The Film Renter and Moving Picture News (Jan-Feb 1923)

THE FILM RENTER & MOVING PICTURE NEWS. January ry 1923. THE ‘GREAT . PICTURE SUCCESSES OF TO-MORROW. | ‘The ‘Good Sioiieswill) Win. = Time, says Denison Clift. Y what I think will be the most popular pictures in the near future: If you -asked this question of a jury of twelve: producers you would probably . receive twelve different _ answers. There are comedy, farce, drama, tragedy, spectacle, and, more widely, sex drama, westerns, ' society plays, and ‘human interest stories. ° One year the trade will be swamped with Western cowboy pictures, The next year we have De Mille ‘sex piefures, or great American, French and Italian ‘spectacles; or, again, intense, intimate human interest pictures. ** Orphans of the Storm,” ‘‘ Way Down East,” * The sey 3 of the Eagles,’ >and * Theodora.’ ” will vie with ‘‘ The Queen of Sheba,”’ ‘‘ Nero,’’ and plays of that ilk—and showmen will tell you that spectacle’ is the thing, and, ore producers will plan more great spectacles. Denison Curr, Then: along will come ‘‘ Over thes Hill,’ ‘“‘ The Old Nest,” “‘ Humoresque’’—-stories of the simplest type, and their. enormous success will lead the same showmen. to change their minds and tell -you that these simple, homeand-mother tales are what the public. wants; and that crowds of 50,000 are taboo. ‘Then suddenly ‘* The Three Musketeers, ”” ‘To Have and to Hold,’’ cf The Prisoner of Zenda,’’ and “‘ Robin Hood ’’ will capture the public taste, and, again, showmen who have cried down costume plays from the housetops will tell you that costume is the thing. And amidst a deluge of comedies and plays with happy endings will come ‘* Broken Blossoms,’’ and you will hear that the public like true, stern endings to their entertainment. OU ask me. What is the secret of pleasing the public? What kind of picture ig sure of success to-morrow ? The answer is extremely simple. There is no mystery about it whatever. It is the good stories thut win every time. The public like a good story the world over. That is all that matters. If you have a good story to tell in pinbution you are assured of success before you start. It matters not whether it makes them laugh or cry; whether it is played by three people or three thousand ; whether the characters wear princely robes or the homespun of fisher-folks—if in their lives and acts there is real life, real feeling, real laughter and tears, something to understand, something to feel, something to sympathise with, then the thousand . human hearts in the theatre will respond, and your work will be a success. At all times the good story will win out over the mediocre, undramatic tale. A Greek tragedy will draw the crowds as well as a Chaplin comedy, provided that the Greek tragedy has the same human elements developed to play upon the modern audience in the same degree as the Chaplin comecly. Happy endings are not essential, If I were producing ten plays, I would unhesitatingly risk my capital on at least 40 per cent. unhappy endings if I knew that the stories were true and worth while. I would have in mind such box-office successes as ‘‘ Madame X.,’’ ‘ Broken Blossoms,’’ ‘‘ The Prisoner of Zenda’ (now packing theatres in New York and shortly to conie to nennen * Foolish Wives,’’ and dozens of others. If I may be permitted a personal word, I have just made two pictures that end on the stern, tragic note : “A Bill of Divorcement’’ and ‘‘ This Freedom.’’ Both stories are masterpieces of their kind. Both deal with real life—attack fearlessly and truthfully great problems of married life: the themes come poignantly to thousands of men and women. Both stories are sad and tragic. But both are great. I feel that it has been a ae to be able to translate such works into pictures. “This Freedom,” the great new Hutchinson novel, deals with terrible, unrelenting truth with a principle of modern life. Millions of women are going to hate the lesson of the story; other millions are going to agree with it, but all are going to be eee interested in the picture. What am I going to produce next? ‘‘ Out to Win,”’ thrilling melodrama as‘a relief from the heavy drama of my recent plays. And immediately after that, very early in the spring, my own version of ‘‘ Mary Queen of Scots?’ that I have been planning for a year. The script is ready now, plans are going forward, and I hope to offer to the exhibitors of the United Kingdom a custume play of such thrilling action and romantic appeal that its box-office success will lead to the production of many more such historical subjects in the near future. ‘‘ Mary Queen of Scots ”’ will be that indispensable thing—a good story.