Photoplay (Jul-Dec 1922)

TO THE QUESTI O N: WITH THE PICTURES? public insists on its "hokum" and "sugar endings" much as the baby does its candy — they must have it even though it will eventually make them sick. If the regeneration will come when "The Masses" cease to be and each one becomes an individual who can think intelligently for himself; when the public becomes so discriminating it will not accept anything but the best; and above all when ready to see the Truths of Life portrayed on the screen instead of Artificial Sham. Until then, there will always be "something the matter with the pictures." $10 Prize: MRS. H. F. WRIGHT TWO principal reasons why Motion Pictures are diminishing in popularity are, the continued high admission and the lack of truth, or originality, and spontaneous appeal in the story. The pictures, as a rule, open attractively, but, as the story progresses, we become aware that some subtle, appealing quality, promised at the beginning, has been sacrificed. The old tricks are resorted to, the logical outcome distorted or exaggerated out of all proportion, for the sake of introducing the same worn-out thrills. We leave the theater unsatisfied, our emotions stirred, perhaps, our intelligence in revolt. Motion picture audiences are not the gullible crowd of a few years ago, when, for popular prices, they had their fill of mad melodrama, wild-west thrills and slap-stick comedy. The taste of audiences has developed with the motion picture. We demand the best the world can give, and, we believe it can be given us through the medium of the motion picture. Occasionally a director produces a picture inspiring us to respond to that innate longing for the truth, beaut} and idealism of life. This is the picture that remains in our memory and helps to hold us loyal patrons of the "silver screen." Bad §toeies SAAEAIESS shalloon ess STANDARDIZED *A\OVI£ STORIES Street broker. They usually work for some king of finance, you know. Folks want something for their money nowadays, and until producers get wise to this fact and produce pictures truer to life people will attend radio concerts or go to see a vaudeville show rather than stop in at the movies. Yours for truer-to-life pictures. $10 Prize: MRS. HOWARD LIDDELL IT looks as if "teacher" had forgot to study the next day's lesson, and meantime her bright little pupils have caught up with her. The movies have been educating the public until it has become thoroughly familiar with its characters, plots, lavish spectacles, advertising, heart-interest appeals and all the rest. The public is now through with its A. B. C.'s and impatiently waiting for something new. We all know that in too large a class the fast have to wait for the slow and individual needs must be ignored. The same is true for the movies. They should no longer try to aim at pictures which will satisfy everyone, for it can mean only continued failure. Little Red Riding Hood is an interesting character to all of us when we are young, but when we grow up we don't cherish the same book. No magazine or play ever tries to appeal to all classes at once. They study the particular taste of a particular kind and aim at pleasing that. When the movies realize that, the public will stop playing truant. $10 Prize: J. PARKER DOANE, Jr. Motion pictures are suffering from adolescence and ail its ills. When the pictures have matured enough to understand their mission they will represent a distinct art $10 Prize: GLADYS M. CONNAUGHTON FOLKS aren't going to the Movies as much as they used to because they are getting tired of seeing themselves ridiculed and burlesqued. Don't you suppose that a real laundress' daughter would be disgusted at the way deMille pictures her? Even a laundress' daughter would be able to hold her own among the elite nowadays. They are well educated, and whether they go down town to an office to work as secretary or stenographer, or stay at home to help Mother hang out the wash they would know how to conduct themselves in the presence of the so-called elite without being completely foolish. I'm a stenographer and at times I could scream when I see a high salaried star in her simple but expensive gown taking dictation from a Wall IMITATION^ or IF screen dramas and comedy-dramas contained a greater percentage of real tears as well as gleams of hope: if comedies sprang from true characterizations and genuine humor — the attendance at motion picture theaters would increase proportionately. If all photoplays were consistent, true reflections of human life — human conflict, human tears and human smiles — rather than "sensations," "thrills" and "effects" — the motion picture would occupy a place at least as popular as the legitimate stage. The average person is to be the criterion; pictures must appeal to his sensibilities in a real, entertaining and educational manner. It is to be taken for granted that this average person hopes to suffer, smile and laugh with (and not AT) the screen characters, and leave the theater with the feeling he had looked into the history of human life for a brief period — and that he had been entertained constructively thereby. It would then be time to worry about high admissions, vaudeville items and orchestral features. The motion picture is an artistic form of educational entertainment. If it really is, the average person will not complain and the boxoffice will not suffer. 39