Reel Life (Sep 1913 - Mar 1914)

©CI.B295607 AWEEKLY MAGAZINE OF KINETIC DRAMA AND LITERATURE FTJBLISHED BY MUTUAL FILM CORPORATION, NEW YORK Mqv/ Yorl^, Janunry 3, Y9V\' CLARENCE HERBERT NEW, Editor WM. H. PECKHAM, Business Manager MUTUAL FILM CORPORATION, Publishers, 71 West 23rd Street Five Cents the Copy Circulation This Week 25,000 $2.50 by the Year m I'Mm m n i/ihk One of the points most forcibly demonstrated in the development of motion-plays is the increasing familiarization of distant cities and localities. It is but a few years ago that our ideas of foreign places were obtained from photographs on little oblong cards — duplicate photos, side by side, one for each eye — at which we looked through a little hand-stereoscope, with eye-shades like a horse's blinders. These "stereoscopic views," as they were called, gave us our first reliable visual impressions of foreign cities and celebrated objects of historic interest. Thej' were to be found upon almost every parlor table — or the corner "whatnot"— and their posession, whether in farm or city house, was accepted as a material evidence of "culture." During the time of their greatest vogue, their only competitor in the same line was the souvenir book of lithographed "views'" — about the same size and shape — which every returning tourist brought home as concrete evidence of his travels. The first real improvement upon these "stereoscopic views'' — • as amateur photography became more developed — was the "unmounted photograph," printed in thousands by publishers, who sold them to artists and architects at first, and the cheaper form of photographic reproduction by "half-tone" prints, "egg-shelled" to prevent smudging, which were sold under the names of "Cosmos" and "Perry" Pictures. Then came the post-card craze — and the reproduction in that form of views taken in nearh" every city of the world. The unmounted photographs of the world's celebrated streets and buildings, selling at 25c. to $3.00 each, were beyond the reach of average people living on a moderate income — but were of immensely educational value to those who could af¥ord to purchase even a few dozens of them. The Perry and Cosmos Pictures, selling at two or three cents each, came more easily within the reach of the poor man's purse — but for years after they came out, the poor man preferred beer and did not avail himself of the opportunity. But the post-cards "got" his family, even if they didn't get him — • and were directly responsible for giving the average citizen in all countries a better idea of how other places and peoples looked than he ever had before. In this connection, newspaper half-tones should not be considered because, from considerations of space and imperfections in printing, they never present an accurate idea of any particular place. The illustrations in weekly papers are far better, but they do not reach the mass of the people. Now — all these countless pictures of other places have increased the average man's knowledge of his world a thousand-fold— but they have presented it in just so many detached chunks, which is where they fall considerably short of reality. For example — we have before us at this moment a picture of the Place de la Concorde and the end of the Champs Elysees. In it, are two fiacres crossing the "Place" — the Obehsk, which marks the site of the Guillotine— another fiacre, driving up toward the Arc de Triomphe — the entrance to the Rue Royale, with the buildings at the side and a distant glimpse of the ^ladeleine — also, perhaps a dozen pedestrians. If the daily aspect of a street or building never changed under varying conditions, it would be only necessary' to stock up with enough of these pictures to know the world's cities very accurately. But "as a matter of fact, if this particular picture had been taken from a point a few hundred feet east of where the camera stood — say, at the end of the Pont de la Concorde — the scene would have presented an appearance so entirely different that a person with no topographical perception would never recognize it. And if the same picture had been taken when a military procession was crossing the "Place" and the Rue Royale was in deep shadow from a rain-cloud, it would also have passed for that of an entirely different place. Which brings us to the great advantages of the motion-picture over any of these previous methods of illustration. In the motion-picture of any particular locality, we get its actual living conditions and momentary variations. Nothing is lost. A person looking at a single-reel film of the Place de la Concorde would have, fixed upon his mind, an impression of the locality which would enable him to instantly recognize it during his first day or hour in Paris. And this statement would probably hold good of almost any place on earth. The "Bund," at Nagasaki, for instance, is a far cry from New York — yet if those who have seen it here on the screens ever steam up that narrow and beautiful Bay on a Pacific IMailer or Toyo Kissen Kaisha boat, they will recognize the scene at first glance. And everyone who saw the "Durbar" pictures would recognize the famous Gates of the old Fort at Delhi if he rarv across them in the middle of the Sahara. Putting it perhaps a little more concretely, the motion-picture film is a link which binds together in educational and topographical familiarity every country, city and town in the world — enabling those in the lesser places to become as familiar with the daily life in the greater as if they had spent months in it. And one of the peculiar features of this familiarity is the way it may be, and constantly is used to create optical illusions. It is a general impression that the aspect of foreign citigs is so entirely different from those in our own vicinity that we should recognize them at first glance as being strange to us. But the fact is that almost every city on the globe possesses buildings whose architecture and appearance is almost identical with those in other cities. And the "Movie" camera man uses this every day, to save traveling expenses, without the spectator being much the wiser for the excusable faking. Daudet's "Sapho" was laid in Paris and its suburbs. The very successful ]\Iajestic film of the book was taken in Los Angeles, California — but not one person in a thousand would ever suspect it. The Thanhouser film of "Robin Hood" was mostly taken at Fort Schuyler and Bronx Park— but you'll swear it's Sherwood Forest when you see it. Our morning paper tells us what is happening all over the world. Our "Movie" Theatre, around the corner, enables us to see it. We are more cosmopolitan to-day than yesterday.