange fulfillment of the truism that "familiarity breeds contempt." The monotonous subjects, too. are now growing tiresome — Indian, melodrama, comedy, melodrama, comedy, Indian — simply "ringing the changes" with the everlasting, ever present, stupid, sickening "illustrated songs," often vulgar, always badly sung by a cracked voice and by a class of "hangers on" that are bringing moving picture places into evil repute. Continuous, consistent, catering to a depraved taste in love scenes, like a circulating library of