Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

3435641 AUG 13 1919 AND M A. G A. z: I N E VOL. II AUGUST, 1919 NO. 8 Future of The Screen in Education and Industrials Experienced Executive in These Branches of the Moving Ficture Art Foints co Necessity for Government Distribution to Schools Throughout the Country By C. H. Moore (Community Motion Picture Bureau) Mr. C. H. Moore, the writer of this article, is recognized in Washington and elsewhere as the leading authority on educational and industrial films. When this country entered the war he was called to Washington to act as General Manager of Film Production and Distribution to the Industrial Education Section of the War Department. On the signing of the armistice he was placed in charge of Film Production for the Visual Instruction Section of the Division of Educational Extension of the Department of the Interior. Mr. Moore is a graduate of the University of London, England. He has recenty joined the Executive ranks of the Community Motion Picture Bureau. THE screen has entered the instructional and industrial arenas to stay. It cannot be ousted and its cumulative progress cannot be retarded. The schoolmaster is abroad with his eyes open at last. The moving picture is acclaimed by all who know as the greatest and most potential teacher that are or science has devised. It outstrips Froebel, Pestalozzi, Montessori and the most modern and approved products of normal schools and teachers' colleges. It is the most accomplished linguist the world has ever known, for it speaks all languages. Not only this. It speaks each language in terms that the child, the adult, the ignorant, the illiterate even, and the most profound philosopher can understand. Its appeal never fails. If its mission is not accomplished it is the fault of bad workmanship. Its "approach" is the easiest of easy things. So it is that the film, at first the sport of the mediocre amusement caterer, the venue for the sensational pictorial story, the avenue for the exploitation of any screen production that, irrespective of art or morality, would bring a dollar, has become the means through which the author, the doctor, the scientist, the traveler, the inventor and the artist of every kind can bring to the mass of humanity the message they bear. It has been my fortune to witness the evolution of the moving picture from its inception to its present development. Before the advent of "living" pictures I was teaching geography, history and physiology in school bv means of stereopticon slides. The idea of a film library was preceded many years ago by a slide library which I established in the Municipal Technical College of a large English industrial city. The most comprehensive and reliable film record library extant today is that of the Community Motion Picture Bureau in New York. Film in the Early Days The early days of motion picture development were given over to the amusement people. The cinema, the nickeledon and later the airdome flung out their appeals to the masses. The "legitimate" took no stock in moving pictures and vaudeville frowned upon them. What a metamorphosis has taken place. Sir Henry Irving and Ellen Terry have given place to Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" would not draw sufficient box office receipts to pay the ushers, whilst "Shoulder Arms" convulses a packed perspiring audience. The average school girl has never heard of Titania, but she can reel off a list of her favorite movie stars. All of which, be it critical or otherwise, proves the potentiality of the screen. The introduction of the educational film marked a new development. It was the natural effort of an enlightened type of producer to elevate the standard of the screen. But it was not popular. The Pathe Exchange, Inc., established an educational department and with their vast resources were able to present admirably instructive features. But the department was run at a loss and this did not arise from any inefficiency. The "educational" has eventually established itself, but it is' still only a "filler." It is gratifying to observe, however, that this condition is passing away. The very rottenness of many film productions has brought about a reaction in public taste. The masses have been and are daily being educated to the -necessity for a higher standard in films. This is best evidenced by the fact that the day of the abnormally high salaried star has passed. Stories and not stars are required in modern moving picture features. Film Conquers New Fields It is not in the theater, however, that the real instructive value of the screen is most marked. It is in the fields of education, science and industry that its true worth is being manifested. It is a fact worthy of attention that in everv case where it is necessary to "put over" a great question or a vital message the promoters intuitively resort to the screen. In the great emergency of the past five years the government itself has demonstrated how natural it is to make a public appeal by means of the moving picture. My own work in the Ordnance Department is striking testimony of the efficacy of this plan and it is on record that the institution of the moving picture in the industrial field of war workers proved "one of the most powerful incentives to increased productivity that has been devised." In the War Department the Inspection Division, the Industrial Education Section, the Department of Military Aeronautics, the Office of the Surgeon General, the Recruiting Division, the Morale Branch of the General Staff and the Army War College were all engaged in the production and distribution of pictures. The Army Signal Corps was and still is the official photographer of the American Expeditionary Force and its output constitutes a unique record in the history of moving picture photography. World-Wide and Successful Appeal The Division of Films of the Committee on Public Information, under the direction of Charles Hart, educated the public throughout the country on all details connected with the war. The Food and the Fuel Administrations both resorted to the screen. The Division of Naval Aviation and the United States Coast Guard deliver their messages to the people by means of the moving picture. In the Department of the Interior the Bureau of Mines, the Division of Educational Extension, the Reclamation Service and the National Parks Service are producers and distributors. The Department of Labor and the Department of Commerce recognize the efficiency of the screen. One of the most active and by all means the most instructive division of the Department of Agriculture is that of motion pictures under the extremely capable direction of Mr. Don Carlos Ellis. This by no means exhausts the list of governmental motion picture activities, but it amply suffices to demonstrate the position which the screen occupies in the national machinery. The colossal operations of the Y. M. C. A., Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army and kindred organizations in connection with bringing the moving picture to the American soldier, sailor and marine wherever he may be, on land or sea, on the fighting line or in camp or cantonment throughout the world, can only be hinted at. The full history of this gigantic movement has yet to be written. The whole of this world-wide distribution was undertaken and accomplished by the Community Motion Picture Bureau. It is this service that has made Community a great international organization. To the scarred battle fronts of France and todevastated Belgium, to the Alpine passes of Northern Italy, to the sandy wastes of Egypt and the arid expanses of the Holy Land, to the frozen Murman Coast, to inhospitable Siberia, to every camp in the United States, England and France, to every ship in the Navy, aye, even to Germany and now to the great home disembarkation ports and demobilization camps Community has carried and is carrying the pictures, and the operator and equipment where necessary, to satisfy the American boy's nur