Pictures and the Picturegoer (Jan-Dec 1924)

6(5 Picture s and Pichjre puer MAY 1924 CPRING having definitely arrived, the Spring poets are well on the job. Hearken unto Ircnc-theOnjctnoo {Wimbledon). "I wonder if you can tell me A Lament. why the vamp on the screen has a wicked eye ; a head of hair that is raven black, and a " slinky " gown cut low at the back? The Vamps that I've met in this world so fair have goo-goo eyes and a baby stare. They look as innocent as can be (but they always grab my Sheik from me . . .). Now if they'd worn a daring gown and slithered around like the Movie dame, I soon could have guessed when they'd ' come to Town,' and I might have a shot at their own little game. But how is a poor little maid to guess that a vamp exists in a frilly dress? So all ye vamps please copy the screen, and then I'll not be quite so green !" ** \Y/E must have stories and we must have stars, and what Gerald Ames thinks photographers and exhibitors would do without them, I don't Together They know." Thus, Stand — Long Thoughts (Yorks). "So long as we have hearts and bodies and are not entirely composed of brain like the Tomtoddies in ' Waterbabies,' we shall continue to worship, our favourites. Rut only when they act in adequate stories. I would group stories, actors, and producers together because no two out of these Your Views And Ours Kinema topics of general interest are dealt with on this page each month. All " Picturegoer " readers who wish to participate in our debates are invited to write to " The Thinker," 93, Long Acre, London, W.C.2. three can make good without the third being up to standard. Second should come photographers, and third exhibitors. So I don't see eye to eye with Gerald Ames regarding stars." " ""PHIS complaint has whiskers as fine as those of Moses in The Ten C ommandments ," moans Not-aMusician (London), "but you know what the last straw Music and the did, don't you? Movie's. Whilst The Prodi gal Son was being shown at a certain Kinema, right in the midst of a magnificent scene between ' Oscar' and his father, the orchestra played ', The Star Spangled Banner." Did you ever? And the following film, which was a Buck Jones Westerner ran its course to the soothing ( ?) strains of the Minuet from ' The Gondoliers,' repeated ad lib especially in the fight scenes. I felt I wanted to have a fight with the musical director. There's so much music to choose from, why on earth do these people choose the most unsuitable themes they can find?" A LONDON reader has something to say upon the subject of stories, as follows : " I used to think the story was the thing in movies, but since seeing A Is the Story the ll'oman of Paris Thing? and Name the Man, I am sure it isn't. Chaplin's film interests because it tells a storv, so hackneved that every fan knows it by heart, in such a way that one is never bored for a moment. Not the story, but the way in which it is told, then, is the watchword of the movie of tomorrow. For Chaplin's film held my rapt attention throughout because it used not one of the familiar screen conventions. On the contrary Name the Man used many, including the good old movie storm when the heroine is driven from home. It's not a good story by any means, but, this, too, held me because of the characters, who were, somehow, . human, despite the extraordinary things they did. So that I've cometo the conclusion that not the story, but the manner of the telling is the big thing in a film. What do other readers think?" — Nemo (London). " Rk German Films and British Screens I should like to record a thought." Thus G.B.H.B. (East Dereham). " That film-acting has become an art is a Let 'Em All universally recog Come\ nised fact, and art is for the betterment and enjoyment of all nations Therefore no one country can monopolise it We do not despise German music, why should we pretend to despise their films producers and artists. Let other countries besides England and America join in by all means, the result of such competition will mean the advancement of the art of the Kinema. We aren't fighting another war with Germany or any other land and we don't want to — the aim of the true producer is not what is going to MAKE, but the universal enjoyment he is going to give." "gAY Mr. Thinker, what do you think about the posters of various famous film stars they plaster up outside of Kinemas?" writes C.A.B.S. Dozen with thr {Edinburgh). Posters ! "They are shown in nerve-shattering or heartbreaking scenes and I think it's a howling shame. Seldom or never is anything like those posters seen on the film itself, thank Heaven. For the faces are atrocious, so is the colouring. They should not be allowed, for they do not improve the appearance of the Kinema and they cast horrible slurs upon the lovelv stars they misrepresent. I don't object to the photographs, for these are always worth looking at, but I think the crude poster has had its day and should be scrapped." THE THINKER.