The Moving picture world (November 1924-December 1924)

258 MOVING PICTURE WORLD November 15, 1924 Starts on Third Production Helene Chadwick and Antonio Moreno in "Th production e Border Legion," a Paramount Exhibitor and Director Must Understand Each Other Better "A VERY vital factor in motion picture production should be a clearer understanding between the exhibitor and the motion picture director," says Tom Terriss, producer of "The Bandolero" for Metro-Goldwyn release. "Speaking on behalf of the latter, I can only say that at present we seem to be copying the example of the allied armies before General Foch stepped in. We all seem to be trying for an objective point, but with a complete lack of unity. "It seems to me that it should be quite possible, when a director is about to launch upon an important production, to send out a round robin asking for an immediate expression of opinion upon the subject matter in hand. It may not in the director's eyes serve any real radical purpose, but I feel certain that a few good tips may come along, and if only one of them are used, then some benefit will have been obtained. And I hold nothing should be left undone to please the exhibitor and let him know that we are working as much for him as we are for ourselves. "Personally I have made it a custom to become acquainted with quite a few of these gentlemen, and I am sure I have profited by my acquaintance. I make it a rule to visit all the pictures I can, and the more I see of them the more I realize what a little I know. The more I see of them the more I realize how much there is to learn. The supply is illimitable, the source eternal. "I have stood up with some of my exhibitor friends and had many a friendly argument, and in pictures there are so many different angles that these could become neverending. On one occasion I was in a well known theatre watching one of the latest releases with the proprietor of the theatre when he turned to me and said: 'If some of you fellows would have the sense to know that kind of stuff hurts us all.' "This happened to be the big punch of a picture made by one of our leading directors, and doubtless the particular scene in question may have gained some kind of notoriety through its daring and originality. But in this case it hurt. As the exhibitor admitted, he said he would rather have had the picture without it, had the producer intimated beforehand his intention of making this particular sort of scene. In this case every one would have been better off, and the exhibitor grateful. "Then, as the picture proceeded, he said : 'That's the kind of thing — more of that. I'll bet 'So and So' didn't know what he was doing when he put that in, or didn't give it much thought. But that is just what they like here,' and so forth. "This particular 'stuff,' as he called it, which always went over, was new to me, and I made a mental note that I would incorporate the same Kina oi tning in any of my future productions. Harmony between the producer, the exhibitor and the director would be most admirable. Perfect accord between them and the public would be millennium. Well, we're working at it." Adapts New Gasnier Picture The script for "The Triflers" which will constitute Gasnier's next production for B. P. Schulberg, has been finished. The screen adaptation of this novel by Frederick Orin Bartlett was written by John Goodrich. The feature will be the third release on this year':, schedule of Preferred Pictures. Working Title of New Fleming Picture U "Followed by Fate," Print* of First Two on Way East According to word received by the New York office of the J. J. Fleming Productions work has started on the third of the series of six pictures which they are releasing on the Independent market. The working title of the third picture is "Followed By Fate" and the cast consists of Al Ferguson who is featured throughout the series and Lillian Du Bois, Frank Clark, Paul Emery, F. S. Heink and is being directed by F. J. Grandon. Lillian Du Bois has been playing leads opposite Lloyd Hamilton. The first two pictures in the series "Shackles of Fear" and "The Trail of Vengeance" have already been completed and prints are now in the New York office. According to reports territory on these pictures is moving rapidly and a number of sales have already been closed. J. Charles Davis, Junior, who is general manager of the company in charge of sales will leave on an extended trip very shortly at which time he expects to visit the majority of the key cities. Peninsula Buys Kyne Story "Cornflower Cassie's Concert," one of Peter B. Kyne's classical stories of the desert country, has been purchased by Peninsula Studios to serve as a coming Frank Woods' production on the Producers Distributing Corporation Spring program. The characters in the story are all of the picturesque types with which Kyne always peoples his desert tales, among them Chuckwalla Bill Redmond who has figured in several of the Kyne stories including "The Parson of Panamint" and "The Land Just Over Yonder." Big Preview The Standard Film Service Company of Cleveland gave a special preview of the big Columbia special, "The Midnight Express," featuring Elaine Hammerstein, at Read's Hippodrome in Cleveland. Admission was by invitation only and attendance was large. PRISCILLA DEAN In Producers Distributing's "A Cafe in Cairo."