The soul of the moving picture (1924)

The Poet 107 motion picture are. Here is where the dramaturge comes in. It is his lofty task to effect a reconciliation between idealism and materialism. That he judge the work solely on its artistic merits and from the artistic point of view is out of the question. The first film that arose under such conditions would be a commercial failure ; the second would spell the bankruptcy of the company that produced it. It is, at the same time, lamentable, pitiable, when the dramaturge judges a submitted manuscript solely from the point of view of its potential commercial success. Let this type of dramaturge have his way, and the film will suffer complete deterioration, decay, and death. Moreover, such film works have not the slightest chance of success in foreign countries. To concoct a good and "safe" thing that will take on the local corner— any man can do that. But the film must be so great and grandiose that nobody else can do it. Detective, revolver, and sensation films find devotees in the movie halls of the entire world who can do this trick just as well as anybody else; and they know it. Such films have from the very beginning powerful competition. Why has Charlie Chaplin been such a ubiquitous success? Because he is unique; his achievements are his own; his accomplishments are inimitable. A film manuscript is good then and then only when it promises