Photoplay (Jul - Dec 1919)

S2 Photoplay Magazine But one Chinaman's complaint about the Chaplins he books in his little theatre is unique enoujjh to become a matter of record. He no longer books Charlie. Asked his reason for cancellation he replied simply and conclusively: "Too many people come to see " We suggest that this Celestial who hates crowds get in touch immediately with some of the offices handling the half-dozen Chaplin imitators, most of whom advertise themselves as the only and original. We guarantee satisfaction. '^ The Royal Occasionally the theatre induces a Juvenile. Great Personage to appear upon the stage. Unless the Great Personage has been to the mimic-manor born, these appearances are more or less melancholy. But the movie is not only an eternal but a pleasantly successful octopus wherever celebrity is concerned. If people talk about you, pleasantly or unpleasantly, the screen will get you. And the chances are that your picture will be a pretty good one. Our latest Young Hero is the Prince of Wales. The picture trade journals are full of single and even double page advertisements featuring England's future executive. Each news service boasts of its superior facilities for illustrating the progress of Albion's heir, and argues at length concerning his likeable personality, his novel importance, the great public interest in him — all of the stock arguments, in fact, that the producer's press-agent uses in boosting the love-making young man of the feature or the serial. "One of the most likeable figures ever shown on the screen," declaims one vendor in the sunshine market; and this spacebuyer goes on: "A fighter who served through the whole four years of the war comes to your audiences with something more than his title to make him the biggest feature of the year .... your people will want to see his every move." The We are in the midst of another Unsatisfactory ^^^^ °^ serial popularity, and it Q : J is regrettable that this species of cinemic endeavor, alone, shows no appreciable advance in intelligence or acting or direction. A year or two ago only one or two companies were turning out the intermittent movie, and these productions were more or less occasional. Today a dozen are in production. Besides Pathe, which has four on hand, Vitagraph has two; Universal has two or three; the new Series Company has three, and there are projected serials starring .Texas Guinan and Marguerite Courtot. Absurd complications, incredible villainy, ludicrous motives and terrific escapes, with a literal breath-stopping hangover at every weekly punctuation point are the main meat in these cans of patent optic food. The feature photoplay has gone a long way on the road to reason, but the serial stays where it was, or just about where it was, in 1914. In fact we doubt whether any serial has ever excelled "The Million Dollar Mystery," which was indeed a million dollar thing, but no mystery, to the men behind its makers. There seems to be financial reason enough for these tenpenny dreadfuls; they do "sell." "Gloria's Romance," the one chaptered endeavor which started out — at least — to be a novel in the magazine style, was a disastrous enterprise. At the same time we are firm in our belief that a real and reasonable long story will eventually be serialized with success; and when it is, the door to the sunshine novel will have been opened. Horrors of Often the pornographic show the Emigrants, rnan oversteps himself and becomes comedian instead of panderer. Recently one such had a very mild show of very strong billing in Chicago, which deadly bore he relieved by two lively reels of Fatty. So his electric announcement ran in this wise: See what happens to the poor Emigrant Qirl — ROSCOE ARBUCKLE! The Starring Any phase of the motion picStar-Makers. ^^^^ business is like the anchor-chain which annoyed the weary Celts at the capstan: there is no end to it. Last month we discoursed of the newest star of all, the writer. This month we must chronicle the fact that the star-makers — the directors— having no new persons to star, are starring themselves. As a matter of fact, the month has shown more featured directors thrust forth in new manufacturing arrangements than featured players, a condition which, in all probability, has never before prevailed in photoplay making. The directors now frankly starring are George Loane Tucker, Allan Dwan, Emile Chautard, Edward Jose, Maurice Tourneur, Marshall Neilan, Ralph Ince, Raoul Walsh, King Vidor, Cecil DeMille and Leonce Perret. Not all of these are planets of the month, but several of them are, and the condition is one worthy of note. It is a very good sign in that it makes for well-cast and well-written plays, rather than impossible slices of an unreal existence featuring a single mimic personality who by the very nature of things has been dwarfed out of all proper relation to life. There are dangers, too, unless these new star-directors keep to one of the principles which has made Mr. Griffith unique among celebrities; an understanding of the public's interest in personal work, not in a mere lofty supervision of other men's work. The "supervised" production is, in the main, a directoral job worth only as much as the ability of the man who really stood upon stage or location. It stands or falls, in real merit or demerit, as the man on the job may or may not be a clever craftsman.