The Moving picture world (February 1920-March 1920)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD March 27, 1920 "The Woman and the Puppet" Shows What Geraldine Farrar Thinks of Mere Men. It's getting serious, isn't it? Well, we'd better see her in this forthcoming Goldwyn David P. Howells Says Exporters' Who Quit Now Are "Deserting Under Fire TERMING his subject "the equivalent of desertion under fire," David P. Howells points out the grave future danger from what appears to be a concerted action by several film exporters to abandon their foreign affiliations and turn to other and less difficult phases of activity in the domestic film industry, as a result of the discouraging aspects given the export situation by the rates of exchange and rumors of increased production abroad. Consternation and surprise now mark the thoughts of foreign renters and distributors as they watch the fast changing tenure of enthusiasm in American film export circles, according to letters and cables received by Mr. Howells within the last three weeks. Supplementing these direct evidences of concern over the recent change of front in this country, Mr. Howells has received advices from his own representatives abroad, who, as managers of his foreign offices in charge of European sales on First National Exhibitors' Circuit attractions, are in almost daily contact with the important exchange or distributing executives. Situation Creates Perplexity Abroad. "A summary of the questions and information I have had asked and given me," says Mr. Howells, "shows that the announced plans of several film exporters, wherein they are withdrawing from the export field and turning to other interests, have created genuine perplexity and wonder abroad. The European is quite different from the average American business man. To him a business or chosen field of commercial activity is a life work. Difficulties, problems and business reverses cannot, as a general thing, shake his confidence in the future. The American is different. He will readjust his entire business overnight, and he is less inclined than the European to pursue a profitless course for weeks or months, preferring to turn where money is to be made without years of time-marking. "Present conditions may reduce our profits as an export house, and they may add greatly to the expense of operation, but we feel what should be a common responsibility among all American exporters who have solicited the confidence, good will and business of buyers abroad, that so long as the situation does not force us into bankruptcy, and so long as it enables us to continue without sacrificing everything we own or have, that we have a great duty and responsibility to discharge in aiding our foreign customers to fight the turbulence through to success. Foreign Renters Continue to Buy. "Wherever the facts have merited, we have readjusted our contracts with buyers in Europe so that they can continue as handlers of American pictures. We are trying in every way we can to lighten the pressure and to develop a more friendly and confident feeling, not toward ourselves especially but toward all American exporters. If the men who regularly send film abroad expect to get out of the export business the moment they find the going a little rough, and offering promise for the future instead cf big profits on the instant, they are speeding the day when it will be exceedingly difficult for the exporters who stick and fight through to find anything like a normal market. "European importers are pressed almost to the breaking point now. The absence of theatre development has kept down the consumption of American films, while production here has increased in volume. Still, the foreign renters have continued to buy, not for love, certainly, but as a business proposition and as the most important party to the success of the exporters in this country. "The Proverbial Last Straw." "Add to all the worries generating froiri these facts a complete rearrangement of the American export situation, and you have the proverbial last straw, which will decide the big foreign buyers to bend every energy to the encouragement of Europeanmade pictures as a substitute, at far less cost and with far less worry and strain, for the American pictures they now import. "All this is happening now, and it is going to have a dangerous retroactive effect on the American market. Exactly what the ultimate result in American film circles will be is impossible to predict, but it is certain, as a broad, national outcome, that American producers and American exhibitors will have to divide the cost between them. "Now, if ever, is the time when every American exporter should stick tight to his guns, refusing to be frightened into desertion and exerting himself to the utmost to help his foreign customers to tide over the crisis and bring about an earlier remedy by giving the same consideration he expects." Gibraltar and Hodkinson Heads Enthuse Over "Harvest Moon' with Doris Kenyon PRODUCERS Theodore C. Deitrich and Arthur F. Beck of the new Gibraltar picture, Augustus Thomas' "The Harvest Moon," starring Doris Kenyon, for W. W. Hodkinson distribution, are more confident than ever that their new production will take its place among the big pictures of the year. This show of enthusiasm from producers, who are seldom given to praise of their product, is the result of the first private showing of "The Harvest Moon" held for executives of Gibraltar and the Hodkinson organization as well as a number of the East's most prominent first-run exhibitors, one of whom pronounced the Doris Kenyon picture: "The finest and best-done screen romance I have seen in years." "The Harvest Moon," enacted amid new and novel settings, reflects the wide experience of its director, J. Searle Dawley, who, besides handling the megaphone, adapted the story for the screen. Doris Kenyon's charm and winsomeness are given greater play in the new DeitrichBeck production. George A. Lessey, coaxed back to the screen from his work as a director by Mr. Deitrich, contributes a fine performance. Others who contribute worth while performances are Wilfred Lytell, Earl Schenck, Grace Barton, Daniel Pennell, Marie Shotwell, Mrs. E. M. Holland, widow of the famous actor, and Ellen Olesen, the Swedish stage celebrity. Tears Flow More Easily After Laughter. (From the St. Louis Globe Democrat.) While the movie producers are seeking comedy plots why not try a reel or two depicting movie actors making out their income tax returns? Reviews printed in Moving Picture World are written with authority by experienced craftsmen; written from the production exactly as it will be presented on the screen of your theatre.