Screenland (Oct 1923-Mar 1924)

SCMEENLAND T J illy wood Venting Instructors Are Growing Vat. The Romantic Age In the Movies (Continued from page 16) invansion, produced Orphans of the Storm and then, characteristically, shifted his scene to the present time and started to put romantic drama into dress suits. Barthelmess Tries It, Too wIchard Barthelmess, whose chief charm has always been his essential, homely Americanism, has chosen to cast off the humble habiliments of Tol'able David and step forth in the finery of an elder day. The Bright Shawl was a flashing affair of the brave days in 1850 when Cuba was first struggling for independence. The Fighting Blade — Dick's latest — is a romantic melodrama of the early 17th Century. Marion Davies, whose picture is published regularly in many of our leading newspapers and magazines, has run wild with costume pictures. When Knighthood Was in Flower and Little Old New York have been as complete as Wells' Outline of History and Yoland and Alice of Old Vincennes are to follow. William Fox has donated The Queen of Sheba, Nero, Monte Cristo, Monna Vanna, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court and a few others of equal magnificence. Cecil B. De Mille has never quite departed from his favorite Fifth Avenue mansion, with its marble beds and patent leather sheets, but he has inserted in each of his pictures a streak of historical stuff. There are many more names on the list: The Covered Wagon, To Have and to Hold, Oliver Twist, Down to the Sea in Ships, Grandma's Boy, Trilby, Richard the Lion Hearted, Under Two Flags, The Green Goddess, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Brass Bottle, Omar the T entmaker , Blood and Sand, Rupert of Hentzau — and so on as far as the eye can reach. Satisfying Stellar Vanity ^ j[ ^If ere is no doubt that many of these' spectacular romantic dramas have been produced to satisfy the star's personal vanity. There is no actor or actress in the world who doesn't like to dress up, and the gorgeous costumes of the olden days offer great opportunities for costly display. But it is equally certain that films of this type have, on the whole, been successful financially. Although statistics gathered by the energetic Mr. Roger Babson indicate that exhibitors still believe that the public doesn't want costume pictures, the actual box-office records prove otherwise. So the production of costume dramas will probably continue until every period in the history of the world has teen carefully covered. Then, perhaps, the silent drama will pass quietly from the romantic age and achieve its full growth. In the meantime, however, it's gcing to be pretty tough for the Hollywood barbers. 84 Woman and One Arabian Night — there came a veritable tidal wave of American made costu > i :tures to fill and overflow the channels that had been opened by these sti !y pioneers. Oddly enough, the na'th iductions made money where mo:: m (he originators had failed. Our Stars Try Costumes <P n , «. V^onsidering catep-nr.r ie big Filmy jn has .. .. flyer m romantic u^i.v. Some hem have gone in for costume stuff to the exclusion of everything else. Douglas Fairbanks, in the past three years, has made two pictures — The Three Musketeers 1 and Robin Hood — both of which were reeking with romance. His next production, The Thief of Bagdad, will follow the same schedule. Mary Pickford has made Little Lord Fauntleroy and is now engaged on Lolita, a story of old Spain. Rex Ingram has done The Prisoner of Zenda and Scaramouche. Norma Talmadge reflected two stages of the 19th Century in Smilin' Thru and The Eternal Flame, and has gone even farther back into the dim past in Ashes of Vengeance. Even the sprightly, sophisticated, ultra-modern Constance has attempted to prove that the flapper isn't a new invention. In The Dangerous Maid and Mmc. Pompadour, she is following the fashionable trend into history. D. W. Griffith, who was adept at this sort of thing even before the German the moulds are retained, altered a bit and used again. The Lasky studio saves every piece of lumber over four feet long. A special nail-pulling gang pulls out all nails from the wood, and even saves the nails for the next job. Presto Change! \ 'he efforts of the much-maligned "cost hounds" have vanquished wasteful tactics in the "prop" line, at least. At the Lasky studio, a drapery may start its screen career at a drawingroom window. In its next appearance, it may be cut up for pillows or act as a piano cover. Or it may be bleached and dyed and used over again. War clubs, spears and swords are used over and over again to suit the fashions of Is This Waste? (Continued from page 82) different eras. Cobble stones, Belgian blocks and marble floor slabs are kept in stock and used to pave streets or foyers at a moment's notice. They are used over and over again. Telegraph poles used on locations are saved to make log cabins for some plains picture. Stairways, arches and portions of the walls are saved. Structurally, they are not changed, but you would never recognize them under a disguise of new paper and fitted into a new setting. There is an emulsion rich in silver salt left in the developing fluid by the film. Laboratory' experts treat this fluid carefully, removing the silver. , n So gradually, the wasteful days r-"' passing. And they must. In the At pioneer days of pictures, waste did:n\ matter. The new business was so gre.J: that it carried the movie makers aloig to fortune as on a tide. They couldi't help making money. But today competition is murderously keen. The public appetite for pictures is a bit sated. Waste is cutting into the profits so deeply that the producers, being business men first, last and foremost, are taking steps to prevent waste. Let's hope they succeed. Then perhaps the price of pictures will come down, and father can take ma and the kids to the show on Saturday n v'lt* once more, without feeling that he ni-S paid a quarterly instalment on the, optional debt.