Reel and Slide (Mar-Dec 1918)

REEL and SLIDE 19 Motion Pictures Vital Aid to Victory Screen a Powerful Influence in Transferring and Confirming War Intelligence Practically All Departments of National Government Found Use for Films By Orrin G. Cocks {Secretary, National Committee for Better Films, in an address before the A'^^zc York City Federation of Women's Clubs, October 25) A RESUME of the splendid service of motion pictures in winning the war is well worth consideration. This art is the peer of any in patriotic and telling service, whether painting or sculpture, music or oratory. Since the world war began to affect the United States, about 130 stimulating motion picture dramas have been exhibited to the people which have told in ringing terms their patriotic story. This means about 6,000 copies of the pictures have been in daily circulation in the theaters of the United States. No one can estimate the number of persons who have been stimulated by these splendid appeals, both to the reason and the emotions. There has been a continual flow of news pictures giving to the American people information about the progress of the war in the industrial centers, the cantonments and the great cities of our land as well as upon the high seas and at the battle front. In an incredibly short time the stories appearing in the news prints have had confirmation through the camera and the screen. While we recognize with pride and thankfulness the wonderful courage and insight of newspaper writers, let us also remernber the heroism of the military camera men who have not hesitated to enter the thick of the fight or to travel with the military aviator into the heart of the enemy's country. Without the aid of the motion pictures many of the greatest military successes of the Allies would have been neutralized. A few of these pictures which have been permitted to come back from the front testify unmistakably to the patriotic devotion of camera men. The managers of motion picture theaters have responded enthusiastically to the calls of the government. They have given the use of their houses for regular addresses by the "Four Minute Men" and have supplemented their programs, quite generalh', with community singing of a patriotic nature. The) have recognized their position as persons maintaining large auditoriums where all classes of people are gathered nightly and have assisted in the raising of patriotic funds such as the Red Cross and the great war service organizations. In every cit)' the Liberty Loan drives have been assisted nightly on the screen and by means of skilled speakers. In the Third Liberty Loan fully 200 million was raised bj' various elements of the motion picture industry. Turn Over Films to the Army Besides the continual production and exhibition of patriotic and news pictures, the motion picture people have made a contribution in the most and practical fashion which has been seldom mentioned. In some cases they have presented to various military arms of the government, masses of completed film of almost incalculable value. They have, moreover, agreed to the use of Other pictures of all classes for exceedingly small amounts wherever they were to be displayed for the entertainment and inspiration of men in the service. It has been possible, therefore, to show the finest pictures under a system of careful selection, worked out by the National Board of Review, to most of the men in the army and the navy, both here and abroad, and at a nominal cost which redounds to the credit of these patriotic business men. The Committee on Public Information has drawn heavily upon motion pictures for the spread of facts and the development of sentiment, both in America and throughout the rest of the world. Thousands of motion picture films, accurately interpreting the genius of America, have been flowing steadily through the offices of this committee and into the countries where there was the greatest ignorance. In many situations abroad, a fine form of propaganda has been introduced that was not possible through printing. Ignorant people feel generally that the pictures cannot lie. Back from the battlefronts, also, through the assistance of the camera men of this patriotic committee and the motion picture people who have worked in harmony with it, have come pictures which have inspired the whole American people. The Commission on Training Camp Activities, also appointed by President Wilson, have recognized the value of the motion picture by the establishment of a motion picture department, and also by the development of a military entertainment committee which has drawn heavily upon selected pictures for use in Liberty Theaters scattered throughout the training camps and cantonments. These films used both by them and by the Y. M. C. A. and the Knights of Columbus have helped to keep life normal. The army and navy have also preached directly the lesson of social hygiene through motion pictures. Thus both by means of constructive work along entertanment lines in the region of prevention and through direct warnings, the motion picture has played its part in making the American army and navy the cleanest, strongest and most effective army on any of the battle fronts. The Y. M. C. A. has utilized the motion picture also, while the men were in training camps, and has maintained regular entertainments of z high order at the ports of embarkation and on the transports. They have gone farther and have kept in circulation throughout the thousands of billets and camps just back of the battle line this form of dramatic entertainment for the soldiers. Fine recognition also should be made of the work of a similar nature maintained by the Knights of Columbus. The chaplains and other officers of the men of war and other units of the navy and the marines have also maintained regular entertainments on the high seas and in the stations in all parts of the world where law and order have been maintained by the Jackies and the fighting men of the sea. Exhibitors Do Their Part The War Camp Community Service, charged by the Commission on Training Camp Activities with the organization of the cities and towns adjacent to the training camps, have found a wholehearted response on the part of motion picture exhibitors in showing to the civilian and army population only those pictures which were positively cheerful and inspiring. In thousands of cases the doors of the theaters have been thrown wide open to the men in uniform. This was done for men who had little money to spend, but a great desire for entertainment along with the civilian population during their time off duty. Perhaps the most timely service rendered by the screen during the past two years has been in Americanization. Wherever poor people congregate, in the tenement section of the cities, in the industrial towns like Pittsburgh, Bethlehem, Bridgeport, Philadelphia and Gar}^ or in the farming towns of foreign born population, the motion picture has glorified America. It has won our polyglot peoples to patriotic loyalty by telling them the facts, while it has touched their emotional natures. Thousands have been won to democracy' by the silent pleas of this new appeal to ' eye, mind and heart. The Department of Agriculture has supplemented its system of education through lectures and train displays with motion pictures. The department has illustrated graphically the need of more intensive cultivation of the soil. The rotation of crops, the planting of the best seeds and the proper means of threshing crops to return one hundred per cent of the yield. They have gone farther and inspired the farmers to greater efforts by showing the kinds of crops most necessary to carry out Mr. Hoover's demands for foods needed both here and abroad for .supplying a hungry world. Scores of new pictures will be made and shown during the coming winter. The motion picture has worked with the loyal women's organizations, the churches and the clubs, in actually building up and ennobling the atmosphere of these camp towns under the skilled oversight of the War Camp Community Service. Time does not permit me to emphasize the splendid service rendered by 80 or 90 club women serving on the National Board in the selection of pictures for all these purposes; nor can I speak of the value of the motion picture in acquainting surgeons of the modern treatment of the wounds of battle nor its curative uses among the desperately wounded, shell shocked and convalescents in the hospitals, both here and in France. It is sufficient to say, however, that the record of actual achievements has established the motion picture as a valuable agency. It is clear, above everything else, that the film has become a settled factor in the social life of the world. It is one of the things which we feel that we cannot give up at a time when there are so many things which must be abandoned. It has taken a place in the evolution of society from which no cavalier can separate it. Soldier, sailor, civilian, in these days of tremendous activity, finds that the picture helps to relax the tension. It gives frfish food for thought. It inspires through its picturization of the activities of the world. The picture has demonstrated that it is essential, a force which contributes to the strength of the nation.